What is the name of your solution?
Clear Messaging
Provide a one-line summary of your solution.
To constantly release messaging that Education is critical to the success of Native Hawaiians.
In what city, town, or region is your solution team headquartered?
Honolulu, HI, USAIn what country is your solution team headquartered?
What type of organization is your solution team?
Nonprofit
What specific problem are you solving?
Although the Native Hawaiian community has been working on improving its socio-economic status for more than 50 years and has made accomplishments on an individual level, our people as a whole are still struggling. We have the worst statistics for homelessness, incarceration, living below poverty level, and substance abuse. Most recently we have high rates of human trafficking and sex trafficking. We have high rates of high school dropouts and low rates of college degrees. Although the unemployment rate for Native Hawaiians is the same as other groups in Hawai'i, Native Hawaiians earn less money. Recent studies tell us it is because Native Hawaiians have fewer job skills and less education. We are still suffering from PTSD from the overthrow of our kingdom in 1893 and one hundred years of marginalization of our culture and identity in our own home.d
Our situation is exacerbated, especially as to homelessness (which we call "houselessness"), by the global demand of people who want to live in and invest in Hawai'i. They cause our real estate prices to constantly accelerate. The average cost for a simple, standalone 3-bedroom home in Hawai'i now costs more than $1 million. Very few Native Hawaiians can afford it.
The size of the Native Hawaiian community is about 650,000. This project would affect all of the Native Hawaiian community.
What is your solution?
My solution is to constantly send clear messaging throughout the Native Hawaiian community that staying in school is important. Going to school from pre-school through K-12 is critical. Graduating from high school is critical. This message is not only for children but also for their parents because pockets of Native Hawaiian parents do not stress to their children the importance of going to school.,
The message would also be that high school is not enough. To have control over one's life and future, a college degree is very helpful.
The messaging campaign would include cell phone "apps" with messages designed for parents and children/youth of all ages. It would be a continual message for at least 20 years that would be updated constantly. It would be reinforced by advertising campaigns on TV and radio and in print. It would be a constant message to change the mindset that education is critical.
Which Indigenous community(s) does your solution benefit? In what ways will your solution benefit this community?
The target population is all Native Hawaiians, a total of approximately 650,000 people. I know the needs of this community because I am a member of this community. I have had the privilege of education and have observed the difference in individuals and families when a college degree is obtained. I've talked to other Native Hawaiians about this dilemma, and they agree.
Having a high school diploma and college degree will help Native Hawaiians to obtain the best jobs and pay. They will have the skills to start their own companies and obtain loans. They will have many more options. They can direct their lives better rather than be floating in the circumstances of the global world that keeps affecting our homeland
How are you and your team well-positioned to deliver this solution?
I and the friends I have discussed this with and those I would recruit to join us are the right people because we care deep in our na'au (gut) about the Native Hawaiian community and we have the experience of having struggled in our own lives and seen how education makes all the difference.
Which dimension of the Challenge does your solution most closely address?
Drive positive outcomes for Indigenous learners of any age and context through culturally grounded educational opportunities.Which of the UN Sustainable Development Goals does your solution address?
What is your solution’s stage of development?
ConceptWhy are you applying to Solve?
I am applying to Solve because you have the expertise to help talk-through and guide this project and to help develop cell phone "apps" and other technology.
In which of the following areas do you most need partners or support?
Who is the Team Lead for your solution?
Mona Bernardino
Please indicate the tribal affiliation of your Team Lead.
Native Hawaiian
How is your Team Lead connected to the community or communities in which your project is based?
Member of the Native Hawaiian community.
What makes your solution innovative?
On one hand, it may seem that this solution is not innovative. It's just a message that nearly every parent or community could say. But what makes it innovative is that this message is not getting said. It needs to be said over and over again until pursuit of education and higher education becomes one of our core values.
Describe in simple terms how and why you expect your solution to have an impact on the problem.
It will have an impact because parents and youth and young adults will start to internalize the necessity of education. We will share real-life examples of Native Hawaiians who improved their lives and that of their families by staying in school and getting an education.
What are your impact goals for your solution and how are you measuring your progress towards them?
Impact would be measured by the increase in numbers of Native Hawaiians who graduate from high school, and who get different forms of higher education -- vocation certifications, A.A. degree, B.A. or B.S. degree, graduate degrees, etc.
Describe the core technology that powers your solution.
We would use apps that include traditional knowledge and comparisons to traditional technologies that Native Hawaiians applied for centuries. We would reference traditional irrigation techniques, for example, and draw analogies to ways to address modern-day dilemmas and make thoughtful decisions using our ancestral knowledge.
Which of the following categories best describes your solution?
A new application of an existing technology
Please select the technologies currently used in your solution:
In which parts of the US and/or Canada do you currently operate?
Hawai'i
Which, if any, additional parts of the US or Canada will you be operating in within the next year?
Hawai'i and continental U.S., mostly on the west coast such as California and Nevada where a significant number of Native Hawaiians have moved to.
How many people work on your solution team?
So far only two of us, on a volunteer, talk-story basis.
How long have you been working on your solution?
We first started discussing this in 2017.
Tell us about how you ensure that your team is diverse, minimizes barriers to opportunity for staff, and provides a welcoming and inclusive environment for all team members.
We would welcome Native Hawaiians of all backgrounds for discussion and understanding. We would welcome non-Hawaiians who want to help us. One of our core beliefs is that diversity brings a wide spectrum of options and viewpoints, which leads to the best solutions.
What is your business model?
Probably non-profit. Help the community where help is needed.
Do you primarily provide products or services directly to individuals, to other organizations, or to the government?
Organizations (B2B)What is your plan for becoming financially sustainable, and what evidence can you provide that this plan has been successful so far?
Once the model is created, we can obtain free public service announcements (PSAs) on TV and radio and in print. We would need to learn about low-cost or no-cost methods of getting messages out via apps and other technologies.
Solution Team
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MB
Ms. MONA BERNARDINO Principal, Huapala Designs LLC
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Our Organization
Huapala Designs LLC