by Lisa Huynh
West Hawaii Today
lhuynh@westhawaiitoday.com
Friday, May 12, 2006 8:53 AM HST
 

One of the homeless village campsites in Kona. - Baron Sekiya | West Hawaii Today

For the most part, West Hawaii's streets lack the visible indicators of poverty prevalent in some large metropolitan cities. In their absence, what is reality for low-income families becomes easy for others to dismiss. Statistics from social welfare programs show that many families indeed struggle to make ends meet.

For example, this year nearly half of West Hawaii elementary school students qualified for free or reduced lunch. The majority of these students qualified for free lunch -- in other words, their families (based on a family of four) earned no more than $28,938 per year, or about $6,000 more than the federal poverty level. Families of reduced lunch students earned no more than $41,181. The county's median income for a family of four is $52,500.

"People are really working so hard, for the most part, and hardly making it. It's quite phenomenal that anybody manages at all," said JoAnn Bishop Freed, Family Support Services of West Hawaii interim executive director.

According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, low-income in 2006 is considered $34,500 or less for a family of four. Nearly half of participants fall into this category, Freed stated.

Family Support Services, a nonprofit in the community since 1979, operates programs funded primarily by the federal DOH, including several that help parents educate their children at a young age.

"Most families are enrolled in our programs because they want to better support their children and they are working together with other people that care," said Freed.

She said two common challenges for low income families are the high cost of gas and the lack of quality chid care.

"Although transportation has improved, it still is not able to meet the needs of working families," said Freed. "And even though there is work, people may not have anyone to watch their children, especially the younger children."

Freed suggested state government could help alleviate the lack of affordable childcare by directing funds toward child care programs and increasing wages for childcare providers.

"That's the most stressful thing for parents -- worrying about whether their child is adequately cared for," she said. "If we really value children, we will pay appropriate salaries to our childcare workers."

Besides impact to families, low income level is believed to impact educational opportunities for children.

Robert Hillier, National Assessment of Education Progress State Testing Coordinator for Hawaii, said income level is one of the clearest indicators of how well a student performs on standardized tests, both on the national and state level.

"Poverty is certainly a factor but that does not mean that a poor child cannot learn," said Hillier. "However, income can influence the environment, whether a student has money for books in the home, etc."

Marika Ripke, director of Hawaii Kids Count, a children's advocacy organization based out of the University of Hawaii at Manoa (UHM), said various factors may affect the learning of students from low income families.

"If children come from very low income families, it is likely that they are not getting the nutrition they need," said Ripke. "They are also probably not living in an environment that has learning materials readily available."

Moreover, based on census data, Ripke said that these low-income families are not necessarily immigrant families but local families. She said that the past few years of data indicates homelessness in Hawaii is on the rise.

"Lots of families who are poor are also working and this could mean both parents are working but never enough to lift poverty," she said. "If you have two parents working, they may not have the time and energy to help their children. Another thing is the people who live in poverty may not be educated themselves and do not have the resources to help their children in school."

Freed said the time parents spend at work takes away from family time.

"Families don't have as much time as they want with each other," she said.

On average, according to data from the UHM Center for Family, between 1993 and 2000 Hawaii County consistently had the highest level within the state of elementary students eligible for free and reduced lunch.

While the state average of all public school students who qualify for free or reduced lunch was about 43 percent, about 60 percent of West Hawaii elementary school students qualified for free or reduced lunch in 2004-2005, according to data from the state Department of Education. Individual school figures ranged from 34 percent to 94 percent who qualified for free or reduced lunch. In general, rural schools tended to have a high number of eligible students.

The income eligibility guidelines for free or reduced students is set by the U.S. Department of Agriculture every year.

Demographics

Families serviced by Family Support Services of West Hawaii in 2005

- 32 percent are low-income (by federal poverty guidelines),

- 12 percent moderate,

- 12 percent income not relevant

- 52 percent Hawaiian or mixed-Hawaiian,

- 13 percent Asian,

- 11 percent other Pacific islander,

- 9 percent Caucasian,

- 6 percent Hispanic and

- 9 percent other

Contact information

Family Support Services of West Hawaii (http://www.fsswh.org), 326-7778

Services include: Parent education services, referrals and resource linking, family counseling, youth development

75-127 Lunapule Rd., Suite #11, Kailua-Kona