Hawaii Family Literacy Consortium Meeting

Hawaii Family Literacy Consortium Meeting McKinley Community School for Adults, Room 105 April 7, 2005 9:00 am – 11:30 am

Purpose: To share updates that are occurring in family literacy at the national, state, and local levels. To give consortium partners an opportunity to share information about their programs/initiatives.

Present: Sol Kaulukukui – DOE Title I/HFLC Coordinator, Kalen Kitagawa – DOE Title I Even Start, Diane Iwaoka – DOE Family Support Section, Judy Tonda – DOE Homeless Concerns, Rodney Moriwake – Pope Elementary principal, Cathy Javor – Pope Elementary coordinator, Lora Perry – Pope Elementary coordinator, Pat Mizuno – Likelike Elementary coordinator and PE, Kristine Nakaoka – Likelike Elementary AE, Stephanie Bellefeuille – Nanaikapono Elementary coordinator, Monica Lapera – Naalehu Elem. and Inter. ECE and coordinator, Jennifer Dang – Honolulu Advertiser Newspaper in Education Program, Joy Tam – Kaahumanu Elementary ECE, Dawn Furushima – Kaahumanu AE, Pamela Webb – Kaahumanu Elementary coordinator, Gordon Miyamoto – Parents and Children Together, Lynne Waihee – Read To Me International President, Kim Hunter – Nancy B. Jefferson and Creative Writing Program, Chicago, Illinois, Joy Matsukawa – Wheeler Elementary coordinator/AE/PE, Leslie Shimokawa – Wheeler Elementary coordinator/AE/PE, Ann Casson – Waialua Elementary ECE PTT, Liz Chun – Good Beginnings Alliance, Sandra Ishikawa – FL Trainer.

I. Welcome and Introductions

a. Sol welcomed everyone and shared about a brief background of the HFLC in terms of why it is still continuing and valuing partnerships in support of family literacy. b. Participants from the different organizations introduced themselves.

II. Minutes from the previous meeting - approved

III. Sharing of programs

a. Family Literacy sites share one of their components of their program 1. Waialua Elementary: Book Light Family Night for Even Start parents children and their extended families. 2. Likelike Elementary: Human Resources Component has been expanded at Likelike via several projects in the community to enable the parents to give back and do for others (e.g. Blankies and Books; Books, tapes, and postage for Incarcerated Prisoners in partnership with Kiwanis Club). 3. Pope Elementary: Adult Education – Adult ed. students made their own Power Point presentations; they also composed a resolution regarding Even Start and its importance. Giving testimony is their next event. 4. Wheeler Elementary: Foodbank Drive – Even Start parents and Student

1 Council partnered to run this drive for their school. The parents used all of their literacy skills (Adult Ed. & Parent Ed.) to plan, coordinate, publicize, and monitor the drive; they used creative incentives to get full participation in this important schoolwide effort. They were honored to be recognized by the state and KITV as the public school that donated the most canned goods. 5. Naalehu Elementary: Family Night for Even Start parents and extended families. Session started and ended with a read aloud followed by dinner and craft stations. The event enabled them to develop relationships and get to know each other better. 6. Kaahumanu Elementary: PACT – Helping the parents understand the student standards and reading strategies. A Family Night enabled the parents to extend the stories read aloud via a “camp out.” 7. Nanaikapono Elementary – Used parent interests and school community to assist parents to develop their AE literacy skills (e.g. international foods and then a cookbook). Computer lab and assistance to develop stories to create their own books with their child. Parents can also continue on their books by taking home laptops purchased from project funds. b. Family Focus Group/Tabloid

Jennifer shared about the March tabloid – “Children Succeed When Schools, Families, and Communities Work Together,” which is meant to provide references and resources for families in Hawaii. An upcoming event will feature information to give a better visual of a graduating senior who best exemplifies the DOE’s vision of a public school graduate. She also shared “Eat a Rainbow” tabloid about the different colors of healthy foods that are important for families, schools, and other food-related businesses. Diane shared about the Family Focus Group’s activities involving many partners guided by the “He lei kiona ke keiki”, in which is the lei is symbolic of the child who is nurtured by many kinds of flowers represented by the different members of the home, school, community ohana. c. Good Beginning Alliance

Liz shared that activities and pieces like the family literacy tabloid support their policies. Local updates: 1. “Economic Impact of the Early Care and Education Industry in Hawaii” was released by Good Beginnings in its effort to garner the business community’s support for early care and education. 2. Hawaii State School Readiness Assessment is a critical component of the School Readiness Task Force’s strategy to improve school readiness and student achievement. Check the Good Beginnings or DOE website to check on the status of readiness indicators for schools which is completed by principals and Kindergarten teachers. 3. Upcoming events: May 4, 2005 A “Solutions to Ice” Symposium sponsored by Head Start, Tapa Ballroom and May 5, 2005 Central Union –

2 The keynote speaker will be Judy Langford, Center for the Study of Social Policy, Washington, DC. This event is for anyone working with families and in communities around health, safety, readiness, and early education who are interested in making cross sector linkages.

4. Legislation – HB222 will double the amount of money going into Open Doors scholarships. HB 1300 – Money for parent participation programs; this is an opportunity with outcomes for parents and children who must commit to participate. Also this bill has a task force to develop program quality for this bill, and another task force to determine what the next steps will be in support of early childhood initiatives in the state.

c. Parent Resource Kit

Sol shared about the Resource Kit, which has become a needed and sought after resource for many communities. Contact Talia Cardinas from Ho’owaiwai Na Kamali’i for more information about the kit and training.

d. Read To Me International Conference

Lynn Waihee, President of Read To Me International, shared about the RTM Conference on June 28-29, 2005. Featured authors will be Tomie dePaola and Demi. Please be sure to have some site parents attend this conference. Professional development DOE and ASK Core Area Credits are available. Also Lynn shared about the tape and the brochure: “It’s Never Too Early To Learn” that went out about two months ago. If sites want a tape and brochures, contact Lynne.

e. Literacy and Writing Program (Kim Hunter from Chicago)

Kim Hunter works in Chicago with incarcerated youth. Kim is a literacy specialist with the Nancy B. Jefferson/National Louis University Literacy and Creative Writing Program. The facility is the largest for incarcerated children in the country. Alternative school for elementary, junior high, and high school; most of these children are Black and Hispanic. Kim shared about the students he works with, his students’ poetry, and teaching strategies that he uses. He gave us a realistic view of his working environment along with photos of the facility and students. A good resource: Hearts and Hands: Creating Community in Violent Times by Luis Rodriguez.

IV. National, State, and Local Initiatives Updates

Sol shared a handout on the national NCFL rebuttal to Bush’s statement that Even Start does not work. We are looking at a 10% cut in Even Start funding for next year.

3 V. Next Steps

a. Announcements Literacy Tutor Training WS on June 13-16, 2005; OCISS Annex. Contact Helene Tom if interested at [email protected].

b. Website update Sol shared the HFLC website which Sol recently updated. You will see the article on Nanaikapono’s program, the HFLC minutes, next meeting, the tabloid, etc. He also asked for volunteers to work on an HFLC newsletter for this year. Also, he is planning to put the tabloid, “Children Succeed When Schools, Families, and Communities Work Together,” and the Read To Me conference registration on the website too as well.

c. Next meeting Thursday, August 4, 2005 9:00 am – 11:30 am Site to be announced (Kalen Kitagawa offered to share some things about her FAST program; Judy Tonda has offered to share information on her Homeless program at the next meeting)