Draft Annual Report to the Mayor

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2. Employment:  Launch awareness campaigns and provide educa?on to employers and the wider community about the capabili?es and contribu?ons of individuals with disabili?es.  Support and promote school-to-work transi?ons to enhance employment outcomes for young people with disabili?es.  Establish Hawaii County as a Model Employer of people with disabili?es. Set an example for the community by ensuring that the county provides inclusive and accessible employment opportuni?es.  Create incen?ves for employers. Encourage local businesses to provide jobs for people with disabili?es by oﬀering tax beneﬁts or other incen?ves. 3. Mental Health and Substance Use Disorders:  Address the lack of substance use and mental health treatment op?ons, especially in rural areas, by increasing access to qualiﬁed professionals.  Support residen?al treatment for minors, par?cularly for those in need of group therapy and support, which is not currently available in Hawaii County. Further, residen?al treatment for female-iden?fying individuals on MedQuest is also limited.  Have licensed mental health and substance abuse service providers go on calls with our police to beneﬁt those who are living with mental health and substance use disabili?es and provide support for oﬃcers.  Strengthen the availability of gender-aﬃrming services, par?cularly for LGBTQIA+ individuals, as treatment op?ons for this community are currently limited.  Expand awareness and accessibility of resources like the Clubhouses for mental health support.  Develop mental health courts in conjunc?on with the success of the county’s drug court, providing alterna?ves for those with mental health disorders who encounter the legal system.  Increase public awareness of available services, including collabora?ng with NAMI (Na?onal Alliance on Mental Illness) and providing be?er internet access to enable residents in underserved areas to access telehealth services.  Con?nue to support the county housing grant because it has been helpful  Con?nue to support the awareness and accessibility of resources like Narcan which saves lives. 4. Deaf/Hard of Hearing Support:  Increase the availability of ASL interpreta?on services and ensure that all Hawaii County departments include ASL services in their annual opera?ng budgets.  Provide ASL interpreta?on for all Civil Defense and Mayoral announcements during emergencies.  Expand educa?onal opportuni?es for the Deaf and Hard of hearing communi?es, addressing speciﬁc needs around emergency preparedness, job coaching, and access to community services.