Stacey Gillette stepped into Keiki to Career seven months ago wanting to make a difference in the lives of Kauai’s youth. The mission was so compelling that she temporarily left her daughter and husband on the Mainland until they are able to join her.
TGI: Tell me how you came to Kauai.
STACEY: I’m originally from the East Coast. Born in Baltimore, Md. Lived in Germany for a year as a child, which was great. I got to travel and it really inspired my sense of discovery and adventure. In 1996, I went to Washington state, and moved on to Tacoma, where I lived for 12 years during which time I met my husband, bought a house and had a daughter who is now 7. I worked for nonprofits when I first got out of school. In fact, most all of my career has been working for public service and community service oriented organizations. I quickly realized that was my calling.
TGI: How did you realize that?
STACEY: Like most people who get involved in community service work, I had some challenges myself when I was younger. My mom was on public assistance, she was a single parent. I remember the nights, you know same story as a lot of people, when there wasn’t a lot to eat but she made it work. I think that the experience of going through that, and realizing how important it is to care for one another, helped me see I wanted to do community service work. I ended up working for a program in Tacoma that helped find housing for young women with children, who were homeless and needed support. So everything was coming full circle. I’ve been pretty lucky in my life to have the people there to lift me up and support me and so I think my legacy is naturally to support other people and do community work. I was with that housing program for a couple years and moved into development work for a food bank, a distribution site. We helped literally thousands of people throughout the state.
TGI: Oftentimes people who live through adversity rise to the occasion. Is that the case with you?
STACEY: Well, I think it’s the pay it forward mentality, so I feel like I was certainly able to overcome a lot of challenges. I, like every kid growing up, made some bad choices and I made some great choices. I think the difference was there were always people there to support and care for me and be there when I needed them to be there. The little seeds that are planted are so critical and that is what I really think about in the work I do today. Sometimes you don’t know what you’re about to say or do for someone that can completely change their life. I had a couple of those moments in my life.
TGI: Can you give me examples of a few of those times when someone was there for you?
STACEY: When I was in high school, I fell into the wrong crowd and made some really bad choices at the time and I ended up facing the consequences and getting involved in the legal system. It wasn’t serious but serious enough to really open my eyes and make me think. And I had a counselor at the time that recognized that I wasn’t that kind of person. I wasn’t a bad person. The counselor didn’t judge me and I appreciated that. It was someone who was just willing to listen and to support and also push me a little bit to really think about, ‘Is this the path that you want to be on, you know, because if you continue on this path, you’re really early with one pretty minor mistake, but if you keep going it is going to get a lot worse.’ And so I think that person said the right thing to me at the right time.
TGI: Do you remember the person’s name?
STACEY: I wish I did. But I don’t. That person was with a nonprofit and doing a lot of the work I’m doing now, supporting a lot of nonprofits. Because I know that those people have the opportunity to again make a huge difference in someone’s life. And that is amazing work. That’s not my gift. My gift is much more behind the scenes, in terms of how to support the providers. Their gift is tremendous. I can’t say enough good things about the people who give their heart and soul to work with people who need help.
TGI: What are the primary things you’ve been able to accomplish after the founders and organizers of the program laid the groundwork for Keiki to Career?
STACEY: My first thing was just learning. And really trying to understand the groundwork that had been laid, but also really trying to understand the community, who were the providers, where the partnership opportunities are, trying to learn more about the culture and being aware of the fact that I had a huge learning curve. So I hope one of the first things I was able to do was enter the initiative in a way that allowed people to feel comfortable with me as a person. I didn’t want to come in and portray myself as someone who would suddenly interrupt all the great things that were happening. The next thing that I really needed to do was to find opportunities where people have energy and one of those has been a partnership with the Chamber of Commerce.
TGI: I understand you have a 7 year old who will be joining you on Kauai next year with your husband. What do you hope the Keiki to Career program will mean to her over the next 10 years?
STACEY: I hope she is able to reach her full potential. We want young people to not just survive but thrive. We want them to feel connected with their school, their community, their family and I really hope I have served as a role model for my daughter in following my dreams. Being separated from her has been difficult but I made a commitment to be here and in my heart I knew this was the right place for me and I can hopefully give a lot to the community. But I hope her seeing that shows her you really can do anything. You are the master of your own destiny and it takes a lot of people supporting you. I know that I’ve planted a seed in her to follow her dreams and that is not just her, I would hope that for every single young child on Kauai, that they are surrounded by people who care for them. And that they have the opportunity to learn both in and out of school to connect back to their culture. I think in many ways my hope is that the foundation that is being laid by all the partners, by the people in the schools and the nonprofit programs, government programs that they’re weaving together the fabric of what is going to be the safety net for our community and so if my daughter does fall, not only will I be there to pick her up, but the community itself will be there to pick her up. My job is an extension of who I am and I have an obligation to give back, because that is the skill and the passion I’ve been given.
TGI: Have you ever seen the kind of community togetherness like you’ve seen on Kauai, perhaps when you lived in Germany?
STACEY: That’s a good question. Not to take anything away from any of the communities I’ve worked in, but I see it here more than anywhere, although I think Germany is the most like this community. Everyone knows everyone and I have seen really amazing things happen where complete strangers have helped others. People give and people receive and I want to be a part of that.
TGI: There’s a phrase, it takes a village to raise a child. Is Keiki to Career that concept?
STACEY: It is. We’ve used that expression in some of our work, because it does take a village. I cannot tell you the number of people who’ve helped us raise our daughter. Teachers, principals, neighbors, friends, family, child care providers, doctors, dentists, so I’d like to say every single person that touches the life of a child plays a role. It truly takes a village to raise a child.
TGI: Did you ever see the movie Pay it Forward?
STACEY: Yes, I have seen it. Kids themselves are amazingly generous. Their nature is to connect and support and that really is the culture here. I think the challenge with kids is that if they do get off track, how do we guide and support them? We think of it as a roadmap entering kindergarten, making sure the kids are ready for school, learning to read is huge in third grade and is one of those check points on that roadmap because that is when kids go from “learning to read” to “reading to learn” so that is the gateway to learning. In middle school, we start to see some of the behavioral issues, making healthy choices in general for their physical well-being and then into high school and making sure students are on track to advance their education and really be able to enter a career of their choice.
TGI: Keiki to Career seems like it could be a model for other communities nationwide.
STACEY: Other communities are engaging in this kind of work. We’re certainly the only initiative of its kind happening in Hawaii. I’ve been informally supporting community leaders on other islands and it is part of what is generating statewide attention, because no one else has been doing it quite like we’ve been doing it in Kauai. It is such an honor to be the first.
• Lisa Ann Capozzi is an education/features reporter and can be reached at lcapozzi@thegardenisland.com.
