Waipi'o Valley (Focused Discussion) Community Actions Handout

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Community Action 20: Strengthen Community capacity through the Hawai'i Community Stewardship Network. Need: In order for the Waipi'o Community to be actively involved in management and implementation of a master plan, it needs to build capacity and support. Potential Community Lead: Action Committee, Community Circle of Waipi'o Valley (Friends of the Future) Potential Community Partners: Community Circle of Waipi'o Valley (Friends of the Future), Bishop Museum, Kamehameha Schools, residents, other landowners, taro farmers Potential Next Steps: The Action Committee can provide leadership by: • Partnering with organizations that help build community capacity to implement programs to achieve their community objectives, such as resource protection. One such example in the state is HCSN. HCSN helps communities that request support to improve their quality of life through caring for their environmental heritage. HCSN provides resources and technical assistance in the following areas: community advocacy, natural and sociocultural resources management, youth engagement, community-based economic development, capacity -building for community-based organizations, and monitoring and evaluating program impacts. HCSN also convenes the E Alu Pu (move forward together) network consisting of 25 communities statewide, including Ka 'Ghana o Honu'apo, Ka 'Ghana o Honaunau, Kalapana Fishing Council, Kama'aina United to Protect the 'Aina (Ho'okena), and Pa'a Pono Miloli'i. HCSN's vision for community stewardship is that the following four conditions are a broad-based reality in Hawai'i: • Communities are decision -makers. Community members understand the political and legal processes that affect the environment, and they actively participate in those processes and with the responsible agencies. They are proactive, working to put their vision into place, and they remain maka'ala (aware) of proposals that would erode their vision. • Communities are resource managers. Community members — especially those that understand their environmental heritage through consistent interaction with it — are active participants in the day-to- day, on -the -ground management of a place, and they pass the knowledge, skills, and kuleana ethic to upcoming generations. • Communities adapt to lessons learned and changing conditions. Community members consistently monitor their management activities and regularly assess how changes to environmental, social, or political conditions may be affecting their efforts. They improve and adapt their activities accordingly. • Communities sustain their projects for as long as is needed to reach their goals. Community members build economically viable and institutionally strong projects or organizations that are supported by an engaged community that effectively manages conflict. Draft Hamakua CDP hamakua@hawaiicounty.gov www.hamakuacdp.info