Citing the need for more detail, the Board of Trustees of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs has delayed action on a proposal to hire people to help Native Hawaiians during the state’s post-Sept. 11 economic downturn. At a meeting in
Citing the need for more detail, the Board of Trustees of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs has delayed action on a proposal to hire people to help Native Hawaiians during the state’s post-Sept. 11 economic downturn.
At a meeting in Anahola Tuesday, the trustees sent the proposal back to an OHA committee to study it further.
Proponents say that up to 200 Hawaiians and non-Hawaiians who lost their jobs following since Sept. 11 could be employed for up to six months, opening the way for future employment.
Trustee Rowena Akana said the short employment can’t be meaningful.
But Robin Danner, an Anahola homesteader and proponent of the emergency recovery employment program, said the project would attract people with a wide range of skills who might not have thought of working for a non-profit group serving Hawaiians. Their expertise would benefit Hawaiians in the long run, she said.
Trustee Donald Cataluna said there were “too many loose ends” to support the proposal, however.
Danner said she took part in similar projects in Alaska that were successful. But trustee Colette Machado told her, “We haven’t looked at what you did in Alaska.”
The program calls for OHA to use $2.5 million in savings from its yearly budget for the Hawai’i project, which would be administered by the state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations
Machado said she wanted a guarantee the funds would be used for the benefit of Hawaiians and not for other projects.
Danner said an agreement between OHA and the state labor department could designate the funds solely for Hawaiian programs.
Machado was unconvinced, saying if this program is funded, other OHA projects might not be funded or receive less funding, cutting into their effectiveness.
“This is a whole new arena. This could open up the floodgates. We could be broke,” Machado said.
The program is intended to work in tandem with state economic revival programs. It was scheduled to start Dec. 1.
Eligible workers, who could be Hawaiian or non-Hawaiian, would make a flat rate of $12,390 for six months, including health insurance and workmen’s compensation.
Workers could be hired to work with OHA, Alu Like Inc., Self-Help Housing and the Hawaiian immersion programs in the state Department of Education.
Danner came up with the idea for the project after being personally moved by long lines at local unemployment lines on Kaua’i.
OHA officials said Danner has many years and diverse experience with economic, social and financial development programs with native Alaskans and Hawaiians.
Prior to the vote by the board, LaFrance Kapaka Arboleda, OHA’s liaison on Kaua’i, gave the board a petition with 125 signatures of people supporting the project.
Staff writer Lester Chang can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 225) and mailto:lchang@pulitzer.net
