U.S. grants to UH
set $160 million
record

The latest federal grants
address college enrollment for
low-income students and
truancy in Waianae

By Susan Kreifels
Star-Bulletin

The University of Hawaii has received $1.3 million in federal grants for programs to lower truancy in Waianae, get more low-income students in college and train indigenous people to help disabled children in the Pacific islands.

The state will receive a total of $6.4 million, including $4.9 million to build the Pearl City Bus Facility at the former Manana Storage area.

The new federal funding brings UH's total research and training contracts and grants so far this fiscal year to $131 million, up 5 percent from the same time last year. Total for 1998: a record $160 million.

"These grants are confirmation of the university's expertise and success in competing for federal funds for projects of importance to this state and the Pacific," said UH spokeswoman Cheryl Ernst. "We're on track to set another record year."

Hawaii's U.S. Rep. Neil Abercrombie announced the grants yesterday.

Two public elementary schools will also get grants for bilingual programs: at Kauluwela, $110,661 for Project Laulima to educate Chinese-speaking students; and at Jefferson, $85,773 for Project Malihini, a program for newly arrived students with limited English.

"These grants will strengthen Hawaii's economy, improve our education system and help modernize our transportation infrastructure," Abercrombie said in a press release.

The UH grants:

$99,912 for Project PACT, or Partnership to Address and Counteract Truancy. UH-Manoa, along with various other state education and legal agencies, will work with the Waianae community to reduce truancy.

$883,114 for the Upward Bound Program, designed to get more students from low-income families through high school and into college.

$294,708 to develop a paraprofessional training program for indigenous people to support disabled children in the Federated States of Micronesia, American Samoa and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.

$17,885 to evaluate a culturally based behavior program for 10 students with emotional and behavior disorders.