Recommended Hāmākua CDP Community Action Guide

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6.8 Preserve Informal Economies and Living off the Land............................................................................... 67 1.1 Why are Community Actions in the CDP? Though a CDP is adopted by ordinance and thereby establishes County policy, not all Community Objectives can be achieved through policy. Policy that guides decision-making is by definition reactive — it is only applied in reaction to an application (e.g., rezone, subdivision, etc.) to prevent things from being done that are inconsistent with Community Objectives. To truly achieve many Community Objectives, considerable proactive initiative is necessary. Because no one is as invested in these objectives as the people of Hamakua, most of the action has to be led locally by the community. Therefore, a category of actions within the CDP was developed that guides community-based, collaborative actions, or "Community Actic 1.2 Network Leadership 1.2.1 Local Leadership Fundamentally, any community-based, collaborative action in Hamakua will require leadership from within the community. Hamakua communities encompass a great capacity for leadership from both individuals and organizations, as demonstrated by the lengthy list of "community nodes" in Table 1: Existing and Potential Network Nodes in Hamakua. 1.2.2 Alli Hamakua is rich with allies with strong roots in the area. Notable examples include: ■ DOE and public charter schools in Hamakua are central to community life and are an economic engine, providing jobs and purchasing power. They are also in a Zone of Innovation, which creates the opportunity to use local schools as a platform for a range of community-based initiatives. ■ Hale Ho'ola Hamakua Hospital and Hamakua Health Center are both area employers and providers of critical community services. ■ North Hawaii Education and Research Center (NHERC) is a branch of UH Hilo located in the former hospital in Honoka'a. The center offers credit and non-credit courses, serves as a depot for providing student services for distance learning, and is equipped to serve as the originating source as well as the receiving site for distance education curricula. ■ Kamehameha Schools educates many of the children in Hamakua and is a major owner of conservation and agricultural land in Hamakua. Community Action Guide: 2017