Kalihi receives money for youth
By Gordon Y.K. Pang
Advertiser Capitol Bureau
Bernadette Afuola will be able to study an additional two hours every weeknight at the nonprofit Kokua Kalihi Valley youth center thanks to the persistence of staff at the state Department of Human Services.
Afuola, a 17-year-old Farrington High School senior, has been going to the center since she was a seventh-grader.
"Sometimes I can't do my homework at home, and I don't have access to computers or books. I'll have it at the community center. Or if I need help or advice, the staff will talk to us and help us out."
Afuola, one of more than 100 youths from the Kalihi Valley Homes housing project who are helped by the program, wants to go to college and enter the health field.
Janet Primiano, youth and family services coordinator at the youth center, said the facility's hours had been reduced because of budget cuts, but the center now can stay open to 8 p.m. as a result of the new contract awarded by the state.
Kokua Kalihi Valley yesterday was awarded a $151,054 contract by state Human Services director Lillian Koller. Two other contracts for youth services in the Kalihi area also were awarded: $196,122 for the Parents and Children Together's Kuhio Park Terrace Teen Center and $152,824 for the Susannah Wesley Community Center. All three contracts were made possible by federal financing.
Koller said the three were selected out of five applications through a competitive bid process. Each will run from Jan. 1 to Dec. 31, 2004, with an option for a one-year extension. An additional $50,000 will go toward covering miscellaneous expenses incurred by the agencies.
The awarding of the contracts can be counted as a minor victory for Gov. Linda Lingle, who was criticized over the summer when she line-item vetoed a $500,000 appropriation made by state lawmakers out of the so-called Rainy Day Fund to provide money for Kalihi youth service centers. It was part of $3.5 million in health and social services programs cut by Lingle in Senate Bill 1305. (It was one of six vetoes successfully overridden by the Democratic majority in both houses.)
But Koller said federal grant means that the $500,000 from the Rainy Day Fund can go back into the state general fund.
At the time of the veto, Lingle said that state attorneys determined that that segment of the bill was defective because it did not list precisely the recipients for the money. She also questioned the use of one-time money to pay for something that was in need of a permanent source of revenue.
"These federal dollars are replenishable every year, so this is a sustainable source, not (dependent on) the vagaries that the state funds have," Koller said yesterday.
When Lingle vetoed the bill, she promised to find an alternative source of money for the centers, and "we kept our word," Koller said.
State Rep. Dennis Arakaki, who heads the House Health Committee, said he was appreciative of the effort by Koller's department and acknowledged that the federal money provided a more consistent source of revenue.
However, Arakaki questioned why the Lingle administration cut the money for Kalihi's youth services in the first place. He said youth centers in other communities received grants, but not Kalihi.
"Obviously, the need was so great in this community," said Arakaki, D-30th (Moanalua, Kalihi Valley, 'Alewa).
In response, Sharon Agnew, executive director of the Office of Youth Services, said the agency last year sought information from youth service providers statewide on how to make the program run better.
"There was a competitive process, and awards were made based on giving funding to as diverse a field of communities as possible," Agnew said.
Kalihi was one of many communities that did not receive money as a result, she said, adding that less than half of about 40 proposals statewide received awards.
Reach Gordon Y.K. Pang at gpang@honoluluadvertiser.com or at 525-8070.
