WHEREAS, the Legislature acknowledges that a representative democracy is dependent on its people being informed, prepared, willing, and able to take an active role in self government; and

WHEREAS, the Legislature also acknowledges that despite the power of the people in a representative democracy, policy decisions that govern the lives of the populace are made by its political leaders; and

WHEREAS, the Legislature recognizes that citizen participation through community organizations and Neighborhood Boards is an essential part of a representative democracy because it gives individuals the opportunity to take a more direct and active role in improving the society in which they live; and

WHEREAS, the Legislature recognizes that effective participation in a representative democracy and its organizations is a learned behavior and that public education was established on that premise; and

WHEREAS, in 1984, the Revised Charter of Honolulu established the Neighborhood Board system on Oahu to enable citizens to become involved in the community level political decision making process; and

WHEREAS, the Legislature finds that community members that hold positions of leadership must not only understand the basic concepts and theories that underlie a representative democracy, but also must possess the fundamental leadership skills that will help them communicate effectively with others, and implement collaborative strategies of governance and decision making in order to enable these new leaders to be successful in their desire to serve the community; and

WHEREAS, the Legislature finds that the City and County of Honolulu has a program that offers optional leadership training to members in leadership positions on the Neighborhood Boards; and

WHEREAS, the Legislature understands that leadership training in the areas of basic communication and facilitation skills should not be optional to elected Neighborhood Board leadership, but should be obligatory because of the important nature of their positions in communities; and

WHEREAS, the Legislature also believes that the City and County of Honolulu must expand their leadership training to include communication, facilitation skills, and consensus building for newly elected Neighborhood Board members in positions of leadership; and

WHEREAS, the Legislature believes that the optimum time for training is when members are newly elected to leadership positions; and

WHEREAS, the leadership of each Neighborhood Board should provide an update on the training program's content, participation rate, and effective measurements to the Legislature at the end of each year; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED, by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-third Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2005, that the Legislature requests that the City and County of Honolulu expand its Neighborhood Board leadership training program to include communication and facilitation skills; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the City and County of Honolulu is requested to require a leadership training program for all newly sworn Neighborhood Board members in positions of leadership and that these members be requested to submit a report on the effectiveness of the City and County's training program to the Legislature no later than twenty days before the convening of each Regular Session of the Legislature; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Resolution be transmitted to the Mayor of the City and County of Honolulu and the Chairperson of the Neighborhood Commission, who in turn is requested to transmit copies to each Neighborhood Board.

Report Title:

Neighborhood Boards; Leadership Training