FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                          February 17, 2006

Release No. M-14-06

MAYOR’S TASK FORCE ON DRUG USE INVITES GRANT PROPOSALS  

            Mayor Mufi Hannemann today announced he has established a select Task Force on Drug Use with the specific mission of “making the City and County of Honolulu the most knowledgeable collection of employees, governmental or private, in the state of Hawaii in identifying and managing drug use disorders.”

            The task force says it “will seek to develop a culture which, beginning with leadership and extending into the furthest reaches of the workplace, both responds rationally to drug use problems and immunizes its people against drug use disorders.”

            Hannemann said, “My theme is: Drug use management begins here, in the only place over which I have direct influence, the City and County of Honolulu.”

            The task force consists of Dr. Ernest Alaimalo, Hawaii State Hospital staff psychiatrist; Cliff Cisco, HMSA senior vice president and chief operating officer; Dr. William Haning III, director of the Addiction Psychiatry/Addiction Medicine Program at the University of Hawaii’s John. A. Burns School of Medicine; Mason Henderson, CEO and clinical director of the Kiine-Welsh Behavioral Health Foundation; Joyce Ingram-Chinn, PhD, behavioral health consultant; Leighton Kaonohi, founder of No Hope in Dope; and Alan Shinn, executive director of  Drug Free Hawaii.  

            Serving as ex officio members are City Corporation Counsel Carrie Okinaga; City Human Resources Director Ken Nakamatsu; Lester Chang, director of the City Department of Parks and Recreation; Honolulu Police Chief  Boisse Correa; Honolulu Fire Chief Kenneth Silva; Debbie Kim Morikawa, director of the City Department of Community Services and Isaac Hokama, special assistant to the mayor.

            One of Hannemann’s charges to the Drug Use Task Force is to administer the Mayor’s Anti-Drug Community Fund. The fund uses money appropriated by the state Legislature for community anti-drug initiatives – grassroots community efforts to sustain, foster and initiate anti-drug activities.

            To that end, the task force is now accepting proposals from non-profit agencies or government organizations for grants up to $5,000 for projects that address alcohol and drug abuse prevention, education or awareness within communities on Oahu. Grant recipients will be encouraged to collaborate with each other and with the Mayor’s Task Force on Drug Use on an exciting and ambitious campaign to establish a drug-free City work force. Grant recipients will be asked to invite and involve City employees in their projects.

            Eligible applicants must be a registered 501(c)3 corporation or a government agency.

            Application forms are available by calling Isaac Hokama, Office of the Mayor, 527-6090 or e-mail ihokama1@honolulu.gov or visit www.honolulu.gov/mayor/index.htm to download the application form. Proposals must be received by the Office of the Mayor by 4:30 p.m. on March 24, 2006.                                                            

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Contact:

            Bill Brennan, 527-6928

            Mark Matsunaga, 527-5767