Podcasts
Brandon Dinsmore, a tribal workforce specialist, talked about the benefits telecom can offer tribal communities on Beyond the Cable.
Having a homegrown telecom workforce can create opportunity for tribal members in their own communities and potentially could even bring people back who have left if the jobs are permanent.
Brandon Dinsmore, a tribal outreach and workforce specialist for Oklahoma State University Institute of Technology (OSUIT), said training telecom specialists in tribal areas can be part of the strategy of keeping those communities intact.
He made the comments speaking on Beyond the Cable at Connected America 2026 in April.
Dinsmore also spoke about OSUIT’s ongoing efforts to partner with tribal nations in Oklahoma to provide training and technology.
In one program, run with the Cherokee Nation in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, Dinsmore said students learn how to climb utility poles and train to perform aerial construction of fiber-optic networks.
He said the students also learn how to do trenching, boring, splicing, and troubleshooting.
Dinsmore also touched on the surge of data centers around the U.S., and said conversations with tribal communities need to take place regarding the subject.
Listen to the full interview on Apple Podcasts to hear more about that, and what reality in tribal communities surprised Dinsmore upon taking his role.
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