A third way off the Kauaian sidelines

Amid our many pitched battles in business and government, as our community struggles to define its character and future, many Kauaians are looking for a third way out of the deadlocks that infect our hand-me-down paradigm of hierarchy and win-lose So much of our resident and visitor talent stays on the sidelines these days, pining or waiting for the days when “what to do” in our communities came or comes clear.

Inside, we sense there must be another, more common-sensical way to govern our communities.

Meanwhile, some of our best candidates do not run for public office, some of our skilled and dedicated government workers are buried in bureaucracy, our progressive entrepreneurs go unheralded, and some of our brightest thinkers tune-out island politics The county’s latest attempt to politicize the General Plan Update process and ram through developer-preferred policies, and the outraged response by our long-suffering Citizen’s Advisory Committee serves to illustrate our common citizens’ quandary of wanting to do the right thing yet feeling compromised at each step.

Are we stuck? What about a solution that isn’t about politics or profit, but simply about people? Turns out, there is a third way, and if you care more about people than politics or profit, chances are you have already found your way into Kaua’i’s “Third Sector.” If not, consider this. The “Third Sector” basically includes any activity that isn’t business or government, and encompasses an impressive array of nonprofit and community groups and initiatives Probably more than 60 percent of us already contribute to it through some form of community work. Still yet, we have traditionally viewed the nonprofit world as a do-gooders’ sidelight. Indeed, it is good to do this work, and it also adds up.

Look at what the Kauaian “Third Sector” includes. Since our initial efforts to compile a database of Kauaian groups on the 25th anniversary of Earth Day in 1995, an increasingly inclusive list has grown from over 300 to over 900 groups today. It encompasses 17 different types of nonprofit activity in five broad groupings as follows:

1. Arts, Hula, Preservation and Festival groups, such as the Kaua’i Society of Artists, the Ilio`ulaokalani alliance of hula halau, Hui o Laka and Koke`e Museum, Kaua’i Museum, and the Kaua’i Taro and Mokihana Festivals

2. Neighborhood, Watershed and Activist groups, such as the Kekaha `Ohana, Koloa Community Association, Nawiliwili Bay Council, Heritage River Hanalei, 1000 Friends of Kaua’i, Ho`okipa Network and Sierra Club.

3. Business, Farmer, Development and Technical groups, such as Kapa`a Business Association, Waipa, Organic Growers Association, West Kaua’i CDC, Hanapepe Economic Alliance, Kaua’i Internet Society and Habitat.

4. Health, Education and Media groups, such as Kaua’i Healing Arts Practitioners, Senior Centers, Children’s’ Discovery Museum, Na Pua No`eau, Kaua’i Community Players, Ho`ike and KKCR.

5. Service, Church and Recreation groups, such as the Kaua’i United Way, Alu Like, West Side Ministerial Alliance, Waimea Higashi Hongwanji Mission, AYSO and Garden Island Canoe Racing Association.

Even if we exclude all affiliates of national organizations, and include only those well-organized nonprofits with many members and active boards, there are at least 60 major Kaua’i groups at the center of our vast and potent “Third Sector.” So, our own third way has already amassed considerable momentum in dealing with our many community challenges and is sufficiently vast on Kaua’i that, if global trends are a guide, we should not be surprised if it soon rivals business or government in impact, if not cash flow.

A recent UN study reported that the global nonprofit sector is now a $1 trillion industry, equal to the eighth largest national economy in services and jobs, and that 40% of its total contribution comes from volunteers.

Moreover, the “Third Sector” is arguably the only place where things are actually getting done on our planet. At least since Earth Summit in Rio, non-governmental organizations (NGO) have been gaining clout and now rival the largest corporations.

So the World Trade Organization (WTO) is rediscovering in Seattle this week where independent video makers, radio producers, journalists and activists are rallying under the common goal of social and economic justice to challenge the WTO pro-corporate policies.

And, NGOs have been forging multi-state agreements on critical global issues like this at a time when governments seem lucky to agree on simple wording of tepid communique.

In America, government and business circle the wagons to defend a dying paradigm, and their form of leadership devolves into a small elite that listens only to themselves. They arrogantly dig in their heals, convinced that they know best what is good for us.

Ironically, the “Third Way” in Europe has rapidly evolved to not only galvanize local communities and elect national governments, but has also helped transform both government and business there into global competitors.

We have that kind of energy and potential on Kaua’i. But, first things first.

We need to get a good grip on exactly what our “Third Sector” is and is not, and it is definitely not about politics as usual.

Characteristically, “Third Sector” folks no longer want to fight the same old political battles. We are alienated from a decision-making arena where money trumps merit. We want decision based on dialogue, not deal-making.

We need to take some intermediate steps and get our “Third Sector” together in order to preserve and empower what is different about this kind of community thinking and collaborative work.

We know from recent Kauaian explorations of the Tupelo, Miss., experience and results of a study by Pioneer International in 12 Midwestern rural communities, that one key to community success is dispersed leadership.

Kaua’i has that in spades, as illustrated in the listing of nonprofit groups above.

We cannot help but think that if we simply listened to the hundreds of leaders in our “Third Sector,” and helped them hear each other, that we would all be sufficiently inspired to renew our commitments to community work.

Then, envision an umbrella network for all nonprofit community groups that serves both on-island and on-line to facilitate a new era of collaboration and kokua in meeting our many Kauaian community challenges Sure, we want a broad consensus on the General Plan Update, no matter how long it takes. And if visionary support is not forthcoming from our political leadership, then we might just as well take this agenda into the “Third Sector” and there continue a truly inclusive and community-based planning process.

And, yes we want our kupuna in the loop , yet we insist that they not be dragged into the political muck. These community planning and kupuna council initiatives might well be subsumed under a kind of Kauaian Institute.

Might we thus move forward together despite the prerogatives of politics and profit? Might a “Third Sector” push help us tap into the very best that our Kauaian people have to offer?

Now, we previously reported (Garden Island, 3 Nov 99) a quickening pulse and expanded scope of on-island and online inter-networking among Kauaian groups, and there is some buzz now about creating a kauaian.org web portal for all our “Third Sector” groups.

Plus, we are seeing new ways to incorporate even more emerging initiatives under just such a community umbrella.

For example, Barbara Curl’s work on a global leadership institute, Amy Awtrey’s plans for a Kaua’i wellness center, Darrel Jarmusch’ relaunch of the “Coconut Currency” and Imi Ola’s Hawaiian cultural village initiative might all fit under a new Kauaian umbrella for nonprofits So, here’s a heads up for folks already engaged in “Third Sector” work: Join with your group in this new era of nonprofit community collaboration. Help invest our community work with added credibility, enhanced information, greater interaction, deeper dialogue, and multiplied impact.

Let us all help move our “Third Sector” from sidelight to center stage And, here’s a heads up for folks who prefer to stay on the sidelines and steer clear of politics: Rethink your options. Try focus on community work. Think ahupua`a, think watershed. Get busy with your neighbors. Get off the sidelines.

Turns out, if you never go to another public hearing or cast another vote for elective office, you may still vitally contribute to our community life by helping build our “Third Sector” into a much more effective countervailing force in our islands’ future.

Ken Stokes (kaimiau@hotmail.com) is a green economist who runs Ho`okipa Network’s “virtual taro patch” website and hosts a Thursday Noon KKCR talk show focused on community initiatives. His Garden Island column appears alternate Wednesdays.