Going to a Movie

Aloha again everyone,
Jeff Hoapili again and this is day 2 of my Washington DC experience. Tonight we had the opportunity to go and see the movie "Princess Kaiulani". Everyone that attended the MCC event this weekend were invited to the showing of the movie by the executive director Jeffrey Au and Producer Rick Galindo. After the movie we all headed back to the hotel and met in the conference room for a behind the scene's peek of the production and interview of the cast. We also were able to ask questions directly to both Jeff and Rick. Boy was it a heated discussion. Much MAHALO's to both Jeff and Rick for lighting a spark of interest in me of wanting to find out more information on our "Beloved Princess". Check out the video's of my interviews of Jeff and Rick.

Washington D.C. are you ready?

Aloha Everyone this is Jeff Hoapili.
Today I was excited to go the Offices of our Congressional Representatives and Senators. I had an opportunity to visit the offices of the Representatives of Hawaii and Nevada. The Representatives Offices of Hawaii that we met were Mazzie Hirono, and the newly elected Charles Djou who took the place of Neil Abercrombie. I also had the honor of visiting the offices of Senators Daniel Akaka and Daniel Inouye. We had 2 meetings scheduled for the day. Our 1st meeting was with Representative Dina Titus of Nevada. Unfortunately Dina Titus was unavailable due to the Congressional Session being in Recess and she flew home to spend with family before the next session begins. We ended up meeting with one of her staffers and voiced our concerns and voiced our concerns. The 2nd meeting that we had scheduled was with Senator Harry Reid. This was the meeting that really got me going. The staffer that we met whose name is Angela Arboledo was very enthusiastic and had so much positive energy that she made the lights of Las Vegas seem dim. There are so many ideas that were voiced and now we have a lot of homework to do. The best part of going to see these offices was that I got to sit in Senator Akaka's chair at his desk and act like I was making a phone call.

White House

OK what I failed to mention is that this was the first time that the Native Hawaiians were able to 'sit at the table' and discuss our wishes. The White House on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders was signed by President Obama in October 2009. It addresses the disparities of the APIA communities. This was created by an executive order which is the highest action a President can take while in office. Bottom line, the goal is to improve the quality of life for the APIA by providing access and participation opportunities for our people. It studies/learns the needs of our people AND looks for the solution! YEAH! Obama created an Advisory Commission of 20 people concentrating on strategic priorities for the APIA in Health, Eduction, Poverty and Economic Development. It creates a pipeline for the APIA to the federal government. In attendance were Kiran Ahuja (executive director on the White House Initiative for AAPI), Kim Tiki (Senior POlicy Advisor for OPE Native Americans) and Kimo Kaloi of the Department of Interior. Mahalo to Leimomi Khan (Pelekikena for the Association of Hawaiian Civic Clubs) for speaking on behalf of all of us informing the White House - that we want to be a part of the solution - let us help! For more information on the initiative visit www.aapi.gov

White House Briefing

Wow is all I can say! We had the privilege of attending a White House meeting which was held in the Eisenhower building on the grounds of the White House. We met with three ladies who work directly for Obama on the White House initiative of serving the Pacific Islanders. It is so good to find out the work that this administration is doing to help our people. Maika'i Obama! This was truly a historical moment to be there - I am humbled and honored to be able to sit amongst this group of people all focused on the same goal - helping the Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islanders.

Visits with the Senators

The offices of the Senators are not in the same building as the Representatives - so when we were done visiting the Longworth, Cannon and Rayburn buildings - we walked across the grounds of the Capitol and headed over to the Hart building. We were able to meet with the staffers from Akaka, Inouye and Senate Majority Leader Reid's offices. I personally liked the decoration of Inouye's office the best - he had a cultural room which he displayed flags from his service in the military, gifts he received and cultural relics that he collected over the years. The best meeting we had was with Angela from Reid's office. She was SO energetic with our requests and is willing to help us help ourselves. The LVHCC has homework - we have to put our two ideas that we proposed on paper and she will take it up the chain to be heard. Unbelievable!

More visits

While staying on the Representative side of the Capitol - we also visited the offices of Congressman Eni Faleomavaenga, the new Hawaii Congressman Charles Djou (in this picture) and NV Representative Dina Titus. It was nice to meet the new Hawaii Congressman who replaced Abercombie. It was also nice to sit with Titus Staffer Karen Stone. We were able to speak to her about helping our club introduce Native Hawaiian curriculum in our local schools, the opportunity to start a Pacific Cultural Center in Southern NV and we also thanked her for voting for the Akaka Bill.

Friday Hill Visits

Aloha this is Tamar....gosh what a day! On Friday, your LVHCC delegates visited many offices of our congressional delegates. Our first stop was Representative Mazie Hirono. Although she was not in the office - she went home to Hawaii for a few days - her office staff were so awesome! We spoke about the representative is doing her best to support the Akaka Bill.