2012-57 SPACE SPP 1122 Amend - Laserfiche WebLink

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0 0 History and Background of the Applicant Overview Hawaii's Volcano Circus (HVC) was founded by 35 professional performers and educators in 1984. The non profit organization has been operating from TMK 1- 2 -009- 034 since it was purchased by the Village Green Society in March 1987. Over the last 25 years the educational programs and the physical development of the subject property has been conducted almost entirely with volunteer labor. At present HVC has, one half -time employee and one part time employee plus a handful of contracted employees paid less than $ l ,000 annually. Community Served The location is situated within one of the least served and most needy areas of the Puna district. Within a one mile radius there are three subdivisions with over 1200 house lots and a potential population of over 3,000 residents. Special Permit #1122 states "located in Puna, Hawaii's Volcano Circus provides additional educational, cultural and recreational benefits for a rural community that undeniably has the most social, economic and educational problems in all of Hawaii and has been recognized by many authorities as being in great need of positive input on all levels." Puna, with a population of about 38,000 is one of the most economically depressed areas in Hawaii and leads the state in teenage pregnancies, domestic violence, and drug abuse, with an exceptionally high population of alienated students, broken homes, low income families and high school dropouts. (The state of Hawaii as a whole ranks 4th in the nation for high school dropouts, 11 th for children living in poverty and 7th for percentage of children living in single family homes.) While growing at a rate of 76.8% over ten years (State average 14.9 %) Puna has some of the highest levels of poverty in Hawaii. At the same time Puna district is seriously lacking in infrastructure, particularly for children's services and activities. Its schools are overcrowded and have disciplinary problems. There are limited social activities available for students outside of school. Pahoa, Keonepoko and Kea'au Schools are all on the State list of Special Needs Schools. The Department of Education (D.O.E.) budget cuts have consistently reduced the schools' ability to provide their own funds for cultural and recreational activities. Due to its rural location and virtual absence of public transportation, the 9,000 students and youth of Puna, lack easy access to many recreational, cultural, artistic and social events. Most people live miles down unpaved roads, there is no dedicated youth center, no public beaches and few accessible park facilities. Poverty combined with a lack of many services in our area creates an environment ripe for a plethora of deviant behavior. Hawaii's Volcano Circus. Hawaii's Volcano Circus (H.V.C.) has been active with educational, cultural and entertainment programs since 1984. our activities have always been developed as a response to the growing needs of our local community. Until 2008, when the Seaview Performing Arts Center for Education (SPACE) opened, we were best known for 7 �