Meeting Notes: June 29, 2004
The first meeting of the Keiki Caucus, in preparation for the 2005 legislative session, was held at the Capitol on this date. Sen. Chun Oakland and Rep Arakaki presided as they have for the past 14 years. A relatively small number of representatives from various agencies and government departments were in attendance.
There will be monthly sessions leading up to the Children's Summit which will be held on Saturday, October 23rd in the Capitol Auditorium. Prior to the Summit, the Keiki Caucus will research various initiatives suggested by the participants. After the Summit we will write bills and resolutions which support the chosen initiatives and will make up the agenda for the session starting in January.
At todays meeting Linda Rosen, Deputy Director of Health presented current health indicators for Hawaii's children which were collected by the Maternal and Child Health Branch. Of interest was that only 3 to 7% of Hawaii's children do not have some form of health insurance thanks to SCHIP and MedQUEST. Children of Hawaiian ancestry have the worst health statistics. Poor outcomes are consistently related to poverty income status.
Other concerns were mentioned and will be taken up in the coming months. There will be an effort to involve young people from the schools to hear their issues and give support. Since poverty is such an overriding force in limiting healthy growth and development of children, we will look at how the Keiki Caucus might impact this issue.
The next Keiki Caucus meeting will be July 27th
Noon to 2:00pm at the State Capitol, Room 325
All welcome and stay tuned! |
