Identifying Community Development Opportunities for the WPI Hawai`i Project Center
Partner organization: Hawai`i Project Center
Team members: Blake Bragaw (biomedical engineering ’22), Patrick Dyer (electrical and computer engineering ’22), Renee Gruner-Mitchell (mechanical engineering ’22), Ben Larkin (electrical and computer engineering ’22)
Executive Summary: Worcester Polytechnic Institute’s (WPI) Global Projects Program is a key aspect of WPI’s distinctive education. This program provides the opportunity for students to complete hands-on project work that is not only valuable to students’ education but to communities around the world. As the Global Projects Program continues to expand, there is a need for more project centers. The Hawai`i Project Center was founded in 2020 in Hilo, HI, by Professor Lauren Mathews, our project sponsor. In 2021, the center was relocated to Honolulu, HI on Oahu (see Figure 1) due to its bustling, urban environment that offers great potential for student projects. Due to this change, Professor Mathews needs to gain more information about the community development activities on Oahu to enhance the future project center. Our project goal was to strengthen the Hawai`i Project Center by identifying suitable WPI project partners and obtaining information on relevant challenges on Oahu.
To achieve our project’s goal, we developed two objectives:
1. Develop criteria for suitable IQP partners.
2. Characterize community development activity on Oahu.
The first objective was to determine criteria to measure the suitability for collaboration between a project partner and a WPI team. The second objective was to analyze the challenges Oahu’s communities are facing and the organizations addressing these challenges. Upon completion of our objectives, we delivered the Hawai`i Project Center Director a comprehensive Organization Database of community development organizations and a detailed report. This report provides recommendations of organizations for WPI collaboration and the pressing challenges to address on Oahu.
To achieve our goals, we developed a methodology that utilized techniques such as expert interviews and the use of online resources. To complete our first objective, we interviewed WPI Project Center Directors (PCDs). These individuals have experience identifying and contacting organizations for partnership. They were able to explain the processes they have used and describe what has made a project partner suitable in their experience. From these interviews we identified a set of criteria we used to measure an organization’s suitability for partnership with WPI project teams. To complete our second objective, we identified a variety of community development organizations on Oahu through online research. We then contacted these organizations to request interviews to learn about each organization’s structure, the challenges they address, and the feasibility of a partnership with WPI.
After completing the interviews with the WPI PCDs for our first objective, we created a set of criteria to help us judge the suitability for collaboration with an organization, as well as recommendations for both identifying and contacting organizations. We categorized the criteria into four groups: Responsiveness & Enthusiasm, Volunteer Involvement, Organization Size, and Established in the Community. The recommendations received from these interviews included identifying additional organizations through the interviews we have already completed and clearly explaining the WPI IQP to an organization representative.
As we identified and conducted interviews with community development organizations working on Oahu, we found that environmental sustainability and conservation was, by far, the most common issue being addressed. Under environmental sustainability and conservation, we identified three important issues: the preservation of marine ecosystems, the management of pollution, and the education of the public regarding the environment. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR): Division of Aquatic Resources are large governmental organizations addressing the preservation of marine ecosystems. They conduct research on aquatic ecosystems and pass legislation to protect marine life. Wastewater Alternatives and Innovation focuses on managing Hawai`i’s wastewater. They ensure that cesspools do not leak, causing damage to Hawai`i’s ecosystem. The Surfrider Foundation also does work to manage pollutions, especially microplastics found on Oahu’s coasts. Kupu and the Hawai`i Nature Center educate the public about Hawai`i’s environment. The Hawai`i Nature Center partners with local schools and teaches children about nature through an immersive approach. Kupu offers service-learning opportunities to young people, providing them a foundation for a career in environmental stewardship. Lastly, the State of Hawai`i’s Office of Planning is a government office that addresses a variety of challenges with many programs, including the Statewide Sustainability Program.
We also found a critical mass of organizations working in affordable housing and homelessness. Faith Action, the one organization available to interview, is a religious organization that assists Hawai`i’s underserved population. They often fight for legislative change like increasing the minimum wage and decreasing the cost of living. The other organizations we found generally worked closer to the homeless or at-risk population, providing them with either shelter or financial support.
After completing our online searches and interviews, we developed several recommendations for the Hawai`i PCD. First, we recommend that the Hawai`i PCD reach out to the following organizations:
- DLNR: Division of Aquatic Resources
- NOAA Fisheries: Pacific Islands Regional Office
- Kupu
- State of Hawai`i Office of Planning
These organizations were selected based upon the criteria we developed from the PCD interviews.
We recommend that the Hawai`i PCD start the project center by focusing on environmental sustainability and conservation. We found that the organizations working in this area were both plentiful and responsive to our interview requests. The Hawai`i PCD should consider becoming involved in homelessness and affordable housing. There are many organizations working in this area that were responsive but were often busy. We suspect that if they were contacted and presented with a project idea, they may be more responsive. We also recommend that the Hawai`i PCD continues to use both the project partner criteria and the Organization Database we have generated when continuing with the project center. It would also be helpful if the Hawai`i PCD establish collaboration with the University of Hawai`i, as every environmental community development organization that we interviewed had some connection with the university.