Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 28, Number 8, 1 August 2011 — Together, we must work to educate our Hawaiian people [ARTICLE]

Together, we must work to educate our Hawaiian people

Education is the key to the salvation of our Hawaiian people, and I am eonvinced that the only way our people ean rise to heeome the great leaders that I know they ean be is

by obtaining a solid education. We have heard time and again about how Hawaiians stand at the top of the list - incarceration, drug abuse, uneducated, children in foster care, welfare, etc. The time has eome to seriously work together to give eaeh and every Hawaiian a solid education. Although it may be too late for some, we must address the problem now no matter how monumental a task it might seenr. We must face this challenge with commitment,

resolve, determination and the willingness to think and act "outside the box." Now is the tinre for our Ali'i Trusts, along with the Office of Hawaiian Affaks (OHA), the Departnrent of Hawaiian Home Lands (DHHL), and Alu Like to pool our resources

in order to nrove a Hawaiian education initiative forward with unprecedented collaboration and wide-ranging educational programs to nreet the educational challenges of our people. We could develop

an educational eoalihon. Although this is not a new idea, it has never nroved forward because of reasons that include: "we cannot collaborate because of collusion," "anti-tmst," "the Sunshine Law," "the concept doesn't meet the needs of our mission," and/or "it doesn't nreet the guidelines of our Shategic Plan." I shongly feel, however, that if there is a will, and if the objective is trae and right, we should be asking, "How ean we do

this / instead of giving reasons as to why it can't be done. All of us need to support, provide or eomplenrent programs to nreet educational needs whether it is within the home; puhlie, charter and trade schools; and conrmunity colleges/

universities, as well as within the prison walls. For exanrple, Queen's Hospital and Kapi'olani Hospital foundations nray eonsider providing hnaneial or in-kind support to train our people in all areas of nranagenrent and operations of hospitals and clinics. Queen Lili'uokalani Trust ean similarly support individuals who aspire to heeome doctors and nurses along with continuing to provide social services and counseling our oiphaned and indigent children. The Kamehameha Schools should reach outside its walls to provide more educational oppoitunities for Hawaiians in preschool through doctorate programs. Kamehameha ean also do nrore to suppoit and provide for those wishing to get an education in the trade schools and junior colleges. Rather than building new eampuses, Kamehameha should instead charter puhlie schools in areas that have high eoncenhations of Hawaiian children - Wai'anae, Nānākuli, Nānāikapono, Keaukaha, Anahola and Waimānalo - to name a few. Our educational eoalihon could fund a

trast that, when fully endowed, could provide vouchers for Hawaiian children to attend private schools thi-oughout the state fronr preschool through post-high school. With limited resources, DHHL, Alu Like and OHA have, over the years, eollahorated to nreet the educational needs of our Hawaiian children and families through scholai_ships, workforce hade schools and DHHL's Home Ownership Assistance Progranr (HOAP). Over the past five years, OHA has expended nrore than $72 million toward edueahonal progi-ams (over $14 million per yeai"). If eaeh of our Ali'i Tmsts conrbined equal resom_ces, we could be funding nrore than $86 million in educational programs per year. We need to put our resources together, create a working eoalkion and build a stronger Hawaiian educational base so that our people today and in future generations ean have the quality of life they all deserve. Let us work now to build a strong foundation for the future. ■

Followus: /oha_hawaii | Fan us:Ē/officeofhawaiianaffairs | Watch us: Yūufltīj /user/OHAHawaii A LEO 'ELELE V > TRUSTEE MESSSAGES *

[?]

ūswald Stender TrustEE, At-largE