History of Hale Kipa

Overview

Hale Kipa, "the House of Friendliness," has been just that to thousands of Hawaii's runaways and homeless youth who need a place to stay and someone to talk to while they work out their problems. Hale Kipa was formed in 1970 by concerned community citizens who observed the alarming number of distressed teenagers, who for one reason or another, left home. Its mission is to provide a variety of services, including shelter, to youth in need. During the past twenty-five years, over 21,000 youth have been provided shelter and numerous youth and their families have been provided outreach and other services.

Hale Kipa is a non-profit, eleemosynary organization governed by a board of directors consisting of concerned citizens. The Hale Kipa board is exceptionally active and has been instrumental in obtaining community acceptance for locating shelters in neighborhoods, raising capital funds for the purchase of homes, funding jobs for youth, obtaining supplemental community contributions for operating costs and recruiting volunteers. The board has also been instrumental in maintaining a balanced operating budget, notwithstanding periods of unpredictable outside support.

Hale Kipa currently offers a variety of different programs for both adolescent boys and girls. Services include two emergency shelters, seventeen foster homes, and two independent living training apartments. Hale Kipa also has a family counseling unit and an outreach independent living program. The Youth Outreach (YO) project is a collaboration with the Waikiki Health Center, serves homeless street youth in the Waikiki area. The Ho'Okala project, is a collaboration with HPD, whereby all youth picked up on status offenses, particularly runaways and truants, are brought to Hale for parents to pick them up. This permits opportunity for early intervention and introduction of parents to possible family counseling support. Hale Kipa, in collaboration with the Youth Service Center, also has an educational drama group called the Power Teens.

The First Twenty-Five Years (1970 - 1994)

Hale Kipa began as a response from the community to address the plight of runaway and homeless girls and abused wives, many of whom wound up on Hotel Street and were engaged in prostitution and drugs.

The initial community advocates came from the Police and Church leaders (who first identified the problem), the YWCA, Mental Health Association, Family Court (who provided the first organizational support and Board Leadership), and the Junior League of Honolulu (who supplied the first volunteers and seed money).

Original Mission: Emergency Shelter for Runaway Girls and Abused Wives

The planning began in late 1969 and Hale Kipa was incorporated in January 1970. The first location was an old two-story wooden structure on the grounds of St. Andrew's Cathedral. This was accomplished through the support of the Episcopal Bishop, despite strong opposition from parents of students from the nearby Priory School for Girls. The first staff was a volunteer live-in couple, supplemented by volunteers from the Junior League. The Junior League also supplied money for basic supplies. At that same time, a dozen church pastors across the island, coordinated by the Hawaii Council of Churches, opened their homes for runaway boys. These homes, called Huckleberry Homes, did not work out and the boys' portion was abandoned.

These first few years were very turbulent. There were stories that pimps often chased girls up to the Hale Kipa house. Drugs were also at their height, and there was one death on the premises from a drug overdose. It soon became clear that shelter and tender loving care by itself was not enough. The Board cam up with the first funding, largely through the Junior League and a generous but anonymous corporate donation. This permitted a more structured and accountable staff support system and the hiring of the first executive director. Distention, however, arose between the live-in staff, the executive director, and the Board over who was in charge and "philosophical issues." For a period of some months, Hale Kipa closed down for reorganization. The real staying power and strength during those early days was the Junior League, the Mental Health Association, the YWCA, churches and a few corporate leaders. They supplied much of the leadership and continuity of the Board through their own members or connections.

The next problem was a crisis in housing. The donated property on the grounds of St. Andrew's Cathedral gave way for needed parking spaces. Hale Kipa relocated twice to temporary locations, until 1975 when the Hale Kipa Board made the bold decision to purchase the McKinley Street house. This occurred not without considerable community "not in my backyard" and political opposition. Again, Board members provided the staying power, canvassing the neighborhood and dealing with the politics. The McKinley house in Manoa, purchased for $175,000 (a seemingly exorbitant price in those days), provided a much needed, stabilizing force.

Mission Broadened to Include Emergency Shelter for Runaway Boys

In 1976, the Board requested that serious consideration be given to opening a shelter for boys, since the Huckleberry Homes did not work out. This charge was given to Sam Cox, who joined that year as Executive Director. Emergency shelter for boys was accomplished by leasing two rooms at the nearby Atherton YMCA, and eventually the parsonage of the Church of the Crossroads.

Mission Broadened to Include Family Counseling

It soon became obvious that the shelter alone, even with highly structured staff support, was not enough. Most of the runaways were runaways because of family problems. If these family problems were not resolved or handled, the youth simply ran away again. The staff did not want to be just a "warehouse for kids." Thanks to substantial Federal funding and requirement from the Runaway and Homeless Youth Act, our first family counseling component was added. Judy Sakai came on board as Program Director, joined shortly after by Jacque Kelley-Uyeoka and other social workers.

The following objectives were added:
  1. Provide sanctuary for homeless and runaway youth in need of protection.
  2. Reconcile youth to their families when possible or find alternative
     placements.

Mission Broadened to Include Temporary Foster Homes (Kamala Homes)

After some years, Hale Kipa realized that the group shelter structure was not enough by itself. It was not desirable to mix first time and younger runaways with the multiple, street-wise runaways. Statistics also indicated the need for earlier intervention. A strong presentation was made to Aloha United Way, who provided the initial investment of $30,000 to open up the first Kamala Homes. A surprising result was the increase in referrals of physically and sexually abused youth for whom this placement became ideal.

Mission Broadened to Include Non-residential Early Intervention and Aftercare

This came about with the realization that fully 40% of the youth were returning to Hale Kipa's shelters after a period of weeks. It was also difficult to get many youth out of emergency shelter who became attached. There was an obvious need to do some aftercare and, in some cases, front line intervention. This was funded initially by a special appeal to churches, and subsequently by State POS and Aloha United Way. This program has proven to be both cost effective in conserving shelter beds and program effective in supporting families. It was observed that many families, even fragile families, can be sustained with some support.

Mission Broadened to Include Transitional and Independent Living

At the other end of the spectrum, there were youth, particularly older youth, for whom reconciliation with family was not possible, or whose families did not exist. Foster homes were simply not available for these youth, and when they were, often did not work out. Many of these youth were stuck in the system, waiting for some sort of long-term placement. Hale Kipa began a 90 day transitional living program, which eventually phased out in favor of a more substantial Independent Living Program. The need for an independent living program was a recognized need in the community, but no agency was interested without assured long-term funding. Hale Kipa agreed to undertake a pilot program with the initial seed money coming from a Hughes Trust. The Hughes Trust, whose funding is limited to helping orphans, obtained a court determination that these Hale Kipa youth were "defacto" orphans. This began at first simply as foster homes licensed as independent living homes. It was supplemented eventually by Independent Living Training Apartments. These two apartments are located at the Matlock Hale in Makiki and were purchased by the Hale Kipa Board with long-term financing through the City.

Recently one to two slots were made available to our ILP Apartments for still another pressing need in the community, youth discharged from the Hawaii Youth Correctional Facility with no family support.

Mission Broadened to Include Cooperative Program for Street Youth

This program is an example of how two agencies can work together to maximize services for youth who did not fit in traditional shelters, including Hale Kipa, and for older youth up to age 21 not integrated into positive productive society. This highly visible partnership project with the Waikiki Health Center, stationed on a site connected and owned by the Waikiki Baptist Church, serves homeless street youth in the Waikiki area.

Mission Broadened to Include Cooperative Program with Police (Ho'Okala)

One of our newest ventures is our cooperative program with HPD, whereby all youth picked up on status offenses, particularly runaways and truants, are brought to Hale Kipa's Manoa shelter, where parents are instructed to pick them up. This permits opportunity for early intervention and introduction of parents to possible family counseling support. There is talk this might be extended to Kalihi and the Leeward area, and perhaps eventually the Windward area. There is some evidence that this early intervention may further shorten the required stay in emergency shelter for many runaway youth. There are plans to extend this to non-violent law violators as well.

Mission Broadened to Include Joint Venture Program for Emotionally Disturbed Youth

The plight of emotionally disturbed youth, long neglected by the State of Hawaii, has been recognized for some time by Hale Kipa. Many of these youth show up in our emergency shelters and even more on the streets. Kailana is a joint venture of Hale Kipa and Marimed which works to reintroduce emotionally disturbed youth in the mainstream of the community. Hale Kipa's role is to provide the community-based group home. There is an immediate program need to find a large residential setting in proximity to the day treatment program in the Kaneohe area.

Mission Broadened to Expand Community Education and Networking

In recent years, Hale Kipa is taking the lead in networking with other agencies to maximize resources and initiate other creative ventures that support and broaden our mission.

521-TEEN Line - A cooperative venture with youth serving agencies associated with the Hawaii Youth Services Network (HYSN), this information and 24-hour hot line service has enormous potential to reach youth and their families and connecting them to services. Hale Kipa is the lead agency in this endeavor, which is currently in its second year. The program is now being expanded to provide complementary information for parents.

Power Teens- Hale Kipa provides the leadership for this demonstration project involving youth educating other youth through drama skits and community service. This builds on the long-recognized fact that youth themselves, in partnership with adults, can often be the best media for social change for the better. This project is a cooperative venture through the Honolulu Youth Services Center, of which Hale Kipa is a member along with three other agencies.

Gay and Lesbian Youth - A special population of increasing concern, these youth have a high incident of suicide and crisis situations. Hale Kipa, together with a number of HYSN agencies, is looking into how to better serve this population. Initially, this might take the form of better staff training and/or special support groups through multiple agency sponsorship.

The Next 5 Years (1995 - 1999)

Emergency shelter for youth in need of protection will continue to be a mainstay of Hale Kipa's mission. Additionally, the expansion of residential programs for special youth populations (emotionally disturbed youth, youth discharged from the Hawaii Youth Correctional Facility and street youth) will continue, most likely in partnership with other agencies.. Outreach programs, such as the Youth Outreach Project in Waikiki, will continue to be emphasized.

Education and networking projects have potentially the greatest impact on social change for youth. This is particularly true with youth participation in projects such as 521-TEEN and Power Teens.

We are also looking at voluntarism in a new dimension, as a mission onto itself, as well as a way to enhance our resources. Here too, we are looking for partners. Logical partners would be the churches, senior citizen organizations, military organization, and, of course, youth themselves. One such project under plan is a joint Hale Kipa youth and senior citizen project at One Kalakaua, spearheaded by the Power Teens.