Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 28, Number 1, 1 January 2011 — OHA meets with key White House officials; Justice Department briefed on incarceration study [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

OHA meets with key White House officials; Justice Department briefed on incarceration study

By Jennifer Armstrong Office of Hawaiian Affairs Chairperson Haunani Apoliona and CEO Clyde Nāmu'o met in December with U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan, who serves as CoChair of the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Paeihe Islanders (WHIAAPI) and Kiran Ahuja, WHIAAPI Executive Director, to discuss partnership opportunities to develop solid strategies that will provide Native Hawaiians with increased access to education and other federal programs. The goal is increased student education achievement and outcomes, P-20, pre-school to PhD. As of spring 2009, Native Hawaiian students comprised 28 percent of the youth in the Hawai'i unified puhlie school system. Enrollment of Native Hawaiians in puhlie schools in rural communities exceeds 50 percent. OHA wants to close the gaps in educational achievements and outcomes experienced by many Native Hawaiians. While in Washington, Nāmu'o also met with the U.S. Department of Justice Community Capacity Development Office (CCDO) to discuss findings of the recent OHA study The Disparate Treatment ofNative Hawaiians in the Criminal Justice System. The Dec. 17 meeting was requested by the CCDO to learn more

about OHA's work with Native Hawaiians. Nāmu'o was joined by Amanda Petteruti of the Justice Policy Institute (JPI) to discuss the disparate treatment study, in whieh JPI was a major research partner. The report, whieh was released Sept. 28 of this year, shows that the criminal justice system incarcerates and unfairly treats Native Hawaiians at a disproportionate rate. "We are very fortunate to be able to meet with the CCDO on this important matter," said Nāmu'o. "Working with the judicial as well as with the legislative and executive branches is critical in achieving our desired outcome of making sure Native Hawaiians or any group is not being treated disparately." The CCDO promotes comprehensive strategies to reduce crime and revitalize communities by strengthening community capacity. OHA's meeting with the CCDO continues the work the agency is doing on the federal level to advocate

for the betterment of Native Hawaiians. Additionally, the CCDO requested help from OHA in identifying training curriculum on working effectively with Native Hawaiians and Native Hawaiian organizations. The proposed curriculum includes history of the people, culture, SEE BRIEFINGS ON PAGE 33

Haunani Apoliona

Clyde Nōmu'o

Kiran Ahuja

BRIEFINGS

Continued from page 5 social and eeonomie institutions, traditional justice systems, and impact of Native Hawaiians in/with criminal justice and juvenile justice systems. Equally important are prevention measures and victim resources. Separately, OHA's Dec. 15 meeting with White House officials focused on education. Meeting topics included the Native Hawaiian Education Act, the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, President's Blue Print, Native Hawaiian culture-based education and charter schools. OHA is the Native Hawaiian entity named in the Native Hawaiian Education Act with a seat on the Native Hawaiian Education Council. Successful education outcomes are a priority for President Barack Ohama, Hawai'i Gov.

Neil Abercrombie, Office of Hawaiian Affairs and the Native Hawaiian community. Also participating in this meeting were representatives from the U.S. Department of Education offices of civil rights, Native Hawaiian education programs, charter schools, teacher recruitment campaign and the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education and OHA staff from both Washington, D.C., and Honolulu. "We are taking action now by having productive discussions that identify how OHA ean most effectively partner with federal agencies to achieve better education opportunities for Native Hawaiians," said CEO Nāmu'o. OHA specifically requested support of the following issues: 1. Continued and increased funding of the Native Hawaiian Education Act (NHEA) as well as the assignment of specific representatives that will develop a closer working and consultative relationship

on Native Hawaiian education matters with OHA and the current State Council and Executive Director of the statewide Native Hawaiian Education Council. 2. Consider an exception for the State of Hawai'i regarding education-related grants that are limited to application by school districts. Hawai'i has only one unified school district, and if the state does not seek a particular funding opportunity, that opportunity is lost to Hawai'i and the Native Hawaiian eommunity. OHA is ready to meet with the Secretary's designated representatives to discuss alternatives, and is willing to explore the possibility of OHA applying as a quasi-independent state entity, to access these federal dollars. 3. Assign designated representatives to meet with OHA to identify specific partnership projects that OHA, WHIAAPI and U.S. DOE ean work together with Native Hawaiian Education Council to: • Increase school graduation

rates and standardized test scores among Native Hawaiians, while including an understanding of Hawaiian culture-based and language immersion modifications in standardized measures. • Increase funding to assure greater access to Hawaiian culture-based education programs and charter schools, and Hawaiian language immersion programs. • Increase availability of funding and technical resources for more effective data collection for outcome measures, analysis, and regular reporting of targeted strategies to achieve education results for Native Hawaiians, for accountability, program redesign and replication. 4. Join OHA in urging all federal agencies and others as required, to support full eomplianee with the current Office of Management and Budget race and ethnicity standards for data collection and reporting. This assures data is collected and reported on Native Hawaiians

and Other Paeihe Islanders as a category, and not blended in with other categories. Duncan, the Education Secretary, has asked Kiran Ahuja, Executive Director of the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Paeihe Islanders, to meet with OHA to identify partnership projects to further increase education outcomes forNative Hawaiians. "The overall purpose of OHA's trip to D.C. is to strengthen our relationships with the White House and federal agencies, identify opportunities to work together to increase Native Hawaiian access to education and other federal programs to achieve OHA's mission and strategic priorities," saidNāmu'o. OHA also met with the Hawai'i congressional delegation on the status of passage of the Native Hawaiian Government Reorganization Act. ■

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