 Aloha, and welcome back to Talk Story with John Wahee, where I have a chance to present the views, points of my friends all over town, normally, you know, we may be the kind of disagreeable friends that make for a good show, but I thought that you would really enjoy a good human interest story about people who are trying to do good things in the community. So this afternoon, we have as our guest, Kara Kusunowski, who is the, did I do that right? Almost, almost. It's Kusunoki. Kusunoki. Kara is the executive director of Read To Me International, as you can tell, Read To Me International. She actually came prepared to make sure that none of you forget this nonprofit that that's helping our community. So Kara, first of all, tell us what Read To Me is all about. I mean, what is its mission, how does it function? Yeah, thanks so much for having me on the show, John. Really appreciate it, just so you know. And I think you're well familiar with Read To Me International. It might sound familiar because for over 20-plus years, since the 90s, your wife, Lynn Wahee, had a vision of improving literacy. So that's what she was doing all those hours and nights. That's exactly what she's been toiling about for years now. I'm really glad you told me, just in case I get quiz fired. Right, exactly. What is it that she's been doing, and you have been executive directoring for her? Yes. So I've been directoring the mission, which is to share the love and joy of reading aloud. And that's really important to us because we believe that starting children at an early age with that love and joy of reading really equips them with their future academic journey and their lives. It really improves their life outcomes. So your mission is to get parents, I guess, or adults, actually. Right. We want to invest our adults in Hawai'i to believe that they can indeed invest their own children in reading and writing. And so they enjoy that process as they grow older. So the idea is like reading to children. Okay. And how old do the children have to be before you get to read to them? We think that even when a child is in the womb of a mother, that it's important for the child to hear those words, develop that fluency at an early age. So anywhere from pre-birth to even as adults, we all like to be read to, I think. What about music? Hearing music. Exactly. Music is a part of it. Music, our words, strung together. And so we really do believe in the power of music and fun, right? We want to infuse fun always in the readings. So in our programs, you'll see a lot of interaction, a lot of moving around, a lot of sensory kind of things happening as we're reading aloud. Is there any kind of actually scientific research for all of this, or is this something that you just believe in? No, it's actually evidence-based. So your wife is actually one of the experts of all things literacy within the last 20-plus years. Are you trying to sort of like butter her up? Yes, exactly. That's what I told you. That's what I told you. But not, you know, go beyond the butter. Right, right. I mean, is there really scientific? Absolutely. I mean, the evidence shows that the sooner and more exposed children are to reading and the more words that they are acclimated to at a young age really sets them apart from their more affluent peers. So if you're growing up in a wealthier community, oftentimes there's more resources for those children, maybe more extracurricular activities that encourage reading, different kinds of programs, rigor. And so we want to provide those kinds of opportunities equally to our kids growing up in lower-income communities so that they can have that same advantage. All right. So there is research that shows that certain areas of community, certain communities in Hawaii may not be doing as well in school. Right. And it's connected to the fact that they were not read to when they were young. So what you're saying, though, I mean, that was a nice way to say that there seems to be a generational effect with non-performance educationally, that people who may not have done well themselves, you know, passed that status, I guess, on to their children. Right. I agree with everything you said, and it's not because of will or lack of will. I think that every parent and every educator really wants what's best for children. It's just a matter of how do I do that? How do I equip myself with those tools and resources to actually make that gain and help my child? So that's where we come in. We offer programs to parents and educators that provide them with that development so that they can go home and feel more or in the classroom and they can feel more confident and be able to help kids, their own children or students who are struggling. Okay. So how does Kara get to be executive director of Read to Me International? So now that we've got your mission, how did you end up carrying the ball, so to speak? Yeah. That's an interesting one. And I'll try to shorten it down to kind of just what I think is the essence of why I'm here. And it's basically, I grew up on the island of Maui, born and raised there. Oh, terrific. Went through the public school system. And from an early age, I remember not performing well in school. Really? Yeah. I just didn't like school. I just, I remember... Well, you were one of those smart kids that were bored in school kind of thing. I wouldn't say smart even. I just, I didn't try, I wasn't interested. I didn't know what my capability was, I guess, to be short about it. And I remember just not doing well. Oh, really? And I remember getting, I guess, failing grades on my report cards. Really? What would happen when you got a failing grade and you went home and your parents saw that? I would go home and be really nervous about it and tell my mom and dad, you know, here's the report card and just struggle to tell him that I wasn't doing so well. And you know, they would try to figure out with me what's happening. What is it that we can do to support her? And I don't think anyone really had the answer until I got into the second grade, where a teacher pulled me aside one day and she said, you know, I think that we need to try something else. And what she did was she gave me this, this book set, it was The Chronicles of Narnia. I don't know. Have you heard of that before? The Chronicles of Narnia. Yeah, the line, the witch and the wardrobe was the first book. I saw the movies. Oh, you saw the movies. Did you read the books? No. Okay, okay. But now I guess I better read the books. Right, right. The books are great. They're, you know, fantasy books. And she read the first few pages to me of the first book. And she hooked me on to reading that way. She said, you know, as a gift, I'd like to give you the rest of the set. Now that I've started you off, let's give you the rest of the set to challenge yourself. And I think that was a door for me to enter into this possibility of being more engaged in school. So you, in a sense, you are a product of this kind of an approach, which reading to young people or having young people read. Right, exactly. Yeah, the teacher read aloud to me. It captivated my interest. And it spurred on a new type of interest in learning that I had not had before. So you became a better student. I did become, as a result, I did become a better student. It took time and it wasn't without its imperfections. And then you go off to college. Yeah, eventually. Where did you go to school? I attended the University of Hawaii at Manoa. So you sort of a home, you sort of like when they hired you, they were sort of buying local, I guess. I suppose so. Yeah. Yeah. Most of my experience has been in working definitely in nonprofits and then locally as well. So, and so how do you end up at read to me in Jelansh? Well, my background and what I studied is education. So I started out as an educator in a Title I school and then eventually moved into nonprofit administration. So worked in a different nonprofit fundraising, kind of learning the ins and outs of nonprofit businesses and how they operate and then eventually went into training. And I got a call one day from the former executive director who knew my values, what I believed in and she said, I think you'd be a great fit for this. Why don't you go ahead and interview? Oh, it's fantastic. So how long have you been executive director at? It's been almost a year. Really? It's been about 10 months. Can you believe it? Time flies. Okay. Well, we got you here today and you got to lay out the foundation of what Read to Me International is all about. Why don't you, what are some of the programs that you have? For example, I remember being hauled out by my wife as a sort of her Uber driver and going out to Waianae. And we went out to the Waianae library. Yeah, actually it was a really fun night. And she and not only she, but there were a lot of different people that were coming in and actually reading to kids. Is that one of the programs that you have? That's one of the many programs that we do. So we work with schools as well as public libraries to speak at their events, to have readings for kids, activities, crafts. We like to do that so that we're out in the community doing as much as we can to support our Kiki. Well, I know that today you just came back from one of your programs and it's a program that you and your organization are doing at the Women's Prison. That's correct. At the Women's Community Correctional Center out in Windward. So you actually go in there and now there are no children to read at at the Women's Prison. Correct. So why are you hanging out down there? You're right. You're right. And that's the part where we talk about parents and the parent coaching aspect. That program is geared towards incarcerated moms and grandmothers who are at the prison. Moms and grandmothers you have. Moms and grandmothers, yes. We have a lot of incarcerated parents who want a way to reach out to their child. And the program is one of those ways because it allows us to, and by us I mean volunteers and staff go. Yeah. I was going to ask you that. So with this, with the prison program and with all these others, is it hot? Who does it? I mean. Right. Well, we have a dedicated team of staff members. We're small but mighty. We all believe in the mission and our values are all aligned to really doing what's best for our kids. So we are powered by that, but we also have a cadre of volunteers that help us with different programs, with different events. And they are really wonderful to work with. Some are educators, but some are people that really just want to help and have different strengths. Yeah, like the people at the Y&I. Exactly. And I have to confess that when I sort of am terrified when I drive my wife out to these things because, yeah, because she has this annoying way of saying, okay, now my husband John Wahey will read to you. Oh, right. And I have to follow her. And she's actually a very good reader. She's excellent. Yeah. And it's, you know, I feel inadequate. Well, you bring the jokes, so I'm sure we appreciate that a lot. I think, yeah, dad and ice cream, maybe. Oh, yeah. No, no, no. I haven't done that yet. I'm just thinking about it. That's a great incentive. That's what I should do next time. Okay, so we're going to talk about the prison program, right? But before we do, I wanted to ask you that, do you, when you go to the women's prison, do you, let's say, how do you do this? Do you actually have a set group of people that you work with? Is this open to everybody or how does it all work? I mean. Right. We have a set cohort of women who come in that sign up for the class. They voluntarily sign up for the class. They're recruited by the education staff there, and they complete 12 weeks with us. 12 weeks. 12 weeks. So you can imagine how much dedication it takes to come into class every week, 12 weeks. And it's a rigorous process because we write and illustrate, we coach and write them, write and illustrate their children's storybook. What is it that they do? Right, right. So our volunteers and staff go in, we work with incarcerated parents to both write and illustrate their own children's storybook. What do you mean, their own children's storybook? They start from the very beginning. They actually... What's the name of the program? Hakumu'olelo. Hakumu'olelo. Hakumu'olelo. I guess in Hawaiian, that means write a story. Exactly. It means to compose stories or composing stories. And so the name kind of gives it away. It's about the incarcerated parents that are in the program having the vision to send the message home. What's the point of their story? What kind of message do they want to leave their children with? Well, we're going to come back and talk more about this because I think it's a very exciting, very moving program. But in the meantime, we're going to take a short break. Folks, come back and hear about Hakumu'olelo or writing stories for children. Thank you. Aloha. This is Winston Welch. I am your host of Out and About where every other week, Mondays at 3, we explore a variety of topics in our city, state, nation, and world, and events, organizations, the people that fuel them. It's a really interesting show. We welcome you to tune in and we welcome your suggestions for shows. You got a lot of them out there. And we have an awesome studio here where we can get your ideas out as well. So I look forward to you tuning in every other week where we've got some great guests and great topics. You're going to learn a lot. You're going to come away inspired like I do. So I'll see you every other week here at 3 o'clock on Monday afternoon. Aloha. Aloha. I'm Wendy Lo and I'm coming to you every other Tuesday at 2 o'clock live from Think Tech Hawaii and on our show, we talk about taking your health back. And what does that mean? It means mind, body, and soul. Everything you can do that makes your body healthier and happier is what we're going to be talking about, whether it's spiritual health, mental health, fascia health, beautiful smile health, whatever it means. Let's take healthy back. Aloha. Welcome back to Talk Story with John Weijie. We have a very special program this afternoon. I have as my guest, Kara Kusunowski, and she is the Executive Director of Read To Me International as you can see. And by the way, folks, if you have any questions for me or for Kara or for, I don't know, anybody where you just feel like talking story a little bit, call us at 808-374-2014. We are in the middle of talking about Haku Mo'olelo, which means the writing stories and it is a program that Read To Me International puts on at the women's prison. Okay. So what do you do? I mean, physically, what happens? The women come in, they hear you, you tell them it's great to read to their children and grandchildren, but they're not only reading, they're taught to... Be an author. Actually, write a book. Exactly. They're taught to how to write a book. And it's a children's story book. And on top of that, they're taught to how to draw. How to draw? How to draw. Exactly. So they illustrate their own book. They do illustrate their own book, which you can imagine is a big undertaking for 12 weeks. But... Yeah, I mean, but are these... Okay, I don't want to sound politically incorrect, but are these women that are college-educated women? I mean, what's the demographic? It's mixed. I mean, because I know a lot of kids, a lot of people actually, adults who have graduated from college and have had extensive training that couldn't sit down and write a book. Right, right. Well, it is mixed as far as who we get in each cohort. Some of our participants are college-educated. Some have not graduated or don't possess a high school diploma. Really? So the levels of education vary. But I think that one thing is really clear. Well, one thing is really clear. They're all impressive. Okay, that's a commonality. They share. Yes, you're right. That is a prerequisite for the program. But they also share passion for wanting to send a message home to their child or grandchild. And I think that passion really drives through a lot of the technical aspects of being an author or being an illustrator. Because the desire to want to do something good is in all of them. And I think that's important to bring out and mention because that is unlocking the potential of every single participant. So I would think that, you know, for these participants, again, I don't want to be accused of being stereotyping. But it seemed to me that women prisoners might have a special connection to the whole idea of communicating to their children, maybe, that doesn't ordinarily exist, you know, or we don't ordinarily think of. So how is that? I'm trying to define this passion. Right, right. And we collect a lot of information for our participants so that we know who they are coming in so we can understand what their needs are. What their self-perceived, I guess, esteem is. And a lot of the participants don't come into the program feeling ready to write or feeling like they're an expert artist. Most of them, in fact, say I'm not great at writing and I sure don't know how to draw. I can't even draw a stick figure barely. But it's the real desire of, but I'm willing to try. And I'm willing to do this because I love the recipient of this book and I want to show them that I love them. They are writing, really, a love letter. Basically, in different forms. Right, the book seems to be a love letter to somebody, their children, their grandchildren. Right, right. And it can be a mixture of emotions, right? I think when I read some of the stories, it brings up feelings of love, affection, caring, but also tough times, I think, that are acknowledged for some of the books, themes. Like, you know, I'm sorry, mommy's in prison or something like that. I should have known. Is that part of the conversation? It is part of the conversation, but it's through children's storybook lens. So it's not as direct. It's more nuanced. Our participants think of very nuanced ways to express that to their children. What does that mean, like in closer to common English? It could mean something like a mother maybe being a horse, for example, lost in the wilderness, maybe. And the horse is a metaphor for her, exactly. And she's on a quest to find her calves, maybe, or her little ones, right? And she goes through her whole journey and maybe the story could end with something like she found them or she remembered them or something. And so, you know, children are so smart, they're able to make the connection. You don't have to say that mommy is the horse. Rather, it's really going through that whole story and making it come up. Well, there's so many questions popping up in my mind now. Okay, I come in to see you. I'm in prison and I really want to communicate with my children. And if I had grandkids, I would do that too, but since I don't, I want to communicate to my children. But I come off and the first thing I say to you is I've never written anything in my life. You know, I mean, I remember when I was in school, they told me to, you know, write various things and I just didn't do well. So what's the first thing that you do to end up 12 weeks later with my being able to put together a book? I think first things first, we tell them they can. And we know they can because of past participants who started out from around where they were performance-wise and saw them at the end of the 12 weeks. And so where they landed. And so we show them actually on the first day. We show the samples. Do you help them with the story? We do. We coach them. So volunteers and staff coach them on their content, other stories. We offer proofreading, editing, different things, but it's always their story. And it's always their voice. And you let them know that they can do it and that works? It does. It does. And I think it's because everyone has that hope inside of them. No matter who you are, I think there's always a little flame of hope. And once someone tells you that you can do it, it ignites over time, I think. And that's similar to my own story that I shared. I felt pretty hopeless in school myself. I was already in the second grade and I wasn't doing well academically. And that's a few years down since preschool. And so that's quite a few years to kind of have the reinforced message of, I can't do this. But someone was able to break that for me. And that was a teacher. And we hope to be the same. We hope to be teachers and guides. OK, so you get in there and you deal with these women and they actually produce a book. What happened? I mean, how does that go? How does this all end up being an actual communication with somebody or their children or whatever? Right. So we work with the state of Hawaii to make sure that the books are sent home to their child. I mean, when you say books, I mean, is this like a tablet, a little paper tablet? It's a professionally bound book. It's an actual book. It's an actual book. It's soft cover, but it's actual book where it's bound seamless on the outside, shiny glossy pages with their own illustrations. So it looks like a children's book. It looks like a book. And what about the art part of it? I mean, they are drawing. I mean, just like any artist, you can tell that it's drawn or there's watercolor. There's different options, shading maybe with a pencil. They all have different styles. But it looks professionally done. So it's an actual book. It's an actual book. But now let me ask you, has any of these products been actually published? So they're all actually published. What do you mean all actually published? So we work through a company that publishes them. So they're actually published authors, the participants that come through. So they have a book that actually exists in a library of Congress of sorts, where they all have their own ISBN number. And they have that on file. And so we're able to reproduce books as we get more requests from family members, which we oftentimes do. We make sure that at least one copy is sent home and the copy is given to our participants. But sometimes families will actually ask for more copies maybe because they have a lot of grandchildren. They want to show their friends. And so we make sure that they are publishable so that we can order them. But if I produce the book, I would be really proud of myself. I would like to see this book. Yes. And you have a book in the making, I hope. No, but tell me, we've got a few more minutes left, OK? So that's all the brick and mortar of what you're doing. Tell me some stories. What happens? I mean, do you actually see miracles occurring as a result of all this? We get a chance to post a graduation ceremony for all of the participants that come through. They host a graduation ceremony at the prison where family members and guests are invited to come and actually hear their family members read the stories now published in this book, in their own book, out loud. They read their book out loud to the audience, exactly. So different guests, family members come and join us. Do you actually see a change in their relationships with their children and themselves? I mean, is there something? Certainly the results of the participants' experience tells a lot about the change that it had on them personally. They share a lot of experiences along the way with us about how it improves their self-esteem, how they never believed that they could rekindle that relationship with their child, but it did. How their children are looking forward to reading again. It actually enhances their child's academic performance. As far as the social-emotional part, it's noticeable. Well, I want to thank you for being a part of this very exciting program that's happening right here in Hawaii at the Women's Correctional Facility, where it's amazing to me that you can take someone that never wrote anything, really, and create a book that is publishable. I mean, it's actually a book at the end of 12 weeks. Well, thank you so much and thank you for all the work you're doing for these families and for Hawaii. Thank you for having me on the show, John. You're welcome.