In North Kohala, one of our mottos is, “If we want it, we make it; If we broke it, let’s fix it.”
Years ago, North Kohala had one of the highest statistics of substance abuse and teen pregnancy in the state. Our Kohala community joined forces with Susan Labrenz, past director of the YWCA; Jane Testa of the County of Hawaii Office of Aging; the Kohala Senior Citizens; and many other businesses throughout the island, to build a center — the KIC.
This Kohala Intergeneration Center in the heart of Kohala was built by community volunteers, who then donated the facility to the County of Hawaii in 2002, to focus on intergeneration programs.
Nine years ago, an Oahu-based nonprofit called Partners In Development Foundation leased the center from the county Parks and Recreation Department and established two flagship programs: Tutu and Me, a traveling preschool, and the KaHana No‘eau Youth Mentoring Program, with AVID partnering in four area schools.
AVID — or Advancement Via Individual Determination — is a nationwide college-readiness system designed to increase the number of students who enroll in and complete a degree at four-year colleges, focusing on students in the academic middle. The formula is to raise expectations of students.
Originating at the high school level, the program now serves grades 4-12, through the AVID College Readiness System for elementary and secondary schools, and AVID for Higher Education for colleges.
For the past nine years, KaHana No‘eau Mentoring Program was fortunate to serve more than 700 students from grades 7-12 from Kohala Middle School, Kohala High School, Honokaa High School, Paauilo Middle School and Konawaena High School. The after-school, hands-on mentoring programs built upon students’ “Self-esteem and Developing Skill Sets” in 10 areas.
Programs offered to the students were in areas of animal husbandry, culinary arts, Hawaiian saddle-making, natural farming, automotive technology, graphic arts, taro production, ukulele construction, landscaping and farm-to-table production. KaHana No‘eau provided training funds to teachers in each of these schools to establish the AVID program. The teachers from each school were trained to implement various strategies to raise student’s achievement scores.
The KaHana No‘eau Mentorship Program was not awarded the USDOE NHEP grant this year, and we regret to announce the closing of this program in all of the schools.
There have been many community partners, mentors and staff personnel who worked tirelessly for more than nine years, for which we are very appreciative.
As program director, I would like to personally take this opportunity to express my mahalo to each and every mentor, staffer, teacher and KIC Advisory Board member, and to County of Hawaii Parks &Recreation Department personnel, PIDF — our parent nonprofit, parents and, especially, the mentees who have made this program such a success.
More than 90 percent of mentee participants are college graduates and some still are attending post-secondary education. I wish you all the success as you become the next generation of contributing community members.
Mahalo to the many who participated in our monthly Ohana Nights, annual hoike and the fun, innovative food-sustainable “Cook Off” competitions.
The success of our program is credited to everyone working together with commitment for the success of the students to reach their highest potential.
They are the future leaders of our island home.
David Fuertes, Program director
KaHana No‘eau Mentorship Program
Kapaau
