Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 21, Number 8, 1 August 2004 — Beneficiary Advocacy and Empowerment Committee mid-year review [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Beneficiary Advocacy and Empowerment Committee mid-year review

Aloha kākou. The first six months of 2004 have slipped by and we find ourselves already moving into the second half of the year. Before we go further, as the chairperson of the Beneficiary Advocacy and Empowerment (BAE) Committee, I wanted to review some of the initiatives trustees have dealt with thus far. As a review, the committee's purview is to review and refer matters to the board that involve programs whieh encourage Hawaiians to participate in government, promote beneficiary health, human services and education, implement policies relating to land use, housing, the environment and natural resources, and evaluate all OHA programs to ensure that the programs actually have a positive impact on beneficiaries. One of the major undertakings of the BAE Committee is to review and approve grants to programs that support OHA's legislative and advocacy efforts. In the first half of 2004, there have been a total of 15 BAE Committee meetings convened. During the legislative session, the BAE Committee deliberated and

made recommendations on more than 250 legislative measures. Some measures, like shoreline certification, bio-prospecting and landexchange, had such an impact on trustees that discussions often eontinued into subsequent meetings. While legislative efforts were in full swing, trustees were also dealing with two rounds of OHA grant recommendations. Trustees approved the first group of nine grants, totaling $413,505, in March. OHA's grant reviewers screened over 100 grant proposals that met the September 2003 deadline. Those that adequately met all program guidelines and requirements were brought before the joint eommittees for final approval and referral to the full Board. In April, trustees reviewed a second group of grants recommendations and approved an award package totaling $556,560. In January, trustees were met with decisions on whether or not to participate in a joint effort to take dialysis back to Kalaupapa. For more than a decade, former Hansen's disease patients of Kalaupapa were forced to leave the peninsula because dialysis machines were no

longer available. Trustees granted approval to purchase two on-site dialysis machines for patients needing dialysis. Also in January, trustees approved a pilot project called the OHA Kupuna Bus Program. This program was designed to address the recent increase in the cost of O'ahu bus passes and would provide an alternative for Native Hawaiian kūpuna who have limited means for travel. The committee is expecting an update on the status of the program in the coming months. Another new initiative approved early in the year is the OHA Olomana Program. This tri-fold appropriation implements a pilot rehabilitation program for kūpuna to teach Hawaiian culture and values to youth at the Hawai'i Youth Correctional Facility. It also addresses a request to purchase hardware to build a loeal area network to give incarcerated students, both boys and girls, access to the internet and distance learning programs. Finally, it incorporates an initiative to improve the juvenile justice system, called the Hawai'i Juvenile Justice Project. The eommittee is also expecting an update

on the status of these programs within the next month. The most recent referral by eommittee members is a multi-year funded program called Ka Liu 'Oihana - Hawaiian Vocational Training Program. This initiative would provide 489 scholarships and job placement services. The finaneial assistance is geared toward vocational, technical and life-skills education for Native Hawaiian adults in order to increase their employment opportunities. This program allocated funding to three separate and individual education centers; the Hawai'i Technology Institute (46 scholarships); the BIA's Construction Training Center of the Pacific (38 scholarships); and the Wai'anae Maritime Academy (226 scholarships for U.S. Coast Guard certified mariner training). Throughout the rest of the year, the committee will continue to review programs and evaluate those already being funded for accountability, efficiency, overall impact and success in addressing the needs of the Hawaiian community. ■

Colette Machado Trustee, Moloka'i and Lāna'i