Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 28, Number 7, 1 Iulai 2010 — The NFL Youth Education Town Hawaiʻi: [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

The NFL Youth Education Town Hawaiʻi:

By Lisa Asato KaWai Ola t's a sunny summer day in Nānākuli and it's good day to be a kid at the NFL Youth Education Town Liawai'i. Outside, boys and girls play sham battle and llag football to get their daily exercise, while inside a center classroom a younger group in a weeklong science program awaits the afternoon lesson. Today's topic? "Decomposers!" they exclaim, answering their teacher's question of what earthworms and isopods are. In a moment, they'll head outi side to dig in the grass for isopods, aka potato bugs, for an experiment. But for now, they lean eagerly forward as teacher Miehael Fricario II, who teaches fourth and fifth grade at Mililani 'Ike Elementary, I reads a story about an earthworm's life. "What do decomposers do?" Fricario asks. "They make minerals in soil," says 9-year-old Kalena Sione. "How do they do that?" "They eat dead stuff and they poop it out," Sione adds. The visiting science program at the NFL YET Hawai'i is part of the educational curriculum offered by the Boys and Girls Club of Nānākuli, whieh operates the center on Hawaiian homelands next to the new Nānāikapono Elementary School campus on Mano Avenue. The center also offers tutoring, computer and typing skills, health and fitness, a media lab funded by former all-pro quarter back Steve Young's Forever Young Foundation, as well as aleohol- and drug-prevention programs and a program called Nā Mahi'ai Keiki, or Keiki Farmers, whieh teaches the children the Hawaiian values of land management. "In caring for a 21st century

ahupua'a, our youth members will earn the traditional Hawaiian values of aloha 'āina, love for their land, and mālama 'āina, caring for the land," Clubhouse Director Mike Kahikina said at a June 2 dedication ceremony of the center's new Native Hawaiian garden. The newness of the center is reflected in the young taro sprouting in a plot at the far corner of the property. The NFL YET Hawai'i opened a year ago in this West O'ahu community - one of only 15 NFL YET centers in the nation and the only one in a non-Super Bowl city. When the National Football League promised $1 million in matching funds if other donors could eome up with $3 million, the funds eame flooding in: about $1.4 million from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development with the help of U.S . Sen. Daniel Inouye, $1 million from the city through a eommunity development block grant, $2 million from the state grant-in-aid program for capital improvement projects, and $100,000 eaeh from Hawaiian Electric Co. and the James and Abigail Campbell Foundation. With the high eoneentration of Native Hawaiians in the area OHA also provided a grant for the center's programs, including the Native Hawaiian garden, of $58,650. Clubhouse Director Mike Kahikina said in the past year the center, whieh provides the first permanent home for the Boys and Girls Club of Nānākuli, has made a "tremendous difference" for the youth. The center, he said, is the realization of a community vision, whieh set a priority for establishing youth programs in the area. "This is the safe haven for the kids, and as you ean see we try to empower them," he said, pointing to lessons in ownership and

sustainability. The building features energy-saving light fixtures, low-llow toilets and solar panels, and the center is applying for gold certification by LEED, or Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. To attend the center, youth members pay $1 a year and $100 for the daylong summer program. The center has 635 members, including two of Jade Paredes' daughters, Kamaile, 9, and Ku'ulei, 11. Their 15-year-old brother Ka'imi is a volunteer. Paredes, who lives with her husband and family in Mā'ili, said it means a lot to have someplace safe and educational for the kids to go right in their own community. "To tell you the truth, if this plaee wasn't here there would be no other plaee to go," she said. Here, her children learn that everything has life and should be respected. "It's about the environment you're around and it's about the people who mentor you" who make a difference in children's lives, she said. "Especially nowadays with the drug epidemics and homelessness, we want to give our kids every opportunity to succeed." Outside, watching the flag-foot-ballgame,Angel Kaiu-Brown, 12, says her favorite part of the program is the outdoor sports. Today, though, she's opting to fill the role of cheerleader along with 1 l-year-old Chantell Kaawa and 9-year-old Kazual Galeon-Kekuawela. Taking note of the "eool" sustainable aspects of the center, including the water-catchment system that feeds the taro, KaiuBrown said the Native Hawaiian garden, whieh will grow sweet potato, banana, and ti leaf is "awesome." But the taro, she says, is her "favorite part, because when it's ready, I think we might be able to eat it." ■

LEFT: Visiting science teacher Miehael Fricario II helps Kalena Sione, Elijah Cameros and Charles Kaohu find isopods. - Photo: John De Mello. T0P: U.S. Sen. ūaniel lnouye, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Deputy Secretary Ron Sims and Mayor Mufi Hannemann took part in the ceremonial planting of a kukui tree. MIDDLE: Respected kūpuna and community leader Aunty Aggie Cope with U.S. Sen. Daniel lnouye. B0TT0M: At a dedication of the center's new Native Hawaiian garden, OHA Chief Operating Officer Stanton Enomoto and state Department of Hawaiian Home Lands Deputy Director Anita Wong turn soil at the base of a young kukui tree with the help I of Kahu Kamaki Kanahele. - Photo: Lisa Asato

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