Project Summary

The Coalition will form Action Teams from the leadership of various local organizations to assess community problems and create solutions. These Teams will be supported with local funding and local resources to solve local problems and thus build the spirit community self-sufficiency.

About me

I have been a "social change agent" from the beginning of my career when I entered the teaching profession intending to improve the world through better education. I rose quickly, first as a school principal and then as a teacher-educator. I obtain my Masters and Doctors degrees from Columbia University and served as the director of teacher education at University of Rochester and later at Tulane University. At Tulane, I developed the School Desegregation Center that was federally funded and became successful in achieving the integration of schools throughout Louisiana. I later moved to California and headed the community development program for the City of Garden Grove and was successful in creating a range of social service programs. After moving to Kauai, I was hired to direct the Entrepreneurship Training at the Community College and was instrumental in forming the Kauai Food Industry Forum. I have been active in assisting numerous community service agencies with programs, grants and organizational development. The Kauai Food Industry Forum, which I chair, has become a model for community involvement and collective action. Many of my associates from this organization will be instrumental in achieving the goals we are establishing for the Kauai Community Coalition. The same organizations that have contributed to the work of the Food Industry Forum will help to form the Coalition. It is a natural and needed progression of events.