AUW launches stronger public policy approach, funds study

Aloha United Way has recently expanded its efforts to support the community, adding a number of initiatives to address systemic problems facing Oahu and Hawai‘i to its traditional role of raising funds for a network of partner human service providers, according to Susan Doyle, AUW president and chief professional officer.

AUW’s four initiatives, selected through a lengthy process that included “talk story” session with more than 150 community representatives, include:

• Early childhood development
• Family and individual self-sufficiency
• Homelessness
• Crime and drug use

Part of AUW’s new role is to take “a stronger stance in the advocacy and public policy arenas,” Doyle said. Those efforts will include “clearly defining the problem and making a case for change.” Toward that end, the agency funded a study by the University of Hawai‘i Center on the Family, “Economic Well-Being in Hawai‘i: Family and Individual Self-Sufficiency.” Click here to download a copy of the report.

The study reveals “a growing gap between the earnings of many of our citizens and the true cost to be self-sufficient in Hawaii,” Doyle said. “The report has already had an impact as the case study supporting a group of bills addressing self-sufficiency issues that are being considered in this year’s legislative session.”

The study includes comments of Paul Brewbaker, Bank of Hawaii chief economist, and William Kaneko, president and CEO of the Hawai‘i Institute for Public Policy, who wrote: “A single parent with two children living on Oahu requires $54,000 just to stay afloat. In contrast, the most common occupations in Hawai‘i – salesclerks, wait help, office clerks, cashiers, janitors, housekeepers and food preparation/serving workers – pay between $17,000 and $25,000 annually.”

Besides suggesting policy changes, the report is also guiding a program AUW has undertaken to coordinate efforts by 15 agencies to increase the number of eligible filings for the federal earned income tax credit. After one year, this effort nearly doubled the number of people using free tax preparation sites and generated nearly $1.5 million in federal tax credits to Hawai‘i residents, Doyle said.

For more information or to make suggestions, contact Norm Baker at (808) 543-2202 or norm@auw.org.