Tracking State and County Developments

County Government Early Childhood Efforts

Hawai‘i‘s four County Governments continued to take decisive action in 2024 to prioritize early childhood. Early Childhood Action Strategy (ECAS) celebrates 2024 County led efforts to strengthen the systems of support for young children and their families, including:

City and County of Honolulu

* The City and County of Honolulu has hired an Early Childhood Resource Coordinator and an office assistant. With a federal funding opportunity, the City will be adding a full time Community Engagement Coordinator. ($220k)

* The City and County of Honolulu Early Childhood Community Profile has been completed and is being used to identify key data points and metrics to assist with the development o the City‘s 3-year Early Childhood Action Plan.

* The City‘s Coordinator is also leading the charge in engaging childcare professionals through a series of stakeholder sessions. These stakeholder sessions will be instrumental in shaping the City‘s 3-year Early Childhood Action Plan. This plan is being crafted with the Urban Institute‘s Upward Mobility Framework as the foundation.

* The City is developing two sites that combine affordable housing with childcare facilities. Parkway Villages in Kapolei will include six early learning classrooms, including one trauma-informed classroom.

* For the Kunia affordable housing project, a portion of the parcel will be used to construct five child care classrooms.

* The City was awarded $300k to implement a family child interaction learning program co-located with a Family Assessment Center to support children and families experiencing residential instability.

* The City has also started facilitating the work to start the design and planning stage for construction of a child care facility in Ewa.

* The City is building permanent housing for domestic violence survivors and their keiki.

• The City provides over $193,000 annually for housing vouchers for survivors of domestic violence.

• The City was recently awarded $3 million dollars for the acquisition of property for the purpose of housing domestic violence survivors.

• The Grants in Aid Advisory Commission recommended a total of $9.9 million in grants, of which $2.2 million was awarded to programs focusing on children.

• The City secured $200k to bolster family engagement and access to services and to support professional learning opportunities for early learning professionals and city personnel.

County of Hawai‘i

* The Early Childhood Resource Team has employment commitments through 2026 and has added an additional Family Engagement team member (with PDG B-5 funding)

* Hawai‘i County has used data collected for the Hawai‘i County Early Childhood Community profile to establish County funding priorities and guide the development of the County‘s ARPA funding RFPs.

* The County has awarded $4M in ARPA funds to support the expansion of preschool programs and family childcare homes, support a new apprenticeship program, support professional development conferences, provide scholarship opportunities for Hawai‘i Island practitioners to enroll in early childhood education classes, and to support the Pāhoa Promise and Pāhoa Reads early childhood development and kindergarten readiness continuum efforts.

* Held a third Early Childhood professional development conference in September 2024

* Distributed more than 7,500 Reach Out and Read books to keiki across the County with plans to expand the program to more pediatric clinics and to other health providers.

* Supported an ‘Ohana Keiki Fest in Waikoloa in November that attracted 26 resource tables, and over 1,500 attendees.

* Convene partners across the County in monthly meetings to provide updates and hear from providers.

County of Maui

* Maui County is the only County that has designated and ongoing funds for early childhood development at $2M per year.

* The Maui County Early Childhood Resource Coordinator (ECRC) is a General Funded Position under the Department of Human Concerns. The Housing and Human Concerns Departments were bifurcated as of July 1, 2024.

* For FY25, the ECRC budget saw a slight increase and FY26 is targeting a flat budget. Focus areas of funding are:

• Early childhood workforce development

• Early childhood literacy

• Family support services including the Early Childhood Resource Center;

• Subsidy assistance for childcare

• Parent education

* Maui County has engaged in partnerships with MFSS, EOEL and P-20 to work on County specific PDG family engagement deliverables.

* By Maui County ECRC request, ECAS is housing the Early Childhood Maui County Wildfire Recovery Coordinator.

County of Kaua‘i

* The County of Kaua‘i Chief of Staff continues to work closely with Alanna Souza, ECE System Coordinator from Kaua‘i Planning & Action Alliance on Early Childhood priorities.

* Renovations are underway in the Pi‘ikoi Building (the old Big Save space) for the County Youth Center.

* Mayor Kawakami is one of the Early Learning National Policy Fellows at The Hunt Institute, which includes 100 mayors and other elected officials nationwide.

* Has increased family and community engagement through a partnership with Kaua‘i Planning & Action Alliance.

* The Kaua‘i County Early Childhood Community Profile has been completed and is helping to inform early childhood policy conversations.

* Kaua‘i Planning & Action Alliance was recently awarded $235,000 from a subgrant through the Hawai‘i P-20 PDG B-5 Family & Community Engagement and Advocacy project to increase family knowledge and maximize family engagement on Kaua‘i. Currently, they are administering an early childhood education survey to understand community awareness, preferences, and access to early learning programming, and will launch a county-wide campaign in early 2025. Stay tuned!

* As of September 1, 2024, Kaua‘i County employees and their families will receive free health care premium coverage, including medical, prescription drugs, vision, and dental plans. The county will pay 100% of the premium and administrative costs for employees who enroll in the Kaiser Standard HMO or HMSA 75/25 PPO health plans.

* $120,000 in ARPA funds were awarded to the Kaua‘i YWCA to fund its 24/7 crisis support services through this year.

* The county‘s FY24-25 budget included a $1M competitive GIA program to support various substance abuse prevention and mental health programs across the island.

* The Kaua‘i Office of the Prosecuting Attorney has partnered with Ho‘ola La Hui Hawai‘i, a Native Hawaiian Health Care System, to create a diversion program for low-level offenders suffering from mental health issues, as well as partnering on a program to assist families dealing with domestic violence issues.

* Mayor Kawakami continues to prioritize progressive and inclusive parks and open spaces, such as inclusive playgrounds for kupuna and children with special needs, skateparks, and the county‘s first public equestrian facility so that all children will have a safe space to play.

* The 2025 Kaua‘i ECE Conference will be held on February 1, 2025. This year‘s theme is I ka wā ma mua, ka wā ma hope. The future is found in the past. We are excited to offer experiential workshops grounded in Hawaiian culture.

* The 2025 Parent & Child Fair will be held on April 5, 2025, at Kukui Grove Center. More information will be available soon.