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Thursday, July 6 - 5:30-7PM @ Tutu's House
“Sustainability and Resilience are words we hear daily, perhaps hourly – so much so that it’s almost become hard to take them seriously,” says Waimea Community Association President James Hustace.
“But they are very relevant in so many ways, and there’s a lot happening around sustainability and resilience locally, nationally and internationally, said Hustace to explain that WCA’s next Town Meeting – 5:30-7 p.m., Thurs, July 6, 2023 will focus on two significant public policy initiatives to turn “talk” into ”walk.”
At the County level, there is Bill 48 to create an Office of Sustainability, Climate, Equity and Resilience (nicknamed OSCER) – to be assigned if and when passed - to the Office of the Managing Director, says co-introducer and Council Chair Heather Kimball.
At the State level, there’s the national merit award winning Hawai’i 2050 Sustainability Plan (https://hawaii2050.hawaii.gov) that includes a 2020-2030 Decade of Action strategic action plan that provides 8 focus areas to work on, and 38 strategies with 262 specific Recommended Actions to help meet the state’s combined sustainability and climate goals by 2030,” said Danielle M. Bass, Sustainability Coordinator with the State Office of Planning and Sustainable Development.
These two public policy leaders – Kimball and Bass – will be featured presenters at the July 6 WCA town meeting, helping connect the dots between Hawai’i’s sustainability and climate resilience policies and practices for the federal, state and county governments, private sector interests, non-governmental organizations and individual citizens.
OSCER – as co-introduced by Kimball and Council Member Rebecca Villegas – “will be responsible for coordinating and managing policies to support the County's response to the impacts of climate change and other natural and human-caused hazards. The bill also seeks to promote environmental justice and equity by ensuring that all programs conducted by the office will consider the impacts on lower- and middle-income individuals and historically marginalized groups, to ensure that the benefits of such programs reach all residents of the county,” said Kimball.
“The elevation of this new office to the cabinet level is intended to help ensure coordinated action both internally and externally It’s based on recommendations from the County administration on how best to address implementation gaps for various sustainability, climate, and resilience plans in the County, and it is also meant to align with grant opportunities that are available through the federal Inflation Reduction Act,” said Kimball.
“What makes the office unique is that it is based on a collective impact model to coordinate and amplify actions for the greatest impact. This model includes creating a common agenda, agreeing to shared metrics, engaging in mutually reinforcing activities, and ensuring constant stakeholder communication,” said Kimball.
Bass, who is credited with publishing the Hawai’i 2050 Sustainability Plan, will review the plan’s development which involved several dozen federal, state and county agencies, the Hawai’i State legislature, private sector interests, non-profits and citizen advocates.
An Omidyar Fellow, she brings to this over 18 years of experience in policy development, analysis, planning, and management throughout Hawaiʻi State Government, including 13 years managing five legislative committees within the State House of Representatives as a Legislative Manager and Chief of Staff.
Born and raised in Hawaiʻi, Danielle holds a Master’s degree in Urban and Regional Planning, a Disaster Management and Humanitarian Assistance post-graduate degree, and a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. Danielle is also a graduate of the University of Cambridge’s Institute for Sustainability Leadership-Business Sustainability Management Program and is certified by the United Nations for Civil/Humanitarian-Military Coordination during complex emergencies.
Also participating in the town meeting will be County Council Member Cindy Evans with a Council update, and representatives of South Kohala Community Policing.
As always, the entire community is welcome to the in-person town meeting. It also will be streamed “live” to the association’s Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/WaimeaCommunityAssociation) and to WCA’s YouTube channel. To log in via YouTube, go to www.WaimeaTown.org for a link. As always, the meeting will be recorded to both Facebook and YouTube for later on-demand viewing.
Questions welcome in advance by emailing: WaimeaCommunityAssociation@gmail.com. Questions may also be submitted in writing in person at the meeting or typed into the Facebook chat to be addressed as time permits.
WCA’s spotlighted not-for-profit will be the 62nd Waimea Christmas Twilight Parade with WCA board member and parade co-chair Lani Olsen-Chong explaining plans for the popular lighted parade from 5:30-7 p.m., Sat., Dec. 2 and why the now much longer parade needs the entire community’s support. WCA Town Meeting attendees will be urged to support the parade with a tax-deductible contribution either at the in-person town meeting or via the group’s website: www.waimeatown.org/parade.
For more, email WCA President James Hustace at WaimeaCommunityAssociation@gmail.com or go to www.WaimeaTown.org.
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