ROD OHIRA'S PEOPLE
Big Island native links rural groups to urban resources
By Rod Ohira
Advertiser Staff Writer
Jane Yamashiro, an expert at developing strategies for sustainable communities, has taught everyone from natives in Alaska's wilderness to farmers in rural Hawai'i how to create their own opportunities by becoming self-sufficient.
Bruce Asato • The Honolulu Advertiser
Locally, the 62-year-old Big Island native from Volcano has been the driving force behind Hawai'i's successful Agricultural Leadership Program, which is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, and the Rural Leadership Program.
Jane Yamashiro thinks of herself as a professional problem-solver. She has single-handedly secured millions in grants for nonprofit groups, especially in agriculture.
Both are developmental programs designed to create and generate self-opportunities and leadership within the agricultural industry and communities here.
As a skilled researcher, trainer and professional consultant, Yamashiro is a perfect role model for the programs.
She has won dozens of grants from national foundations and government to help support rural communities, agricultural groups, Native Hawaiian and Native Alaskan populations, community colleges and women. She once obtained $2 million in grant money for various programs in one year alone.
Her work with ag leaders, however, has been voluntary. She was among a group of Big Island leaders who founded the Agricultural Leadership Foundation of Hawai'i in 1982 and has been instrumental in securing money for the program.
"I don't think the program would exist today if not for Jane," said Donna Ching, an extension specialist for the University of Hawai'i's College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources. Ching coordinates the Agricultural Leadership Program, which conducts three-day sessions on strategies eight times a year.
Yamashiro is well respected for her knowledge and work in the field, here and abroad. Last December, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation sponsored her attendance to the prestigious Salzburg Seminar on community leadership in Austria.
She was only one of 17 Americans awarded a fellowship to participate in the seminar, which last year focused on the role of nonprofit organizations.
Yamashiro, a consultant on business extension and expansion for Enterprise Honolulu, described the seminar as giving her "a global perspective on my work and better ways to develop policies to strengthen the effectiveness of the nonprofits (to benefit Hawai'i communities)."
Yamashiro's expertise is wide-ranging and developing strategies is her strength, said Mary Matayoshi, Gov. Ben Cayetano's director of volunteer services.
"I recommend her all over the place, because she's good at what she does and is a spiritual person with solid life values who cares about people," said Matayoshi, who was director of Continuing Education and Community Services at UH-Hilo when she met Yamashiro. "Jane is able to bring clarity to thinking for groups who are struggling so they can keep focused on what they are doing. She is an uplifting person who is always open to new experiences."
A Hilo High and University of Washington graduate, Yamashiro has developed a sense for fixing problems and helping people from her diverse working experiences.
Before returning to Hawai'i in 1980 with her two adult sons from a first marriage, Yamashiro worked in Alaska for 15 years. Her first teaching job in Alaska was in Tyonek, a village in the Chugach Region south of Anchorage where some of the people are part-Hawaiian.
Two years later, she became a counselor for Native Alaskans working on the oil pipeline.
While working on a master's degree at the University of Alaska-Fairbanks, Yamashiro did field research that provided the state of Alaska with new ways of addressing legislative and administrative approaches to native self-determination issues related to alcohol use and abuse.
In Hawai'i, Yamashiro has been involved in program and policy development at UH, UH-Hilo and Maui Community College.
The key to facilitating is being a good listenser, Yamashiro said.
"As a professional problem-solver, the essence of what I do is listen to what people are complaining about and help them figure out what they need and how to get it," she said. "The first thing a facilitator has to do is identify what the problem is.
"It's often muddled by emotions and confusion," Yamashiro said.
"I don't go into a situation with a belief of what is right or wrong. I just listen to what the issues are."
Reach Rod Ohira at 535-8181 or rohira@honoluluadvertiser.com.
