Infographic on Underrepresentation of Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders

--Click on infographic to view larger image--

Last week's infographic was a summary of the two main facts we're trying to inform people about: 1.) Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders are underrepresented, but 2.) they're excluded from applying to the majority of scholarships and fellowships for underrepresented minorities.  

For the sake of simplicity, this infographic focuses on the first point.  The data is pulled from U.S. Census data published here in 2011: LINK 

While the exact percentages change slightly now and then, they have been fairly consistent for the past 20 years. Click here to see that data: LINK  Throughout those two decades, Pacific Islander college graduation rates (at the 4-year-level) have been 40 to 50 percent lower than the national average.  

A number of factors influence this significant rate of underrepresentation, and the fact that we're unable to apply to most scholarships and fellowships for underrepresented minorities only makes it worse. Let's hope that will change as those programs look at the data and decide whether to recognize that Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders are underrepresented in higher education. 

Kawika
(If you're part of a scholarship or fellowship programs for underrepresented minorities, thank you for visiting!  We made a special page written with you in mind.  Please click here to check it out: LINK)

Infographic: Pacific Islanders are underrepresented in higher ed, but can't apply to most underrepresented minority programs

click infographic to view larger image

For those who prefer a visual representation to a written narrative, here's an infographic describing 1.) Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islander underrepresentation among college graduates and 2.) our findings that most underrepresented minority scholarships and fellowships don't include Pacific Islanders as an eligible group.

Kawika  

National Study on Pacific Islander Access to Underrepresented Minority Scholarships and Fellowships: access rising, but most still exclude Pacific Islanders

The Pacific Islander Access project's mission is to expand higher education opportunities for America's growing Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islander community.

We maintain this blog to raise awareness about the Pacific Islander American community in general, but we are particularly concerned about one specific problem that holds our community back:

Pacific Islanders are underrepresented in higher education, but they are excluded from applying to many scholarships and fellowships for underrepresented minorities.

Earlier this month, I blogged about the 2004 study that took me down the path that led to the creation of the Pacific Islander Access project.  While that study's findings are still important, we wanted to show you where the numbers are today.  Our question was simple: how many scholarships and fellowships for underrepresented minorities are still excluding Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders from applying?

We looked at 50 scholarships and fellowships from across the United States, all of whom either limited access or gave a strong stated preference to underrepresented minorities.  We then looked at how those organizations -- in their own words -- defined "underrepresented."  This definition matters greatly, because if a program is limited to underrepresented minority applicants, and their definition of "underrepresented minority" excludes Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders, then Pacific Islanders can't apply...even though they're underrepresented.

Here's what we found:

2012 National Study on Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islander Access to Scholarships and Fellowships for Underrepresented Minorities

• 28 percent recognize that Pacific Islanders are underrepresented
• 56 percent continue to exclude all Pacific Islanders
• 16 percent include some Pacific Islander sub-groups, but do not recognize that Pacific Islanders, as a whole, are an underrepresented group

We have a lot to say about the results of this study (and we'll do follow up posts on our findings), but here are the two main points:

1. Once again, research shows that despite decades worth of data confirming that Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders are underrepresented in higher education, they cannot even apply for many scholarships and fellowships for underrepresented minorities. 
2. On the other hand, this study also demonstrates that a growing number of underrepresented minority programs do recognize Pacific Islander underrepresentation -- the rate of recognition rose from 21 percent in 2004, to 28 percent in 2012.  This is slow progress, but it's progress nonetheless.

Now that we've finished this study, the Pacific Islander Access project is going to work to raise awareness about it, and to contact the programs included in our study.  We've already written to the forward-thinking programs that recognize Pacific Islander underrepresentation.  We've also shared our data with the programs that only recognize certain Pacific Islander sub-groups.  

And of course, we'll be reaching out to the programs that still exclude Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders.  We're letting them know about our study, sharing data on Pacific Islander underrepresentation, and asking them to make the right choice.  We'll keep you posted on our progress. 

Mahalo for reading.

Kawika

--At this time, I also want to give a special thanks to Karin Karpin, my principle assistant for this study.  Karin joined the P.I.A. project as an intern several years ago, and has since risen to be our vice president and a member of our board of directors. Her help with this research project was invaluable, as were her ideas and enthusiasm as we completed this national study.  

Karin will soon begin her first semester in medical school, and I know she'll excel as a scholar and physician.  Mahalo Karin!

Pacific Islander Charter School Opens in Utah

I'd planned on following last week's post (on the 2004 study which showed that most underrepresented minority scholarships and fellowships don't recognize that Pacific Islanders are underrepresented) with an entry on the 2012 research we've done on the same topic.  All of us at the Pacific Islander Access project are excited to share that with you, but we saw a story in the news that we had to blog about.

The story? It's about how a small group of Pacific Islander Americans in Salt Lake City have founded a charter school focused on a steeped in the values of the Pacific Islander community.  I believe that they are the first to do this in the Continental U.S., but I'd bet that they found some inspiration in the Native Hawaiian charter school movement that is alive and thriving in Hawaii.

Congrats to the founders of the Pacific Heritage Academy!  We wish them and their scholars the best of luck. While they're focusing on providing an effective and culturally relevant education for the next generation of Pacific Islander Americans, the P.I.A. project will be doing our part to increase their graduates' access to scholarships and fellowships for underrepresented minorities.

Kawika

-- To read the story, click here: LINK
-- To learn more about the Pacific Heritage Academy, click here: LINK

2004 Study on Pacific Islander Access to Academic Programs for Underrepresented Minorities

Growing up as a Native Hawaiian in Hawaii, I didn't need to be told that my community was less represented among college graduates and less likely to "succeed" by many standards.  But when I attended college on the mainland, I was exposed to new facts and a strange idea: first, I learned about the hard stats on the underrepresentation of all Pacific Islanders, Native Hawaiians included.

The strange idea? I was told by a well-intentioned executive at a program for underrepresented minorities that, according to their policy, "Hawaiians are Pacific Islanders, and Pacific Islanders are Asian/Pacific Islanders... and Asian Pacific Islanders are not underrepresented." By that logic, Native Hawaiians weren't underrepresented... even though we were.  

As a McNair Scholar, I was blessed with the resources to conduct a year-long quantitative study to delve into this question: on a national level, did scholarships and fellowships for underrepresented minorities realize that Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders were underrepresented?  

I found that, overwhelmingly, the answer was no.  The following data represents the findings from my national sample.

2004 findings on Pacific Islander access to scholarships and fellowships for underrepresented minorities

• 21 percent recognized that Pacific Islanders were underrepresented
• 64 percent excluded Pacific Islanders from definition of underrepresented
• 15 percent recognized some Pacific Islander sub-groups, but excluded others

I was shocked by this information, but I was also excited about the opportunity to raise awareness.  I published my findings in the McNair Journal; won a series of research awards for my study; wrote guest columns in national and international niche publications; and helped a Hawaii State legislator draft a Resolution that was adopted by the State House of Representatives.  In every one of those areas, I was successful, but I felt like a failure in the most important area: the underrepresented minority programs seemed to be maintaining their policies of excluding Pacific Islanders. 

As I've told you in my personal story about why the P.I.A. project matters to me, this was my motivation to found this nonprofit: to raise awareness about Pacific Islander underrepresentation in higher education, in order to reduce -- and someday eliminate -- our exclusion from academic programs for underrepresented minorities.

2004 was eight years ago, so it's fair to ask: Are Pacific Islanders still excluded from most academic programs for underrepresented minorities?  Have the programs made progress in recognizing Pacific Islander underrepresentation?

The Pacific Islander Access project has pondered those questions, and this summer we completed an updated national study.  Next week I'll tell you our findings.

Kawika