About 1,000 people attended the three-day joint convention of the Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement and the Washington, D.C.-based National Coalition for Asian Pacific American Community Development that concluded at the Hawai'i Convention Center last night.

The gathering was the first collaborative meeting of the two organizations with the goal of addressing common issues affecting Native Hawaiians, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. Forum topics included small business, affordable housing, voting, immigration, community development and nonprofit organizations.

About three-fourths of the registrants were from Hawai'i. All four members of Hawai'i's congressional delegation spoke at the meeting, as did Gov. Linda Lingle.