Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 26, Number 9, 1 September 2009 — Micah Kāne [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Micah Kāne

The new Kamehameha Schools trustee supports increased outreach lnterview and phntn by Lisa Asatn Puhlie lnfnrmatinn Specialist Mieah Kāne, director of the state Department of Hawaiian Home Lands and ehainnan of the Hawaiian Homes Commission for the last seven years, reinforced his position in the Hawaiian community when he stepped into the role as one of five trustees of Kamehameha Schools on Sept. 1 . As his career direction turns from housing to education, Kāne, an alumnus of the private school that gives preference to Native Hawaiians, talked to KWO about what drives his desire to give back to the Hawaiian community and why projects like the school's recently announced partnership in Mākaha on 0'ahu's Leeward Coast provide the greatest promise - and the greatest challenge - for a future direction of the school. The partnership, announced in the StarBulletin, involves Kamehameha Schools investing up to $100 million in a learning complex in Mākaha Valley on land donated by developer Ieff Stone and the Weinberg Trust. DHHL is a partner in building housing and community development on an adjoining parcel that will also be donated. Kāne, 40, has a bachelor's degree from Menlo College in California and a master's in business administration from the University of Hawai'i. Kāne lives in Kāne'ohe with his wife, loelle, who is a partner in the law firm Henderson Gallagher Kāne, and their three daugh-

ters, Ka'ilihiwa, 11, Sunny, 10, and Ka'ohu, 9. KWO: You've had such a varied career: aide to former City Couneilwoman Rene Mansho, lobbyist for the Building Industry Association, executive director and chairperson of the Hawai'i Republican Party. While you were in graduate school you worked part-time as a P.E. and heallh teacher and a dorm adviser at Kamehameha Schools. KĀNE: I taught for one semester - probably one of the toughest jobs I've ever had. It was a learning experience. ... You're trying to connect with people all day. If you care, it's exhausting. When I was a (full-time) dorm adviser for five years while I was in grad school, I held two 40-hour jobs for about a year-and-a-half, saving money to buy a home. I just got married, just started a family, burning a candle at both ends of the stick. I learned a lot about myself in those early years. KWO: You're a 1987 graduate of Kamehameha Schools. Did you foresee your career path leading back to your alma mater? KĀNE: Not directly. ... I did know I wanted to give back to the Hawaiian community. I always felt very strongly and still feel very strongly that I want to give back in other ways beyond serving as a trustee. I feel an obligation as a beneficiary of the Kamehameha Schools trust to look beyond what's already there. I still look into the future at ways (of giving back) that don't currently exist. That's where I think, I hope, my future really lies. KWO: Can you expand on that? KĀNE: It's easy for us to give within the system, but to build on the system is more difficult. Example being: at the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands, by creating new programs and finding new ways to reach oiu homesteaders (we were) broadening the reach and giving others the opportunity to benefit. We did those things in the spirit of Pauahi because that was what I felt she wanted us to do - to take the knowledge, the skill set and opportunities that she gave us and to expand opportunities for others that hadn't had a ehanee to be touched. . . .

We ean all touch another Hawaiian and give them another opportunity that we got through the school. . . . A simple example is starting a scholarship program ... or a mentoring program or starting another trust. There's no reason others of us can't do the same thing Pauahi did with our own spirit, that spiiit of Pauahi that we all need to embrace. KWO: Why turn your focus to education? KĀNE: When I became director of DHHL, I viewed my job as to build a lot of homes. ... I didn't realize that what's more important is the journey to the home. ... It's difficult to build people, and I realized in this job as DHHL director, the home is the incentive. That's where we view as the end point. How we get to that point is really about building capacity. And confidence and education has been such a key part of it. That was the key to the creation of HOAP (DHHL's Home Ownership Assistance Program) and OHA's stepping forward and matching dollar for dollar so we could touch more than 20,000 families statewide. I'm probably most proud of that program than anything we've done here because that's the people side of it. KWO: What's the biggest ehallenge you foresee in your role as trustee? KĀNE: It would be outreach, reaching out deeper into Hawaiian communities. That's going to be the biggest challenge but also the biggest opportunity. And I think the moves that Kamehameha has made in recent years are consistent with that. I strongly support that and I would point to the partnership in Mākaha that Kamehameha has with DHHL, the Weinberg foundation and the Ko 'Olina group (Ieff Stone). That was a very bold and righteous move that I think is what the future of Kamehameha Schools should be in its outreach efforts. ... I believe strongly in that, but it's also unchartered waters. ... (But) I think if our beneficiaries recognize what our intent is, to reach deeper into our communities, to reach kids who would otherwise not be touched by the trust, they ' 11 help us along. KWO: What is the major dif-

ference between your work as the head of DHHL and the eommission and as trustee of Kamehameha Schools? KĀNE: Very little. We ean definitely build on some of the experiences I've had (at DHHL). There's clearly a strong initiative and commitment on behalf of the Pauahi trust to reach deeper in the Hawaiian community, and we've worked closely with leadership of Kamehameha Schools over the last seven years to do that. Their commitment to Mākaha is one of the boldest commitments that both trusts - Kamehameha and Department of Hawaiian Home Lands - to provide opportunities for Native Hawaiians. And I think it's not only being done in a way where we're going to meet our fiduciary duty to our beneficiaries, but it's going to raise all ships. It's going to raise everybody's opportunities in the greater community. And that, I think, builds goodwill for native trusts ... That's the type of eollaboration I think you need to have. When was the last time you heard of a private entity making a contribution of this magnitude to Native Hawaiian entities? I think it's a recognition of how far we've eome and how far we ean go. KWO: Is it an affirmation of what the trusts are doing? KĀNE: I think its an affirmation that's there's confidence in our eollective effort. We cannot stand alone anymore. We're stronger together. We're stronger in numbers. We're stronger complementing eaeh other's weaknesses and complementing eaeh other's strengths. It ean be done in a way where we're more effectively meeting the needs of our beneficiaries. KWO: Your appointment as trustee is for one five-year term that is subject to one additional five-year term. At the end of those terms, in 2019, you'll be 50. Do you have any plans for a career in politics? A run for office? KĀNE: I don't have any desire right now to run for public office. I'm really focused on what I want to do today. KWO: Can you hold another position while you're a Kamehameha trustee? KĀNE: You ean. I'm going to

take some time off. I've been on a 12-year sprint so I'm going to take a few moments to get my feet under myself and refill my tank and try to catch up real quick (with the other trustees) so I ean be a contributing colleague to our team. Onee I'm comfortable, I'm going to go back out into the work force. I don't know what opportunities are out there for me, but I'll start actively looking or making myself available early next year or late this year. ... I never close that door. There are opportunities everywhere. I never thought I'd be the executive director of the (Hawai'i) Republican Party. I never thought I would be the ehainnan of the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands, and so I keep it open. Let life take it where it's going to take it. ■

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