One component of the Community Consultation Network is PacificNetwork.tv (PNTV), which bills itself as “the Native Hawaiian portal to the world.” The site is an internet network – a combination of a TV station, a website, and more. It delivers rich media with photos and video, along with news stories and commentary – all for free. For the past several months, Kau Inoa updates have been available on the site, including upcoming registration events, contact information, and other updates. You can visit PNTV at http://www.PacificNetwork.tv for another resource to get the latest news on Kau Inoa or the Native Hawaiian community. It even has its own social network, Connections, which is free to join, but registration on the site is required.

Sometimes people are confused about the difference between Kau Inoa and OHA’s Hawaiian Registry Program (HRP). If you received a red registration card with a photo, that is for HRP. Kau Inoa does not issue a card, but if you received a Kau Inoa t-shirt for registering, you have signed up for Kau Inoa. HRP and Kau Inoa are affiliated with each other, but separate registration is required in each, usually requiring separate forms.

The Kau Inoa form offers four options to verify your Hawaiian ancestry. The first allows you to declare your Hawaiian ancestry by stating you have previously submitted your ancestry verification documents and are verified by either the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands, the HRP at OHA, Operation ‘Ohana at OHA, or the Kamehameha Schools Ho‘oulu Hawaiian Data Center.

If you would like to register for both Kau Inoa and HRP at the same time, there is one form which will allow you to do both; it is available at OHA. If you are already registered in Kau Inoa and want to register in HRP, please contact HRP staff at (808) 594-1914 or toll-free at 1-800-366-1758 for more information on how to register for HRP. If you are already registered in HRP and want to register in Kau Inoa, please contact John Rosa at (808) 594-1902 or toll-free at 1-800-366-1758 for more information on how to register for Kau Inoa.

Information on both programs is available online: for Kau Inoa please visit http://kauinoa.org/info.php; for HRP please visit http://www.oha.org and click on “OHA Hawaiian Registry” from the choices on the left part of the screen.

This year, Kau Inoa outreach touched Hawaiians at 60 events in Hawai‘i Nei and on the continent. As of the end of November, 108,118 people have placed their name and indicated their commitment to build and raise a nation. That means that 5,877 Native Hawaiians have signed up this year.

One new project for Kau Inoa this year was embracing and managing a social media outreach initiative. While Kau Inoa has been on the micro-blogging service Twitter (http://twitter.com/kauinoa) since 2008, this year was the year Twitter was fully utilized. You can “follow” us at the service for the latest updates relating to Kau Inoa, Hawaiian Governance, and nation-building. For those who may not use it, Twitter is a social networking and micro-blogging service that allows users to share “tweets” or messages of up to 140 characters with their followers and the world. Tweets allow users to provide brief updates and information to others, both quickly and easily.

The social media initiative continues with the Kau Inoa Newsblog (http://www.kauinoa.org/blog) that you are reading. A blog, or “web log,” is a type of website that is updated regularly and can share events or other information. Like Kau Inoa’s Twitter account, this blog is meant to keep people up-to-date with what is going on in the Hawaiian community in the governance arena. Because the blog does not have the character limit that Twitter does, more detailed information can be shared here.

Both of these services are interactive. On Twitter, anyone with an account can “reply” to a post from @kauinoa to share an opinion, ask a question, or repeat a message (called “retweeting”). At the blog, anyone can leave a comment – no account required. However, users must provide an email address, for verification purposes only, although it is not shared when the comment is posted.

With both of these undertakings, Kau Inoa is able to let anyone answer the question, “What’s on your mind?”

With our Hilo event behind us, Kau Inoa is pleased to announce that we will have three additional registration events scheduled for the month of December. This is your opportunity to sign up before the end of 2009.

If you or someone you know is interested in signing up, please join us:

• Sunday, December 13:  2^nd Annual “A Fair for Pauahi”
                  Kawaiaha‘o Church Grounds
                  957 Punchbowl St.
                  Honolulu, HI 96813
                  10 am – 2 pm
                  (All faiths are welcome)
• Wednesday, December 16:  Aloha Stadium Swap Meet
                  Aloha Stadium
                  99-500 Salt Lake Blvd.
                  Honolulu, HI 96813
                  8 am – 1 pm
• Friday, December 18 - Saturday, December 19
                  Windward City Shopping Center
                  (between Foodland and Denny’s)
                  45-480 Kāne‘ohe Bay Dr.
                  Kāne‘ohe, HI 96744
                  9 am – 5 pm (Friday)
                  10 am – 5 pm (Saturday)