{"id":31878,"date":"2015-02-18T13:50:51","date_gmt":"2015-02-18T23:50:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=31878"},"modified":"2021-10-06T09:45:08","modified_gmt":"2021-10-06T19:45:08","slug":"collaborative-west-hawaii-youth-program-launched","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2015\/02\/18\/collaborative-west-hawaii-youth-program-launched\/","title":{"rendered":"Collaborative West Hawai\u02bbi<\/span> youth program launched"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading time: <\/span> 3<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>
\"large
The Hōkūpaʻa<\/span> group<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The University of Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> at Hilo<\/a> is partnering with leading educational and state government groups to start a collaborative discussion about improving the future of West Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> youth and young adults. Joining the effort are the Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> State Department of Education<\/a>, Kamehameha Schools<\/a>, the County of Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span><\/a>, Queen Liliʻuokalani<\/span> Children’s Center<\/a> and several other West Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> organizations.<\/p>\n

The group, called Hōkūpaʻa<\/span> (the North Star or literally, the immovable star), held its first meeting in January to discuss the West Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> Complex Area’s ongoing need to align the work of programs, organizations and the community for better outcomes among youth and young adults ages 11 to 25.<\/p>\n

The group is motivated by sobering statistics<\/h2>\n

While nine percent of the overall working age population in the state of Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> has less than a high school diploma, a full 19 percent of the population in West Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> has less than a high school education, the highest percentage in the state (U.S. Census, 2006-2010 survey).<\/p>\n

Further, of the students who do finish high school, too few students are pursuing post-secondary education. While almost 26 percent of high school graduates in the state attend one of the UH<\/abbr> community colleges, the lowest “go rate” in the state is in West Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> at 15.8 percent. Further still, 28 percent of 16-19 years olds are neither employed nor enrolled in school.<\/p>\n

National research shows this puts these young people at greater risk for young adult poverty, unhealthy lifestyles, lower lifetime earning potential and increased reliance on social services.<\/p>\n

The idea for Hōkūpaʻa<\/span> started over a year ago, according to Kei-Lin Cerf<\/strong>, UH<\/abbr> Hilo’s new director of strategic community development for West Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span>.<\/p>\n

“At the time, West Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> Complex Area Superintendent Art Souza and I just wanted to start a conversation with sector leaders to ask what youth mentoring was needed to help make a significant difference for the community,” she says.<\/p>\n

The result is the forming of a dedicated group of leaders who want to have a much larger conversation about collective impact for West Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> that includes the input of a broad range of people and groups.<\/p>\n

The mission<\/h2>\n

The mission of Hōkūpaʻa<\/span> is to foster connection and communication between West Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> youth support partners and gather data to help make better decisions. The work will help all youth and young adult programs and services connect with each other to find ways to learn from each other.<\/p>\n

The high number of students in West Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> without a high school diploma is a big challenge for postsecondary education because these students are very likely not college ready. UH<\/abbr> hopes to change that with the opening of Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> Community College–Pālamanui. But students must be prepared for that option through support and intervention starting many years earlier.<\/p>\n

“The Hōkūpaʻa<\/span> project is well-conceived for our West Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> Community, where we, as educational, community and business leaders, have a particular ability to work together in close respectful networks,” says Marty Fletcher<\/strong>, director at UH<\/abbr> Center at West Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span><\/a>. “Our networks can create both a safety net for our young people as well as a lattice which they can climb to recognize and realize their aspirations, and ultimately to become part of a fabric which passes the same opportunities on to the next generation.”<\/p>\n

Kaeo Duarte, Kamehameha Schools’ director of strategic initiatives in West Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span>, says positive change across a region as diverse as West Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> will have a greater chance of succeeding if government, DOE<\/abbr>, UH<\/abbr> and private entities are genuinely communicating and working together.<\/p>\n

“We are all trying hard to accomplish our goals individually, but are fast coming to the conclusion that we become like paddlers in a canoe with great potential but not paddling in unison,” says Duarte. “You will move, but not necessarily as fast as you want and in the right direction. Hōkūpaʻa<\/span>’s goal is for all of us to listen to each other and the kahea (call) to hoe (paddle) as one.”<\/p>\n

“The Hōkūpaʻa<\/span> partnership helps us in West Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> to realize our dream of leading in and through communities,” says Souza. “The work of educating a child is the work of an entire community. Schools participating in trusting partnerships with our broader communities is crucial to caring for the social, emotional and academic wellness of all our children.”<\/p>\n

For the full story, visit the UH<\/abbr> Hilo Stories website<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

UH<\/abbr> Hilo and partners aim to improve future of education in West Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[204,14],"class_list":["post-31878","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academic-news","tag-education","tag-uh-hilo","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31878","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31878"}],"version-history":[{"count":20,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31878\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":149252,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31878\/revisions\/149252"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31878"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31878"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31878"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}