Data and research to characterize and address environmental threats in Hawaii
margauxfThe Office of Hawaiian Affairs (OHA) have all advocated for more consistent and coordinated data collection on Native Hawaiiains from state agencies, particularly the Department of Health, Department of Labor and Industrial Relations, Department of Human Services, county police departments and the Judiciary (Hofschneider 2021). The Hawaii Budget and Policy Center and Papa Ola Lokahi have similarly urged state agencies to improve data collection and involvement of Native Hawaiians in decision-making--that is collection of data grounded in principles of Indigenous data sovereignty. See more here on data sovereignty
Joseph Keawe‘aimoku Kaholokula, chairman of the Native Hawaiian Health program at the University of Hawaiian medical school, has prioritized the need to include people who are “part-Hawaiian” so that they aren’t obscured under the “mixed race” category. He also stresses the need for native Hawaiian input into how they are categorized in state data collection. Kaholokula noted that counting people who are at least part-Hawaiian means that the Native Hawaiian community makes up about 22% of the state population — far more than the 10% accounted for by the Department of Health (Hofschneider 2020). The Hawai’i Budget and Policy Center and Papa Ola Lokahi highlight the fact that over 34% of children under age 18 are part- or full-Native Hawaiian. They emphasize that the children's "importance to Hawai'i’s future gives greater weight and urgency to the issue of collection and use of disaggregated data for public policy and program development” (Kauahikaua and Pieper-Jordan 2021).
Hofschneider, Anita. 2021. “OHA Says Better Data Is Needed To Tackle Problems Facing Native Hawaiians.” Honolulu Civil Beat. January 24, 2021. https://www.civilbeat.org/2021/01/oha-says-better-data-is-needed-to-tackle-problems-facing-native-hawaiians/.
Hofschneider, Anita. 2020. “Why The State Doesn’t Consistently Track Data On Native Hawaiians.” Honolulu Civil Beat. May 30, 2020. https://www.civilbeat.org/2020/05/the-state-doesnt-consistently-track-data-on-native-hawaiians/.
Kauahikaua, Lilinoe and Seanna Pieper-Jordan. 2021. “Improving Hawai‘i’s data policy to better serve Native Hawaiians.” Hawai’i Budget and Policy Center and Papa Ola Lokahi. /https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5ef66d594879125d04f91774/t/60514869451e1d09b75e4317/1615939719621/Data+Justice+Report_Interactive.pdf.