Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 7, Number 9, 1 September 1990 — OHA seeks community input in plans [ARTICLE]

OHA seeks community input in plans

By Deborah L. Ward Protecting Native Hawaiian water rights. Providing the means to affordable housing, legal and medical services. Providing Hawaiian language and cultural education. These are some of the ideas that Hawaiians and agencies whieh serve Hawaiians think are important programs thatthey need. To assist the Office of Hawaiian Affairs to plan programs and prepare its budget for the 1991-1993 fiscal hiennium, OHA administrators and staff held a first-time ever series of statewide eommunity meetings in July to seek out grassroots ideas from Hawaiian communities. Meetings were publicized in newspapers, through radio and te!evision spots statewide, and through OHA offices and community networks. The ideas gathered from these "brainstormmg" sessions were all written down according to the mana'o of participants of all ages. Then the ideas from eaeh is!and meeting were assigned priorities by all those who attended. Ka Wai Ola O OHA presents in this issue the list of all 515 ideas generated by the 213 individuals who participated in the 13 community and agency meetings. It was the request of the participants that eaeh idea be published so that all Hawaiians could see the range of choices and priorities generated. The meetings were genera!ly well-received by community members, who expressed thanks to the OHA teams for coming to seek their ideas to incorporate into OHA's planning process. A small group of individuals who identified themselves as members of Ka Lahui Hawai'i picketed meetings on O'ahu and were critical that no trustees were present and that a budget had not been presented

for review. At one meeting they called for OHA to "self-destruct." Their comments are inciuded. Staff explained that the meetings were an administrative, not a trustee function and that the 1991-1993 budget had not yet been prepared. Budget hearings conducted by the OHA trustees will take plaee in the communities later this year, as required by a new law passed this year. The brainstorming process used by OHA staff conducting the meetings, is called the Delbecq method. It was chosen to allow everyone in the audience the opportunity to contribute ideas in such a way that the process is not dominated by a few people. OHA administrator Richard Faglinawan said what OHA learns from the community meetings will be the basis for OHA's budget planning. He said the process shows OHA is accountable to its beneficiaries, and accountable to the legislature for how its funds are spent. Acting OHA planner Christine Valles noted that OHA's planning process means looking at the needs and desires of Hawaiians, looking at the resources available, looking at what other organizations ean do better, looking at OHA's mandate, looking at directives from the board of trustees, and then making choices about what ean be done now, what to do later, and what to help others (agencies, other organizations) to do. Ideas from the meetings will be grouped by subject matter to aid in eaeh division's planning. Some ideas will involve more than one division (for example, the land division and public information) and in those cases, divisions will work together to coordinate plans. Valles noted that OHA might not be able to act immediately on every idea. Some programs will

build on others with time, for example. However, she stressed that all ideascomingout of the process would be recorded, and that no ideas would be lost or ignored. A complete summary of eaeh meeting's ideas will be sent to those who attended it and who signed the attendance list. Agency members will also be sent summaries so they will know what their community's top concerns are. After the brainstorming session concluded, people were invited to stay and talk to staff about their concerns. OHA staff conducting the meetings in small teams were: administrator Richard Paglinawan, eeonomie division officer Linda Colburn, education/culture officer Rona Rodenhurst, government affairs officer Jalna Keala, acting planner Christine Valles, assisted by •* planning consultant Holly Henderson of Integra- <4 ted Outcomes, and OHA administrative services % officer Martin Wilson, public information officer Ed Miehelman, education specialist Calvin Eaton, health specialist Babette Galang, and Ka Wai Ola O OHA staff Deborah Ward and Ann L. Moore. Following the community meetings in July, staff compiled and summarized the program suggestions and began work on draft functional plans. The plans serve as a basis for draft budget preparation whieh then goes to the OHA Board of s§ Trustees for review. In October, community meetings on the draft budget are planned. Public comment on the budget will be invited, then later compiled, and the final budget will be prepared. OHA must present its final biennium budget request to the state legislature in December. The budget will be heard at public hearings in the spring 1991 session.