Support the Weekly

Diary

Goodfellows

by Tiffany Hervey | Jun 13, 2012

Omidyar Fellows, a new program aimed at develop new local leaders, is recruiting 12-15 candidates for its inaugural class this fall.

“Hopefully, we will get the next set of people running the DOE or the next CEO of Bank of Hawaii,” program director Kalei Stern said of the initiative, which seeks applicants early in their careers with at least five years of management-level experience. Created by Bill Coy, director of leadership and learning for the Hawaii Leadership Forum, and funded by eBay founder and Hawaii resident Pierre Omidyar, who sits on the regional panel for the White House Fellows, this program will implement that concept here in Hawaii.

The program lasts for 15 months. The ideal candidate, Stern says, should be committed to staying in and making a difference in Hawaii, understand the challenges Hawaii faces and have a vision for changes they would like to inspire.

“Part of the eligibility requirements is that fellows will have started to tackle those complex problems in their organizations,” Stern explains, citing land use, transportation, education, government, renewable energy and agriculture as some of those issues.

Stern hopes that the cohort-based learning will inspire working in a collaborative manner: “We’re hoping we can infuse the fellows with the ability to work with the other side, not against them.” Although the fellowship is unpaid, Omidyar is making “an investment of $50,000 per person” in order to cover all costs of training, Stern says. Applications by June 30 to [omidyarfellows.org].

COMMENTS

We often print online comments in our “Letters to the Editor” section of Honolulu Weekly. While submitted letters are often edited for length and clarity, online comments we use are printed entirely as they are written for the website. If you do not wish for your comment to be used in Honolulu Weekly print issues, please write “Don’t Print” at the end of your comment. For questions, e-mail editorial@honoluluweekly.com. Thank you!

blog comments powered by Disqus

This week

Derelict Downtown

For as long as we can remember, Chinatown has been notorious for drugs, homelessness and filthy streets. Some claim nothing has changed–and that it never will.

Sweet Ride

Bicyclists have long been overlooked by four-wheel riders on Honolulu’s congested streets. In the gleaming, armored pecking order of the road, cyclists are too often dismissed as lane hogs, hand-signaling nuisances and unfortunates who can’t afford cars.

Hoopili miss

The fate of some 1,525 acres of land at Hoopili in ‘Ewa may have been decided last Wednesday in Hawaii’s First Circuit Court. The decision might have gone differently, but the appellant attorneys’ strategy seemed to collapse as Judge Rhonda Nishimura picked it apart based on technical errors.

Housing First $

Last Thursday, May 9, the Caldwell administration revealed its action plan for solving Honolulu’s homeless problem. But at the City Council’s budget meeting the same day, Budget chair Ann Kobayashi wanted to know where the money for “Housing First” (see Cover Story, pg.

Do it Wright

The Mayor Wright Housing project has been slated for major redevelopment by the Hawaii State Housing Authority (HSHA); requests for qualifications will be going out to developers in three to six months. Nonprofit group Faith Action for Community Equity (FACE) wants to make sure the project’s tenants have a say in the redevelopment process, which could include major renovations or a total rebuild.

Street Disconnect

The Honolulu City Council held a special Committee on Transportation meeting on Tuesday, May 7, to go over its Complete Streets initiative with input from the department directors of Design and Construction (DDC), Planning and Permitting (DPP) and Transportation Services (DTS). At prior meetings, including the Moiliili workshop, community members pressed the idea of combining Complete Streets with Caldwell’s repaving projects, which Dan Burden of the Walkable and Livable Communities Institute and some councilmembers have said makes sense.

Stopping Growth

Not much to agree with my friend Doc Berry (“Limits of Growth,” April 17). None of the scenarios he posits will ever materialize.

Get it together

In your Diary of May 8 (“End of the 27th)” you reported on SB 1214, passed by the Legislature. In their nimble way, the Legislature tacked the wheel boot prohibition on a bill that was intended to abolish the Commission on Transportation.

Look both ways

On Friday, May 3, at 3:45 p.m., I was driving town bound through the Wilson tunnel on the Likelike. I was parallel to another car, and there were several other cars following closely behind me.

Thank you!

Congratulations Honolulu Weekly on the recent Pai award for investigative reporting (“Boss GMO,” Jan. 4, 2012).

Truth be told

When the biofuel guys say that costs are “confidential” (“Big-foot Biofuel,” May 8), I reply that since I am the one who is going to end up paying the cost, I have a right to know. Frankly, when everybody tries to hide the costs, I smell rat …

Nature’s beauty

The Foster Botanical Garden never ceases to inspire for an urban setting it is like a step back in time (“See the Flora,” May 8). If Koko Crater Botanical Garden contains the world’s largest plumeria collection as suggested, it may be thanks in part to the Prussian born Dr.