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Good Beginnings Partnership for Hawaii's Keiki
Kealakehe, Hawai`i

Our mission statement is: "Keiki in the Kealakehe Elementary School District will be ready to succeed in school."

Kealakehe's goal is that keiki in the Kealakehe Elementary School district will be ready to succeed in school.  There are five major thrusts to their community's effort:

• supporting parents to be their child's first teacher,
• ensuring the availability of quality early learning opportunities close to home that are accessible and affordable,
• ensuring positive transitions into kindergarten,
  keiki health and wellness, and
• creating a safe neighborhood for families and children.
  

Kealakehe is a sub-district of the North Kona District on the Big Island of Hawaii. It has a strong sense of community identity and pride.  This community has come together already to work on environmental, self-sufficiency, and youth issues, but has not yet focused on early childhood issues.  Included in the sub-district of Kealakehe are three low-income housing projects as well as the largest new Hawaiian Homes Community in the state.  Upon completion, the La'i'opua will be home to more than 750 native and part Hawaiian families. 47% of the children in the Kealakehe School district are Hawaiian, Part Hawaiian.

Our PHK Kealakehe community is blessed with many assets.  These include a strong sense of community pride and identity, The Kealakehe School Complex, respected local institutions, valued social services, many youth programs, and a diverse residential population. At the same time, Kealakehe families are struggling with our state most insidious social and economic problems; substance abuse, lack of jobs that pay a livable wages and lack of public transportation.  PHK Kealakehe is a community wide call-to action-to that seeks to foster greater collaboration among our residents and institutions, to model positive lifestyles, and ultimately to restore our community's capacity to nurture the health and well-being of our children.
Major activities that will take place through December 2003 are:

• Public Awareness Campaign - utilizing both conventional mass media efforts and informal marketing strategies (including sign waving days, buttons, and bumper stickers).
  
  
• Transition and Orientation to Kindergarten - diverse and ongoing activities to ease the transitions to and during Kindergarten supporting children, families, and schools.  Activities include an early kindergarten registration campaign (Feb-May), a Kindergarten Fair in conjunction with 4H Youth Development (May 3), "Kindergarten at KES" Slide Show touring "on the road" showing at Preschools, churches, and community based events; and in-school activities through the initiative of the Primary School Adjustment Project (PSAP) welcoming feeder preschools and children who attend Community Play Groups.
  
  
• Community Play Groups - providing direct financial and technical support to Keiki Pa'ani, a new Play Group now underway operated by Kealakehe Neighborhood Watch on Mondays and Fridays "Under the Tree" at Jack Hall Housing.  PHK Kealakehe is also sponsoring joint radio and print promotions of all three play groups serving the Kealakehe community.  We are also working with our Big Island Good Beginnings County Alliance to present a conference and retreat for Community Play Group staff and families in August.

For more information, please contact Amy Cardamone at acc@goodbeginnings.org.