AP-Stanford Poll: Americans Recognize Link between Economy and Education System

The Associated Press reported today on an AP-Stanford University poll surveying the views Americans hold on several aspects of higher education. Its findings have been covered from multiple perspectives, with the AP running headlines like "Poll: education backed, but not taxes."

Here are two important results from the poll that didn't make as many (if any) headlines:

• 88 percent of respondents said that the quality of a country's education system has a large or very large impact on its economy
• 79 percent of respondents said that if all Americans graduated from a two or four-year college it would help the economy a lot or a little

I agree with both statements (in fact I wonder about the 21 percent of folks who don't think that having a 100 percent college graduation rate would help the economy). I would take it one step further: for the underrepresented minority groups that constitute a growing portion of the American public, if they are able to graudate at a higher rate and access a quality education, this will be good for those communities in particular and the economy as a whole.

And of course this ties back to Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders. They will be better able to access a quality education and graduate when they have access to the scholarships, fellowships, and academic programs for underrepresented minorities which don't currently recognize that they're underrepresented.

Here's the poll in full: LINK

Kawika

Association of Hawaiian Civic Clubs urges Action on Including Pacific Islanders in Acadmic Programs for Underrepresented Minorities

More great news for those of us working to increase higher education opportunities for Pacific Islanders: Last week one of the largest and oldest national Native Hawaiian organizations unanimously passed a resolution calling on their fellow Native Hawaiian organizations to urge academic programs for underrepresented minorities to recognize that Native Hawaiians and Other Pacific Islanders are an underrepresented group. I'll include a link to the resolution when it's posted online, but for now I'm just sharing the great news.

Mahalo nui loa (thank you very much) to all of the leaders of the Association of Hawaiian Civic Clubs, for urging Native Hawaiian organizations to call for the inclusion of Pacific Islanders in underrepresented minority programs! And a special thanks to the members of the civic club that I'm a member of (the Washington, DC-based Ke Alii Makaainana civic club), especially those who attended the national convention and explained the urgent need to move forward on this issue.

Kawika

News - PIA project Officially Incorporated in DC!

The Pacific Islander Access project team is pleased to report that our nonprofit is officially incorporated in the District of Columbia! We recently received this great news from DC's Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs. As you might imagine, we're excited to be taking another step forward in the effort to open more doors for Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders by ending their exclusion from scholarships and fellowships for underrepresented minorities.