 Aloha and welcome to this week's edition of Business in Hawaii. I'm Dalen Yanagida, and we are broadcasting live from the Think Tech studios in downtown Honolulu. If you want to tune in live, we are at www.thinktechhawaii.com, and you can sign up to be on our mailing list there as well. The background of Business in Hawaii is to bring you stories of local people and local businesses and how they built their successes in our challenging environment. In the studio with us today is David Miyashiro. David Miyashiro is the executive director and founder for the Hawaii Campaign for Achievement Now, or Hawaii Kids Can. We are so happy to have you with us today, and I'm really excited to talk about your story and how the birth of Hawaii Kids Can happen. But I wanted to start by congratulating you on your first anniversary of Hawaii Kids Can. What an achievement. It must be so exciting. It flew by. Yeah, anytime you're kind of launching a new venture, sometimes it honestly feels like you're kind of living in dog years. But we've just learned so much every single day, every single week, every single month, and I can't kind of wait to keep going. It is really exciting. I wanted to start by talking about David Miyashiro and the fact that you've been to so many experiences in so many places, working for Senator Hirono and all of your experience on the Hill, and how you came to this point. Wow, yeah. It's been quite a ride, and honestly I've been very fortunate to experience so many things in my life. Both my grandparents are still here, so kind of fourth generation resident in Hawaii, grew up here, left to go to college, and came back actually from the East Coast because I wanted to teach, and so she came back through the Teach for America program and taught special education, middle school English at Wahia Middle School. So first year taught sixth grade English with my group of kids, and then the really rare and exciting opportunity to level up or loop up with them, so I moved with them from sixth grade to seventh grade to the same group of rambunctious 25 to 28 kids, and I loved it, and I could see the growth, having that consistency to be with them two years in a row, but my second year of teaching, that's actually where my life changed because it was the beginning of the Furlough Fridays situation, so I'm sure a lot of families and parents remember that and how honestly crazy it was, and so for me as a young teacher who didn't want to get involved in politics or any of that, just wanted to keep my head down, work hard for these, you know, this great group of kids I had, to suddenly be thrust into that situation where I was being told we can't come to work, you know, my kids and their families, you know, they couldn't really necessarily afford all that expensive childcare, too bad for them, right? Like, no, nothing you can do, and so I think for me as a teacher that was a really eye-opening experience where I realized, you know, actually didn't have that much power in that situation. So is that when you went back to school? Is that when you went to Harvard to finish out your master's degree in educational policy, or was that? Yeah, so I finished up that school year and, you know, as much as I wanted to stay in the classroom and keep building on those relationships with the kids and maybe even move up with them to eighth grade, you know, I think at that point I couldn't kind of overlook the political and the policy world, so that's why I did go back to graduate school at the Harvard Ed School and then from there, you know, made my way to the mecca of politics, I suppose, in Washington DC and was really fortunate to have a position with then Congresswoman Hirono and then moving with her to the Senate when she got elected there. Let's talk about what you did for Center to Hirono. Tell us about that journey. Yeah, that was an incredible experience. She's one of the best bosses I've ever had, you know, and actually I was before that I was an intern in her office back in 2007 when I wasn't even, you know, finished with college yet. So to kind of be on that journey with her was really exciting and, you know, we got to see a lot of things change in that amount of time and to see what it meant when, you know, girls or immigrants would come to the office, you know, local families and see that they had somebody who cared about them in DC was really powerful. So I think as much as I loved being in that DC world, it felt a little bit of like a bubble to me and I knew ultimately, you know, to really feel like I was making an impact, I would have to come back to Hawaii. And was that your goal to begin with was to go out there and get your graduate degree, get some experience on the hill to get a feel for the politics and how that works and then bring that back home? Yeah, so actually before I even came back, I did a political campaign in Illinois of all places, working for a first time candidate, actually a female judge who was running against an incumbent. And that's where I really learned the importance and the power of community organizing because, you know, the whole basis of our campaign was to get out there and talk to young people and go to these universities and, you know, speak to communities that have felt marginalized. And so really that's, you know, the whole people power behind our whole democratic system, right? But if we're not out there kind of knocking on doors and pounding the pavement, it's not going to happen. So that's where I kind of saw firsthand, you know, oh, wow, really does make a difference to actually get out and listen and see what people are worried about. So finishing out your tenure with Senator Hirono, you came home and then what? Yeah, so I came back. Fortunately, I have, you know, family here who were great at helping that make that transition and then, you know, a number of mentors and former teachers of mine who helped out as well, ended up actually working back in the Teach for America office out here for a couple of years working on their communications. And then this opportunity came out totally out of left field organically for me. But really it was an opportunity that I saw to combine the teaching experience I had had, that whole political and governmental world. And then some of the nonprofit work I was doing and really putting into a blender and seeing, you know, how we could, you know, have that holistic approach to lead to better outcomes for kids. So when you arrived back home, you went right into building this nonprofit? Well, it was a couple of years from me. And so actually it was a slightly longer process. We're part of a national network called 50 Can. And so 50 Can has operated in about 12 to 15 different states. And what they do, that's so brilliant. And I imagine the nonprofit space is probably going to move more to this model is that they provide a lot of the infrastructure and back office support so that a new organization can start an estate and you can leverage the same HR, the same legal, you know, some of those same pieces with multiple states. And then rather than needing a six to eight person expensive team on the ground here, you know, it's just me and then our community organizer and we get to stay lean, mean and then very connected to the community. So we don't have an office. You don't have any physical location like that, but it doesn't matter because most of our time is out in the community anyways. So tell me about the journey committing to starting up a Hawaii sector of 50 Can and talking to your constituents and how to get that started, what happened there? Yeah. So the thing that I appreciate the most is, you know, again, seeing the national model, you know, they're able to draw upon kind of best practices. So before I even launched the organization before we had a website or social media or anything, I went on about a two to three month listening tour. And so it's fun. It's almost like, you know, you're, you're surveying the system and in design thinking, they have these concepts called, you know, the extreme user. And so if you want to get a sense of how the education system is working, you know, don't kind of just talk to the normal people that you would empower, you know, talk to parents, talk to homeschoolers, talk to students with disabilities, right? And try to get a sense of what is happening in the community and how can we help to fill gaps that exist? Or how do we help to be a bridge and pull together all these different really interesting and exciting things happening in the community? So that process was really exciting and just helped me expand my mind about what's possible here in Hawaii. You have some really great connections in terms of your, your founding advisors. Tell us about them. Yeah. So, you know, even though we receive national support, we are a totally locally run and focused organization. So we have to raise all of our money locally. So we've incredibly blessed to have amazing key investors like the Herald Castle Foundation, the Hawaii Community Foundation and a few others to really get us going. And then our board of advisors has been, you know, top notch. So, you know, amazing people like AJ Halagao at Hawaiian Electric, who is really instrumental in helping us get our first student-led candidate forum this election going. And so many others that I just consider mentors and really bringing different perspectives to this work, which I think is something that is very much needed in this climate. Sounds like it's your passion and sounds like it may very well be your life work. So let's hear about Hawaii Kids Can and your mission and your vision. Yeah, I mean, it's been my baby. That's that is true for the past year, kind of, you know, eat, breathe and sleep, everything Hawaii kids can. But it's been so exciting to see it come together. And so, you know, from the very beginning, kind of sketching some of the stuff out, not a note had been in a Google Doc, right, these days. So I'm trying to think about, you know, what would actually take to move the needle here in Hawaii? And something that was loud and clear is we needed a holistic approach and that was kind of going back to what I saw in the political world is what it requires. Right. So for us, that means, you know, kind of the direct advocacy where we're paying attention to what's actually happening at the Capitol, at the Board of Education meetings, right, talking to the Department of Education and being part of their work groups. But we also need to do real community organizing. And so we have a great staff member, Aisha, where her whole soul, her sole purpose is to be out in communities and schools and, you know, really helping to listen to what folks are interested in doing or what they see as the challenges and then helping to bridge the gap and bringing folks together. And then the last piece is research and communication. So another one of our benefits of being part of the National Office is we have just an amazing suite of research staff members or organizations who can support us. So if we want to target in on a very specific issue, we almost have a many, many, many think tank capability. So, for example, this last year in looking at computer science, you know, we're trying to dig into. So we know this is important, help us tell, you know, tell the community why it's important. And then secondarily, you know, help us tell the story of who's having access to those experiences. We have a picture of your launch. If we could put that one up, that's our first picture. Tell us about this. Yeah, so oh my gosh, I can't believe it's been over a year now. But September 16 of last year, we had our first educational equity symposium. And so, you know, the launch wasn't I didn't want it to be about me, but really about these community conversations that I think white kids can represent. So, you know, incredibly exciting. We had the new superintendent at the time coming out and being a key, you know, part of that day. And then professionals and advocates from the world of special education, English language learners, you know, Hawaiian focused education, you know, collaboration between public, private and charter schools. So really, really cool conversations. We also have a picture here of you with Governor E. Gaye. Well, actually, there's the movie magic behind that. So not to spoil the ending, but, you know, one thing that we really focused on in our first year was computer science education, right? Because, you know, as I mentioned, we had done that research and showed, you know, jobs relating to computer science in Hawaii the next 10 years they're going to grow twice as fast and pay twice as much as the average job. And yet, we didn't know what the situation was in our schools. And when we crunched the numbers, you know, you know, only about half of the public high schools even offered AP computer science of those. So already in the smaller group, you know, female students are only, you know, 30% of the students who are taking those courses. So a major equity problem. So what we did is we actually work with teachers and students, primarily at Campbell High School. So I'll give a shout out to Justin Dales Reyes out there who's done some amazing work. But his students are all, you know, they become expert coders and, you know, computer science students. And so their next level then was a designing apps for the community to help, you know, support some of the great programs are happening in the Abba Beach area and then go to the capital and advocate for why these courses are so transformative. So that picture that we just saw was with the Senate Ed Chair, Michelle Kidani. So the students met with a variety of senators and representatives to share their stories about, you know, this isn't just a cute, you know, niche thing for the geeky boys, right? This isn't just kind of what robotics is usually seen as. But this is a transformational economic opportunity. We're going to go to a quick break. But when we come back, I'd love to share with your audience more about what you do and the programs that you have, because I think it's an untold story, right? And a success story at that. So we're going to go to a quick break. This is Business in Hawaii. We'll see you soon. This is Think Tech Hawaii, raising public awareness. When I was growing up, I was among the one in six American kids who struggled with hunger and hungry mornings make tired days, grumpy days, that kind of days. But with the power of breakfast, the kids in your neighborhood can think big and be more. We're not hungry for breakfast. We're hungry for more, more ideas, more dreams, more fun. When kids aren't hungry for breakfast, they can be hungry for more. Go to hungarees.org and lend your time or your voice to make breakfast happen for kids in your neighborhood. Welcome back. This is Business in Hawaii. And today, I have the pleasure of having David Miyashiro, the executive director and founder of Hawaii Kids Can. Welcome back. Thank you. We have so much to talk about. So I wanted to start with a picture of you and Governor Ige. And this was a picture that was taken when Hawaii Kids Can launched last September, right? Can you tell us? Well, actually, it was this last May or June. So that was kind of the culmination of work from a variety of partners. So essentially, you know, as I mentioned, the students went to the capital. They met with Senator Kidani and so many other players, and they were integral in helping to push for the legislature to actually provide half million dollars to the DOE to increase or to actually double the amount of teachers who can teach computer science in the state of Hawaii. So that was really exciting. You know, we had a lot of amazing local organizations who are part of that push. So organizations like STEMWorks, DevLeague, Oceanit, and many more. And then national companies actually like Microsoft, weighing in and paying attention to, oh, Hawaii is trying to be a leader here. So that was incredibly exciting. So to be able to, you know, go with our partners to the governor's office and actually see that that bill signed into law and now seeing the money working its way out out into the schools themselves. I mean that that's just so exciting. And that's kind of why we do the work that we do. Your organization is serving so many needs, right? I mean you're advancing the profession of teaching, but at the same time you're bringing education not just to students, experiences to students, but the general community as well. Tell us about that, that gap that you were trying to address. Yeah, I mean, I think for a lot of folks, you know, people are busy, you know, you almost get bombarded by too much information, right? These are kind of very negative, divisive times that we live in. So sometimes I think, you know, all folks are looking for is people, you know, people or organizations come in and help cut through the noise, right? Tell people how they can be involved with, you know, these community issues. And then helping them understand these broader challenges that are facing the state. You know, one challenge in education is that, you know, there's been so much written recently about how automation and, you know, this new technological wave is changing our businesses, our global economy, and yet our school systems often are stuck back in the 50s, 60s and 70s, right? And so for us, you know, computer science is really emblematic of this shift that I think a lot of folks in Hawaii are realizing we have to make, which is, how can we make Hawaii one of, you know, the hubs for innovation, you know, not just in the Pacific, but in the world, right? And think about what that would mean for our kids and, you know, be a place where, you know, kids can start up their own entrepreneurial ventures and stay here and, you know, people are clamoring from all of the world to be part of something special. And I think that's what this is really all about to me. Fantastic. So, Hawaii Kids Can has a number of programs. I know that you folks are rolling, I think, into your second cohort. You have a wave program. Let's talk about the programs that are housed under, under Hawaii Kids Can. So, you know, I like to say I'm not technically in the classroom anymore, but that doesn't mean I'm not a teacher. You know, that's kind of at the heart of why I got into all of this in the first place. So, I love our wave program so much. It just brings me so much joy to see these kids engage. So, wave stands for we are voices of excellence. The idea is that, you know, not every kid is going to want to do student council, right? Not every kid is going to want to do, you know, Model UN or mock trial or some of these, you know, typical leadership opportunities, but every kid has a voice. And so, how do we help empower them to share that voice and to make the difference that we know that they can? So, for us, wave is really a different way of looking at civic engagement. So, if you think about how civic engagement is typically taught in schools, it's very process-heavy. So, this is how a bill becomes a law, you know, these are how many senators there are, right? This is kind of the governor's office and the legislature and all. That's great. And I think on paper, there's something important about understanding that. However, I think, you know, if kids can learn by doing and they can build that why, not just the how for our democracy, that's where you're going to possibly see, you know, some of that youth voter, you know, engagement really start to rise. So, that's what wave is about, is trying to help these amazing students who represent DOE schools, charter schools, private schools, home schools come together in a power, in a cohort. No pay, no credit whatsoever, but come together because they believe in, you know, their own potential and then helping them harness that. So, they actually make real change. I want to commend you on empowering our young people to believe that they have voice. I think it's too often, I mean, even adult voters say, oh, you know, my voice doesn't count, but from a very young age, being able to have the experience of being empowered and being heard and that has impact, amazing work that you're doing, just amazing. I know we have a couple of pictures of your wave cohort. If we could talk to those for a couple of minutes, I think that's a huge accomplishment for them. Tell us about this. Oh, so this is actually kind of pre-wave, but this is kind of at the heart of what wave does. So, once we worked on that computer science bill, the next piece up is the DOE was considering actually expanding K-12 computer science standards and approving those for the system so that as schools want to roll out these courses, they actually have a framework to work with. So, this girl is amazing. Her name is Henrietta. She was a senior at Campbell at the time and basically she shared a story with the board of education that, if not for her amazing teacher, Mr. Delos Reyes, who convinced her that she actually had the potential to succeed in this very male-dominate environment, you know, if not for that experience, she never would have discovered her own passion and skill for computer science. So, now she's actually in a local university majoring in computer science education. So, she is the representation of busting that gender gap, but I think there's another picture after this. I think the next photo is of your wave. I think there's one more. So, here's Henrietta and her friends from Campbell actually at the board of education with the superintendent after those standards are approved. So, you know, having their student voice involved in all this was something that I think was really successful. And then I think wave is next. Okay, and then our next photo. There we go. Yeah, so these are our amazing waivers. So, again, you know, these kids come together, you know, once Saturday a month, you know, no pay, no academic credit or anything, but really to help engage in critical conversations on how they can, you know, boost their own leadership, but also empower students on their own campuses to speak up as well. Very nice. I think we have one more. Yeah, I think we have one more from our last session. So, we actually have them workshopping different policy ideas. So, giving them a chance to think through, you know, kind of these moonshot concepts, right? Like, you know, what if, you know, every school offered free mental health services, right? And then try to work backwards from there to, you know, figure out, you know, where in the system could we actually start to make some of this change? So, again, this isn't simulated. We actually want their ideas and their voices to be present, you know, at the legislature, at the Board of Education, at the Department of Education. So, real-time advocacy and real-time civic engagement. Fantastic. Do we have one more? I think that might be it from Wave, but, um, yeah, we're, again, we're meeting, you know, it's one Saturday a month and then from there trying to empower each of those kids to tackle some of their own passions. So, we have a kid Hayden who's a junior at Hawaii Tech Academy and his passion is around lowering the voting age to 16 because he saw, you know, especially with some of the gun violence issues that have come out. You know, there's, there aren't many ways for him to feel like he has a voice and so that's something where we're trying to support his work on that. And then, you know, we have another student, Dyson, who's actually a homeschool student, but he's been leading this amazing initiative, Project Ocean, and they're going out and trying to help, you know, eliminate the use of plastic straws. I'm trying to maintain our clean oceans and, you know, these kids are just incredible. When I think about what I was doing at that age versus them, it's, it's like, it's just amazing to me. I was just going to say, I can't even imagine in, when I was in high school, having the opportunity to hone leadership skills like that, just, just amazing. Learning that, that skill to, to have voice to be articulate about it and writing policy, my goodness, just on a whole, on a whole other level. We talked briefly when we were prepping about the importance of the partnership that comes from Hawaii Kids Can and the community, and the leaders in the community. Let's talk about that. Yeah, so I mean, I think one of the benefits we have as a, as an independent nonprofit is, you know, I like to think that we're a bridge that sits between, you know, educators, the schools, the DOE, you know, the legislature, and then, very importantly, our industry, right? And so, you know, computer science I think is emblematic of that, where we've actually been working with a, with a bunch of organizations to start up a new coalition, tentatively called computer science for all, or for Hawaii, based off the computer science for all organization that's working on the national level, but, you know, and the idea is to bring together or create a space for, you know, these conversations we had so that when we look at what's being offered in the schools, and what the work, you know, what we need in our workforce, that those two are aligned, right? They're speaking the same language, because I think too often we don't really question, you know, a lot of the programs we have in place, and right now there's a huge attention nationally on, you know, what people consider to be career and technical education. So, I mean, again, a lot of programs have been stuck in the past, and so if you look at states like Florida, like Colorado, what they've done is they actually pulled in the business community, and they gave them a front row seat in helping to redesign some of these programs. So Florida, for example, the business community actually created a list of, you know, 100 to 150 different industry credentials and certifications that, you know, they basically, that they want out of any of their entry level workers. So again, this isn't the DOE guessing at what the businesses might need. This is the business saying, here they are, and then the legislature actually put some teeth to it by providing financial incentives and bonuses to the schools, based on the amount of students who are actually earning these credentials. So anybody can go online and find out on the Florida DOE website, but it's incredible, you know, and these are real, you know, like Cisco and Adobe and all these like professional level credentials, which the kids are coming out of high school having, which is amazing. Fantastic. We are almost out of time, but I wanted to give you an opportunity to tell your viewers how to get in touch with you, how to get involved. I know that you start up cohorts and I think that people would definitely want to get involved. Tell us how to get in touch with you. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I think it's as easy as just going to hawikidscan.org. We're also on social media on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. So if you go to any of those accounts, we monitor them 24-7 so you can send us a message there. I mean, but we're always looking for adult mentors to help with these students and help, you know, with some of their projects. We know, we really value the voice of the community and the voice of our business leaders as well, to be part of those conversations and to show kids, hey, you know, we're all really trying to work together to make sure that you guys have the best possible opportunities when you're in school. David, I want to thank you for joining us today and congratulate you on your amazing success and the good work that you're doing for the industry of education, the profession of teaching, the community and the sharing and developing of young people, the amazing, amazing work that you're doing and good luck to you and I can't wait to see you do amazing things with Hawaii kids can. Thank you. I mean, you're too kind. Honestly, there's, you know, the credit really goes to, you know, all the awesome and amazing people in the Hawaii community who are working together to try to solve these problems collaboratively. So we really are, you know, as I always tell the kids, like, the goal is not to try to be a Superman. The goal is to be part of the Avengers, right? And if you can slot in and figure out what your special talent is and you can find those other people who have their own unique talents, then that's when the whole state can really benefit. So for us, again, we're really only as productive or successful as the communities and the people around us. So, you know, thank you to you and thank you to the viewers for supporting that. And to your student participants, congratulations on doing such an amazing job. Keep working hard because we need your voices out there. Unfortunately, we are out of time. You can join us every Thursday at two o'clock. If you would like to be a guest on our show, please email us your information at shows at thinktechkawaii.com. Thanks again to David, the amazing production staff today, and we will see you back here next week.