Hawai'i to cradle Pacific Islander data

By Lynda Arakawa
Advertiser Capitol Bureau

Hawai'i will be host to the first national information center on Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander issues, organizers and Lt. Gov. Mazie Hirono announced yesterday.

The Pacific American Research Center was recently established with the help of a federal seed grant to help policymakers and others get information on the education, health, employment and housing needs of Pacific Americans. It is projected to begin providing services in June 2002.

Hirono, who testified in support of such an institute before the U.S. Senate Indian Affairs Committee, said the research will help garner more support for Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander programs. The research center's reports, which will build on Census 2000 data, will be used to identify areas that need more resources.

"I'm all for research-based, data-based decision-making as being the best way to truly be able to (in the) long-term help these communities," she said. "And it will definitely enable us to get money because these funders, they don't care about stories so much as, 'Here's the information, here's what we need.'"

Center director Guy Ontai, also a state representative, agreed.

"As a state legislator I also found that some of the data (on Pacific Americans) is mainly anecdotal and not really as well defined," he said. He said the Pacific American Research Center is modeled after the Urban Institute in Washington D.C., a nonpartisan research and analytical organization often tapped by Congress and other policymakers. "We want to ... provide that kind of nonpartisan data."

More people than ever in Hawai'i identified themselves — at least in part — with the "Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander" category in the 2000 Census. The Census also indicates that Native Hawaiians live in the poorest areas in the state, and state officials have said Native Hawaiians have some of the worst health statistics in the country.

Ontai said the center is primarily financed with a $162,290 grant from the federal Administration for Native Americans.

The center should become self-sufficient and provide information for a fee, Ontai said.

About half of Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders in the country live on the Mainland, mostly in California, Washington, Utah and Texas, according to 2001 U.S. Census data.

"I'm sure we're having the same problems on the Mainland that we do here," Ontai said.

The research center is affiliated with the non-profit Pacific American Foundation, formed in November 1993, which operates programs in Hawai'i and on the Mainland serving Americans of Pacific island ancestry.