LIHU‘E — Mayor Bryan J. Baptiste’s trip to the Big Island two weeks ago to visit Mayor Harry Kim benefited both island leaders, Baptiste said. Baptiste’s visit to Hawai‘i County’s adolescent, residential, drug-treatment facility, gave him pointers on how to
LIHU‘E — Mayor Bryan J. Baptiste’s trip to the Big Island two weeks ago to visit Mayor Harry Kim benefited both island leaders, Baptiste said.
Baptiste’s visit to Hawai‘i County’s adolescent, residential, drug-treatment facility, gave him pointers on how to build a similar facility in Hanapepe that would encourage Kaua‘i youths to beat back drug abuse, he said.
At the same time, Kim got insight into how Baptiste’s administration has implemented a program that will support programs to discourage drug use by youths, Baptiste said.
Baptiste and Bernard Carvalho, who heads the Kaua‘i County Offices of Community Assistance, flew to the Big Island to talk with officials there on matters of common interest to leaders of both counties.
During the meeting, Kim and his department heads heard from the Kaua‘i leaders about Kaua‘i’s after-school transportation program, Malama Na ‘Opio (Help the Children).
Kim felt the presentation was beneficial because his administration is planning or implementing something similar, Baptiste told reporters during a meeting in his office at the Lihu‘e Civic Center on Tuesday.
Malama Na ‘Opio, which started last month, offers bus service to and from a broad range of activities, including sports practices and games, sewing, cooking, drawing and ‘ukulele classes, and even hip-hop dancing, for middle and high-school students living in the Kapa‘a area and Kawaihau district, for a fee of $15 a month.
“We discussed our mayor’s vision of supporting Kaua‘i‘s youth through programs like this, and pointed out that the DOE (state -Department of Education) partnered with the county to make it happen,” Carvalho said.
Baptiste and Carvalho also visited Hawai‘i County’s adolescent residential alcohol and drug-treatment treatment facility, Ke Ola Hou.
Marimed Foundation, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to serve at-risk youth ages 14 to 18 through experiential education, operates Ke Ola Hou.
The facility has eight beds for boys only, but it also offers a day program for girls.
Located on a 14-acre site in Laupahoehoe along the Hamakua Coast (the northeastern portion of the Big Island), the project includes a greenhouse for agricultural instruction, a barn, solar power, and water-catchment system, creating a camp-like setting.
On Kaua‘i, construction funds for a 16-bed, adolescent, residential, drug-treatment facility, have been obtained through various sources, including county, state and federal governments, Baptiste said.
The building site in Hanapepe was the home of the Kauai Humane Society.
“Several service providers have expressed interest in running the youth program,” Baptiste said. “RFPs (requests for proposals) will be forthcoming.”
Visiting the Big Island facility and seeing its layout will help with the development of Kauai’s facility, Carvalho indicated.
“The fact-finding trip proved to be very informative, Carvalho said. “Seeing things first-hand is always better than someone simply telling you their perspective.”
- Lester Chang, staff writer, 245-3681 (ext. 225) or lchang@pulitzer.net.
