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While the residents of the Hollister Migrant Housing Center lined up for tacos to the sound of mariachi music, community leaders and elected officials spoke at the May 30 “Lighting the Way: A Celebration of Connection, Community and Progress” ceremony marking the launch of a new fiber optic network through the Southside Broadband Project which brings gigabit internet service to the families who live there, as well as to the San Benito County Southside Road Labor Camp and Southside Mobile Park.
“It’s symbolic in such a positive way,” Rotary Club member and BenitoLink board member Phil Esparza said. “What used to be the biggest dead zone around Hollister for our underserved communities now has the best broadband in the area, free for five years.”
Funded in part by a $40 million grant program through the California Advanced Services Fund, the project drew support from a diverse group of government agencies, businesses and organizations.
“Everyone came together,” Esparza said. “They left their baggage at the door and worked to solve the problem. People who wanted to give back to the community and make it better. And guess what? In just two years, we did it.”
San Benito County Supervisor Mindy Sotelo said that, before being elected to her District 3 seat, she had worked with the camps, gaining firsthand experience dealing with the poor state of internet access in the area, which often hindered her ability to work.
“The connection was very spotty,” she said. “And I thought, ‘How can I make this a better place for the people that are here working so hard every single day?’ I wanted their lives to be more comfortable, more enjoyable.”
A chance meeting with San Juan Bautista Planning Commissioner Elise Bretnall, the chief operating officer for Garlic.com and South Valley Internet, provided one of the sparks for the project.
“I had explored every option I thought was out there,” Sotelo said, “and nothing worked. I just kept hitting a wall with options that were nowhere within our means. Elise became our lifeline.”
“Mindy shared what life could look like if this community had reliable high-speed broadband,” Bretnall said. “That vision stayed with me.” It led to meetings with Deputy Director Enrique Arreola and Center Manager Elias Barocio, “and before long, we were moving forward.”
Bretnall, through South Valley Internet, was able to partner with Balanced Access, LCB Communications, San Juan Bautista Rotary Club, Teatro Campesino, San Benito Health Foundation, and representatives from the city of San Juan Bautista and San Benito County, among others.
“When the need for the Southside project became clear,” Bretnall said, “none of them hesitated. They stood up, leaned in, and took action. The project has been live and these families have been enjoying gigabit broadband since the beginning of May.”
Arreola said he had been trying to get reliable internet into the camps since he started working there in 2014. He said the need for service became critical during the pandemic, when the school-issued hotspots that students were given did not work in that area.
“These kids were struggling,” he said. “Really falling behind. A few years later, the state finally agreed to give us some funding to bring Wi-Fi up to our center, but it was only going to be for our center.”
When funding from the state became increasingly challenging to navigate, Arreola said Sotelo came by his office and told him, “We’re not going to let this happen.”
“We went in the direction of working with this partnership,” he said, “and I’m so glad we did, because we might not have gotten the project done otherwise. The team was able to navigate those processes quickly, and we’ve been able to build for the future.”
Center resident Alejandra Velázquez said that, as a migrant, she was forced to rent a hotspot for her family, which was unstable and used only for “very necessary things.” She said she sees the new broadband service as being vital to her and her three children, one of whom has special needs.
“It benefits us in terms of their homework,” she said, “and it helps them with their English. My son, who has autism, is able to take his special classes. It has changed their lives, and it helps me as much as it helps them.”
Esparza said the project is part of an effort to provide internet service for every resident in San Benito County, positioning the county as a “beacon in embracing the high-tech age.”
“As we celebrate this success,” he said, “I want to remind you to let your representatives know what you think about it. And join us in the fight to close the digital divide and make broadband for everybody a reality.”
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