FROM JUDITH’S DESK
It has been 14 years since Hawaii Youth Services Network raised its dues.
In 2000, the average cost of a gallon of gasoline was $1.90. Today it is $4.19. The training, partnership building, planning, and public policy development that we provide to you costs more too.
In 2013, Hawaii Youth Services Network conducted 14 workshops and 2 conferences totaling 134 hours of training. The cost to our members and supporters if you attended every one of these trainings: $80 per person. Four trainings were conducted on neighbor islands. HYSN provided more $15,000 in airline travel scholarships to ensure that youth workers statewide could participate.
HYSN brings more than $1.5 million in federal funds each year to Hawaii’s youth through our partnerships and collaborations. 62% of our total budget is passed on to partners in multi-agency projects.
HYSN is the voice of youth services to public policy makers and funders. We are working to improve the foster care and juvenile justice system; reduce unplanned pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections; and prevent bullying and violence.
Our membership dues provide the non-federal matching funds that allow us to leverage $1.5 million in funding for runaway and homeless youth, teen pregnancy and STI prevention and other important needs. It enables us to take on emerging issues that impact your community and youth population when other funding is not available.
So this year, we are finally raising our dues and adopting a graduated dues system based on your agency’s budget. Currently, dues are only $300 per agency. The following is the new dues schedule starting in September 2014:
| Budget Size | Dues |
| Under $500,000 | $400 |
| $500,000 – $2 million | $500 |
| $2 million – $5 million | $600 |
| $5,000,000 or higher | $750 |
If you have comments or concerns about the changes to Hawaii Youth Services Network’s membership dues structure, please contact me at 531-2198 ext. 1 or via e-mail at jclark@hysn.org
RESOURCES
SAVE THE DATE: SOCIAL ADVOCACY CONFERENCE- BUILDING BRIDGES TO A PROGRESSIVE AGENDA
Tuesday, September 16
8:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
Friends of Catholic Charities Hawaii Community Hall
Honolulu
The 2014 Advocacy Conference will bring together members of coalitions across the state to share information about their respective initiatives, and explore opportunities to collaborate on joint advocacy efforts in the 2015 legislative session.
The conference will be co-sponsored by the following organizations:
Hawaii Appleseed Center for Law & Economic Justice
Catholic Charities Hawaii
PHOCUSED (Protecting Hawaii’s Ohana, Children, Under-Served, Elderly & Disabled)
For additional information contact:
Trisha Kajimura
Social Policy Director
Catholic Charities Hawaii
Tel: (808) 527-4810
E-mail: trisha.kajimura@catholiccharitieshawaii.org
‘AHAHUI GRANTS AVAILABLE
If you are hosting a community event, then you may qualify for an Ahahui Grant of up to $10,000. Application and full details available at www.oha.org/grants. The second round FY 2015 “Ahahui Grant deadline is September 5, 2014.
STATE FEMALE HEALTH STATUS FACT SHEETS AVAILABLE
The Office on Women’s Health released a new set of state fact sheets on women’s health. Divided according to HHS Regions, each fact sheet provides a snapshot of demographic characteristics and information on a variety of health status indicators for females. These health status indicators include health conditions and risk factors, preventive services and screenings, prenatal care and pregnancy risk, teen health, and more.
ACT 201 AIMS TO REDUCE POPULATION AT HYCF
Hawaii officials aim to reduce the juvenile population at Hawaii Youth Correctional Facility by more than half in the next five years and use savings from the reduction to steer troubled youth toward a crime-free life, according to Gov. Neil Abercrombie’s office.
The effort is part of a bill Abercrombie signed into law last month. Abercrombie also signed a law that bans sentencing children to life in prison without the possibility of parole in Hawaii. “This is all part of an ongoing re-examination … of our criminal justice system,” Abercrombie said before signing the bills.
Act 201 attempts to improve the juvenile system by reserving the 56 beds at HYCF for serious juvenile offenders and diverting less serious offenders to group homes or other private institutions. That will reduce HYCF’s population by about 60 percent over the next five years and save the state about $11 million, according to the governor’s office. Last year the state spent $200,000 per bed at HYCF, the state’s only youth correctional facility.
Despite the six-figure cost, about 75 percent of youth released from the facility reoffend within three years, according to the bill.
“The focus of the bill is to really do all the work up front when the kid first starts getting in trouble, so you don’t have to use the back end,” said David Hipp, executive director of the Office of Youth Services, which oversees the youth facility. “All the research shows that once you start locking a kid up, you get diminishing returns.”
He said the state must wrap services around youths to keep them out of trouble, do the correct case management and follow up to keep youths from falling deeper into the system. He said the act provides funding to purchase services for youths and makes best practices nationwide into state law.
IMUA KAKOU LAUNCHED JULY 1
On July 1, the Hawai’i Department of Human Services (DHS) launched Imua Kakou, its new young adult voluntary foster care program designed to help young adults transition to adulthood, independence and self-sufficiency.
Signed one year ago by Governor Neil Abercrombie, Act 252 (Senate Bill 1340 – Relating to Foster Care) allows former foster youth to voluntary extend foster care to age 21.
“We are sending a clear message to former foster youth that we won’t abandon them simply because they turn 18,” said Governor Abercrombie, who strongly supported the measure. “We can effectively help them transition to capable, successful adults by offering programs and opportunities that will provide stability and support.”
This new program allows young adults who turn 18 years old in foster care, or those youth who were adopted or placed in a guardianship after age 16, to participate in the voluntary foster care program until age 21. Imua KÄkou provides extended foster board payments, case management support, housing opportunities, training in independent living, assistance in securing jobs or job training, and support to continue education. To participate, the young adult must be:
- completing high school or a program equivalent;
- enrolled in post-secondary or vocational education;
- participating in a program to promote employment;
- employed for at least 80 hours per month;
- or incapable of doing any of the above activities due to a medical condition.
Hawai’i was also the first state in the nation to extend Medicaid coverage to former foster youth until age 26.
TRAINING
WhyTry LEVEL 1 FACILITATOR TRAINING
September 24 – 25 8:30 a.m. – 3:30 p.m.
Location: McCoy Pavilion 1201 Ala Moana Boulevard Honolulu
About the WhyTry Program: The idea is simple: Teach social and emotional principles to youth in a way they can understand and remember. This is accomplished using a series of ten visual analogies. The visual analogies are then reinforced by music and physical activities.
Sponsor: Boys and Girls Club of Hawaii Cost:
$300 – Training only
$599 – Training including online curriculum
Contact Information:
Bjorn Trejo Direct: 801.705.6147 E-Mail: bjorn@whytry.org
Register online at http://www.whytry/training
GET MEDIA LITERATE! LOOK BEYOND THE FRAME
Saturday, September 20, 2014 10 am-3 pm
A one-day training for youth and youth program mentors Doors open 9:30 for Registration & Refreshments
Hawaii USA Federal Credit Union
1226 College Walk-Honolulu
(off Aala St. between Beretania & Kukui streets)
parking $3
some street parking
carpooling encouraged
- Build your skills to read, see, and listen to media more critically.
- Learn tools to decode misleading messages.
- Explore ideas about creating new alternatives.
Looking Beyond the Frame
The ability to analyze and evaluate media messagesis an essential first step in becoming media literate.
Deconstructing individual media examples, identifying the persuasion techniques used, and applying media literacy concepts are important skills that can lead to a deeper understanding of the media messages that bombard us every day. But this is just the beginning. True media literacy requires “looking beyond the frame” of the media message to examine its context.
Who Should Come:
Organizations that work with youth for empowerment and critical thinking. 3-5 representatives of an organization, including both youth and mentors, are encouraged to participate as teams.
Featured Trainer: Andrea Quijada,
Executive Director, Media Literacy Project
With more than a decade of experience as a media literacy trainer, and 20 years as a community organizer, Quijada has a deep passion for media justice. She presents nationally and internationally on the impact of media on culture, politics, and technology. She has co-founded various organizations in Albuquerque, including Young Women United, a reproductive justice organization by and for young women of color. She is particularly interested in media as a tool for self-determination and movement building.
For more information contact Hawaii People’s Fund
593-9969 HPFgrants@lava.net
Limited to 50 Participants
Please Register by September 5
Special Hawaii People’s Fund price: $50
Includes lunch snacks
*Neighbor Islands: Limited travel support available.
INSIDE HYSN
LEADERSHIP CHANGE AT PACT
Parents and Children Together has announced that CEO and President Ruthann Quitiquit will retire in the fall after 26 years of working with the agency and that Ryan Kusumoto, currently vice president of business operations at Goodwill Industries of Hawaii, will succeed her in the fall. Quitiquit joined PACT as the director of special services in 1988. She became CEO and president seven years later and helped PACT grow from a single-site agency on Oahu to a nonprofit that offers 16 programs in more than 50 locations. Kusumoto will also join PACT’s board of directors. He was a member of Pacific Business News’ Forty Under 40 Class in 2013 and joined Goodwill seven years ago.
CHILD & FAMILY SERVICES A 2014 HEALTHY EMPLOYER
Pacific Business News has named three Hawaii nonprofits — Child & Family Services,Hawaii Pacific Health and Kamehameha Schools — among its 2014 Healthiest Employers. CFS was selected in the medium-size company (100 to 499 employees) group and HPH and KS were among the winners in the large company (500 or more employees) group.