Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 2, Number 12, 1 December 1985 — Directories Help Service Agencies [ARTICLE]

Directories Help Service Agencies

By Christine A. Valles, Project Director Comprehensive Services for Hawaiians A new Directory of Community Resources by the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, listing agencies providing services in education and eeonomie development, health, housing, protection, recreation and culture and other areas, was distributed recently on Kauai and Maui. Oahu and Hawaii directories are slated for distribution in January. Eaeh county's directory lists resources located in that respective county and outside. Other areas of service also include social welfare and transportation. Eaeh listing provides the agency name, address and phone number as well as hours of service, how payment is made for services, eligibility requirements a elienl must meet, how a c!ient goes about requesting services, the area where the service is availab!e and the name of any sponsoring agency. The directories are designed to aid service providers in making referrals for their clients; especially referrals outside their kuleana. This is how OHA imagines the directories being used: A young mother on Maui just had another baby. A nurse at the hospital tells the woman about a plaee whieh helps families with newborns called Maui Family Support Services. The nurse finds the organization in the Directory of Community Resources and gives the young woman the information she needs to contact the service. The nurse asks the mother how her other child is doing and the mother says, "Oh, she's great, I think she's ready for preschool. Does that directory list preschools, too?" The nurse looks in the education section and finds there are preschools listed. She ean give the woman the name of preschools in her area. The nurse could have also given the woman information about a Department of Heahh program called Nutrition/Women, Infants, Children Program whieh provides food stamps to nursing mothers and their children if they need the help. When distribution is completed, there will be copies of the directories available on all islands at public libraries, fire stations, senior centers, hospitals, community colleges, Alu Like and The Kamehameha Schools/Bishop Estate offices. Every agency listed in the directory receives a copy. The directories are provided free. Unfortunately , there are insuffieient copies for distribution to individuals. If you know of a location such as a community center or other popular gathering plaee to have the directory available to the public, eall your respective OHA office and ask for a copy. OHA realized from the beginning many Hawaiians were not receiving needed services even though some were required by law. The poor health, social and eeonomie conditions of Hawaiians have been well documented in numerous studies. OHA is dedicated to improving those conditions. To achieve this goal, there is mueh work to be done. The Human Services Division of OHA took the responsibility of designing a plan that would guarantee availability of these needed services to Hawaiians who want them. The Comprehensive Services for Hawaiians project was started with the aid of a federa! grant. OHA began its study by collecting information from about 2,000 agencies. OHA's aim is to find out what services are available, where they are located and what they offer. With the information from this study and the OHA needs assessment, OHA ean plan how to use its resources to improve the services Hawaiians say they need and want. The directories are one part of the study but more work is yet to be done.