Voices of Pacific Island Nations Vpin Fetu Taiala

VOPIN operated the following programs in 2022:(i) Navigating Education:In 2022, VOPIN secured an MOA (Memorandum of Understanding) with Bremerton School District to provide mentoring and tutoring services at Bremerton High School. Under VOPIN's Youth and Young adults Services, besides our mentoring/tutoring services, the 'Student Internship' project was established to prepare and promote Pacific Islander (PI) high school graduates and college students on their journey to a successful career path. The internship project is designed to provide an opportunity for PI students with practical experience to grow professionally and plan for a successful career path. The project also includes structured learning, giving students experience with the responsibility for meeting timelines, making decisions, and working with others all skills needed for success in the workplace. It also allows students to apply the four R's rigor, relevance, relationships, and results! The Student Internship project provides tuition assistance and/or compensation for participants. This internship project is not associated with or part of any federal or state student financial assistance programs and is a nonacademic credit-earning program.(ii) Family Services:Family is central to the fabric of PI communities and a consistently influential factor in the educational trajectory of PI students. Culturally, the youth and young adults often feel an obligation to meet the expectations of the family(s). Due to language barriers and cultural dissimilarities, PI families struggle to navigate the complexity of the educational and socioeconomic systems. PI youth and young adults often experience a cultural duality between school and home, and these values often conflict with each other, which creates stressors for the children (students) that lead to student disengagement from school. Schools must cultivate a sense of belonging, self-determination, and sovereignty for PI youth and families. Parents and grandparents are solid motivators and must be engaged in education solutions. Schools also need greater accommodation for English language learner students and families and to actively engage and involve non-native English-speaking PI parents and families in schools.VOPIN System of Care is a broad, flexible array of services and supports for a defined population. It is organized into a coordinated network of service providers and integrates service planning, coordination, and management across multiple organizations. It builds meaningful partnerships with families and youth at service delivery, management, and policy levels and is linguistically and culturally resonant. To be successful, a System of Care must have supportive management from partner organizations and policies in place to define the roles and expectations of all members. System of Care members will meet regularly and establish policies and procedures to guide service coordination. The System of Care will include representation from various Kitsap County organizations, including health care, immigration, education, juvenile justice, behavioral health, and social services. System of Care members will establish policies to guide service coordination and a referral system that ensures wraparound services for all Kitsap County PI youth and families.(iii) Arts and Culture:Arts and Culture will utilize a comprehensive approach to increase student engagement via cultural identity. It will also engage elders and community members, allowing them to share their knowledge with younger generations. VOPIN will facilitate activities in educational settings in the form of PI arts and culture after-school clubs and cultural celebrations and in the community in the form of arts and culture festivals, art shows, cultural celebrations, and multi-generational community-based language classes. In 2021, VOPIN began developing Language Journeys, a multi-generational language program to grow the speaking community by inspiring and motivating language learning among community members. It will use a structured immersion curriculum to be developed in 2021/2022 by a curriculum development team. The intention is to pilot this program in Samoan and expand future classes to provide language instruction in other PI languages in the future.