EDITORIAL
Filipino Community Center: realized dream

The dream began decades ago with a grassroots fundraising effort. Hawai'i's Filipinos yearned for a gathering place where they could promote their culture, and the money came in dribs and drabs.

The downturn in the economy in the early 1990s created pressing social service needs, so the vision changed and got bigger.

Yesterday marked the official opening of the new $14 million Filipino Community Center in Waipahu, aptly coinciding with the start of the Mabuhay Festival, that commemorates the Philippines' independence from Spain in 1898.

As promised, the facility, also known as the "FilCom Center, is designed to accommodate a wide range of community services, including a healthy-start program administered by Kapi'olani Medical Center for Women & Children and an alcohol and drug abuse outreach program. The banquet hall is already booked through the end of the year with weekend night events.

It's run as a business to keep it financially sound in the long term: "We don't want to be mired in capital debt over a long period of time," says Eva Laird Smith, executive director of the Filipino Community Center. "Ethnic community centers today have to be a business, too, to survive."

Indeed, the three-story center is a tribute to Filipino resilience and entrepreneurship. The Filipino community represents about 14 percent of Hawai'i's population, and deserves a center that symbolizes the diversity and unity of the Filipino community in the Islands.