South Hilo MIRA team members Nancy Shah, Ellen Takuzawa and Mr. Kawamoto

Rural South Hilo, Hawaii, is an economically stagnant area. The bankrupt sugar industry stranded many coastal residents without the job skills to meet today's technological demands. The South Hilo team hoped to remedy this situation by using technology to prepare the students of today for the careers and economic challenges of tomorrow while helping their parents and the entire community develop and upgrade their technological skills.

Rural South Hilo locals inside the Kalanianaole Community Room, surrounded by information on costs of copying, printing and dicsc; an assortment of software; and information on Microsoft Publisher.

The team, wanting to provide computers and internet access to the entire community, entered into a partnership with the Kalanianaole school. With money from the MIRA grant they added computers and other equipment to the school's existing computer lab and opened it to the public as the Kalanianaole Community Room.

MIRA funds were also used to hire a new teacher/facilitator/
technician and to provide free internet access and training to the community as a whole.