THE SENATE

S.B. NO.

1367

TWENTY-EIGHTH LEGISLATURE, 2015

S.D. 1

STATE OF HAWAII

 

 

 

 

 

 

A BILL FOR AN ACT

 

 

RELATING TO PROJECT KEALAHOU.

 

 

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

 


SECTION 1.  The legislature finds that despite intervention efforts, girls are at greater risk than boys for sexual abuse, running away, truancy, suicide, prostitution, and further victimization.  Moreover, many teen girls face immense challenges brought on by unplanned pregnancy.  According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, pregnancy and birth are significant contributors to high school dropout rates among girls.  These and other challenges require interventions tailored to the unique psychosocial and interpersonal characteristics of girls.

Project Kealahou was developed in response to broad recognition by leaders and workers in the State's public youth service system that adolescent girls face challenges that established treatment programs do not adequately address.  This six-year, federally-funded program, housed in the department of health child and adolescent mental health division, promotes community-based, individualized, culturally- and linguistically-competent, family-driven, youth-guided, and evidence-based services.  In addition to these standard system of care principles, Project Kealahou emphasizes gender-responsive and trauma-informed care when serving its target population of adolescent females ages eleven through twenty-one who have experienced significant trauma in their lives.

Project Kealahou also offers a relatively low-cost array of community-based services and supports that provide cost-effective deterrents and alternatives to more expensive and disruptive out-of-home placements for youth, as well as a range of cultural and recreational community-based group activities to help youth and their families reconnect with each other and their communities.

The legislature finds that federal funding of Project Kealahou will phase out in October 2015, and that state funding is needed to continue and expand this cost-effective array of services to at-risk youth and their families who would otherwise not have access to these services.  While Project Kealahou services are currently available throughout Oahu, ideally these services would be expanded to extend to the entire State.  With legislative funding for Project Kealahou, much-needed services will also be offered on the islands of Hawaii and Kauai in fiscal year 2015-2016.

The purpose of this Act is to appropriate funds for Project Kealahou to ensure that the array of community-based, outpatient services and supports offered by this program are continued and expanded to meet the needs of at-risk youth, particularly adolescent females, and their families.

     SECTION 2.  There is appropriated out of the general revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $         or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2015-2016 for the continued funding of Project Kealahou within the child and adolescent mental health division of the department of health.

     The sum appropriated shall be expended by the department of health for the purposes of this Act.

     SECTION 3.  The child and adolescent mental health division of the department of health shall annually submit a report to the legislature that shall include the following information on the Project Kealahou program:

     (1)  Program outcomes;

     (2)  The sustainability of funding for the program; and

     (3)  Any plans and recommendations to secure financial support for the program. 

     SECTION 4.  This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2050.


 


 

Report Title:

Department of Health; Project Kealahou; Appropriation

 

Description:

Appropriates funds for the continued funding of Project Kealahou within the Department of Health Child and Adolescent Mental Health Division.  Requires an annual report.  Effective 7/1/2050.  (SD1)

 

 

 

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