A former prison inmate, a single mother of two, a former foster child, these are current and former students who have persevered and triumphed with the help of a training program that provides access to thousands of dollars in support for food, transportation, books and other expenses.

However, the students say the real difference made by the for college and workforce training was the emotional support and belief it instilled that they could succeed. Here are their inspiring stories of educational transformation.

Former foster child

One would never know, meeting Ayshialyn Sabado, of the challenges she was up against during what she calls “rough childhood” as a foster child. Sabado said taking classes in art and acting at Leeward CC gave her the focus and drive that were instrumental in earning an AA in business management.

Sabado credits HINET with helping her to become the poised and confident young woman she is today. She credits the program for giving her the opportunity to explore classes that sparked her interest.

“Having the opportunity for somebody to refund and help me with books was a big thing, because I’m not working right now,” Sabado said.

She is currently pursuing a bachelor’s degree at the .

Working mother of two

Sanoe Jury knows firsthand the importance of having a strong support system. While raising two children under the age of two, studying as a full-time Leeward CC student and working part-time as a physician practice coordinator at Queen’s Medical Center, Jury had to deal with the unfortunate passing of her mother. She worried about how she was going to survive, but discovered HINET and soon realized that help was available to struggling students.

Jury said the program, her children and her Leeward CC counselors, “held me accountable to what I had to do” as she navigated classes for skills such as medical coding.

The program has acted as a liaison for Jury and provided assistance, so she could pursue an associate of science degree in . She is on track to graduate in spring 2022.

Former prison inmate

57-year-old Christine Gaudette said, “It is never too late to better yourself and get your life straight.” Originally from Kahaluʻu, Gaudette was placed in foster care at the age of 10 years old. When she was 17 years old, she committed a serious crime and ended up in prison for eight years. For the next few years she was in and out of prison until one day she decided it was time to choose a different life.

Read more ÌÇÐÄVlog¹Ù·½ News stories on the HINET program

Gaudette began taking classes at Leeward CC’s . In her second semester, financial problems hit, and she was prepared to drop out. If it wasn’t for her counselor telling her about HINET, Gaudette would have probably returned to her old way of life. Instead, the program paid for her books, Interactive Digital Access Program, Internet service, and gave her the encouragement she needed to continue attending college.

“(HINET Coordinator) JoAnn Cagasan was always there for me whenever I needed help, and, if her department couldn’t help, she would point me in the right direction and send me the information on who to contact. She went over and beyond the call of duty,” Gaudette said.

Gaudette said she will always remember and be grateful for HINET as one of the reasons she was able to earn her associate degree from Leeward CC and is now on her way to earning a bachelor’s degree.

To learn more about HINET, across the in partnership with the State of Hawaiʻi Department of Human Services, visit HINEThawaii.org. For assistance at Leeward CC, contact Cagasan, at jcagasan@hawaii.edu or (808) 455-0563.

—By Susan Lum

Going to school at before COVID-19 was challenging enough for Lynette Santos. The 57-year-old grandmother of 13 and great grandmother to four had a home bursting at the seams and had already dealt with tragedy in her close-knit ʻohana.

Santos lives in low-income public housing in Kāneʻohe with her husband, daughter Ona Naki and her husband and their two children, and a granddaughter and her two children.

In 2017, during his senior year of high school, Ona’s son Elton Naki Jr. fell out of a truck in Kāneʻohe and ended up in a coma for months, on life support.

Santos enrolled at Windward CC three years ago. After urging every one of her grandchildren to go to college, she decided it was time to do it for herself. She was working on her associate’s degree, with dreams of opening up a Christian store in her Kāneohe community, when the virus hit.

Income loss

Her husband George Santos Jr. lost his job as a custodian at Kalaheo High School on March 17. Lynette Santos went from being on the Windward CC campus much of the day to being at home with her whole extended household. Santos said it forced their family to go from being self-sufficient to asking for help.

Windward CC helped her to sign up for assistance for food, transportation, books and other expenses through a workforce education and training program called HINET, which stands for . HINET has helped with money for food, but it’s not enough to support the entire extended family. Without George’s income, Santos says they need the help from the .

• Related ÌÇÐÄVlog¹Ù·½ News story: High-impact HINET helps hungry students succeed, February 10, 2019

Santos said she copes by asking herself, “What if this is the last day on Earth?” Then tells herself that things are going to get better and that, because her extended family depends upon her, she “can’t fail now.”

Family on the front lines

The faith-filled woman also prays for daughter Ona who is now on the front lines of the COVID-19 crisis, working with Premier Medical Group, which is doing testing for the virus at multiple public sites every week. “He’s my guidance. He’s my everything,” she says of God.

These days, she tries to keep up with her online classes amidst a house full of people. She entertains the ʻohana, especially the children, by playing bible games and bingo, then goes on to her computer when she can.

She’s worried how their large, loving household will get by with only her social security payments and Ona’s income as a medical assistant. That’s why this proud, independent woman agreed to share her story, in the hopes that others will understand that it is ok to ask for help. “We are in this together as a family, our ʻohana,” Santos said.

—By Kelli Trifonovitch

The Hawaiʻi State Legislature approved $455,000 for each of the next two fiscal years for a life-changing workforce education and training program called HINET, which stands for .

HINET provides students assistance that can total more than $4,700 a year for food, transportation, books and other expenses.

290 students are currently enrolled in HINET at four campuses. The goal with the added funding is to expand to 1,000 students at all seven ÌÇÐÄVlog¹Ù·½ Community College campuses in a year, helping more students to succeed.

ÌÇÐÄVlog¹Ù·½ President David Lassner said, “We’ve done a great job here at ÌÇÐÄVlog¹Ù·½ in working with the [Hawaiʻi State Department of Human Services] and creating a truly win-win program that helps the students that need us the most, with food, with support, with all of the ancillary things that they need to go to college to get the skills they need to get a great job so they can support themselves and their families for years to come.”

Students enrolled in HINET persist, or return for another year, at a much higher rate (72 percent) than the ÌÇÐÄVlog¹Ù·½ Community Colleges overall rate (51 percent). HINET is also helping Native Hawaiians. About 58 percent of the students enrolled in HINET are Native Hawaiian, much higher than the overall percentage of Native Hawaiians in ÌÇÐÄVlog¹Ù·½ Community Colleges (35 percent).

• Related ÌÇÐÄVlog¹Ù·½ News: High-impact HINET helps hungry students succeed, February 10, 2019

“Having HINET to help me with that food cost, it helped me to be able to continue college. It helped me to buy those textbooks that I needed,” said student and HINET recipient Bernadette Rose Garrett.

To qualify for HINET, students must enroll at a ÌÇÐÄVlog¹Ù·½ community college and enroll in a workforce certificate training program or take at least six credits in an approved degree program. They must also qualify for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly called food stamps, and HINET can help with the paperwork.

Why HINET started

HINET began operations in 2015 and was developed by the State of Hawaiʻi Department of Human Services in partnership with Windward Community College to reduce the cost of education for Hawaiʻi’s most vulnerable populations and help them to get good paying jobs.

Students in the HINET program may substitute their education and employment training for the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s 20-hour weekly work requirement. This allows them to maintain their SNAP benefits while pursuing a college education.

Current and prospective community college students are encouraged to or go to a HINET office on campus.

Help HINET dollars go farther

The U.S. Department of Agriculture reimburses 50 percent of non-federal funds spent in support of HINET. As more state and philanthropic dollars are invested in HINET, more USDA dollars will flow to HINET, helping to reach more students. Donations to support HINET will be matched by 50 percent and can be made via credit card or call (808) 956-8849 if you wish to make a credit card gift over the phone.

—By Kelli Trifonovitch

High-impact HINET helps hungry students succeed, 2/10/2019

More than 200 students at four campuses are receiving assistance that can total more than $4,700 a year for food, transportation, books and other expenses through a workforce education and training program called HINET, which stands for .

“Oh my gosh, the HINET program is awesome!” exclaimed Deedee Crowton, a second-semester veterinary technology student at , who will be the first in her family to graduate from college. “If it wasn’t for them, I wouldn’t be able to stay in school.”

Windward CC student Leomana Turalde serves as safety officer for the Project Imua student team that is designing and building a rocket for a NASA competition. He receives assistance for food and gas through HINET and he tries to let other students know about the help the program provides.

“The biggest issue I feel like I had was worrying about how am I going to eat, how am I going to stay healthy, how am I going to get places? HINET helped me just relax…we got help to cover food. We don’t gotta stress about that. I can focus on just my schoolwork,” Turalde said.

HINET was developed by the State of Hawaiʻi Department of Human Services in partnership with Windward CC and started operations in 2015 as a pilot at the Kāneʻohe campus. The U.S. Department of Agriculture matches 50 percent of non-federal funds spent in support of HINET. As more state and philanthropic dollars are invested in HINET, more USDA dollars will flow to the program, helping to reach more students.

To qualify for HINET, students must enroll at a ÌÇÐÄVlog¹Ù·½ community college and take at least six credits in an approved program. They must also qualify for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly called food stamps, and HINET can help with the paperwork. Importantly, students in the HINET program are able to substitute their college education and training for USDA‘s 20-hour weekly work requirement.

HINET Consortium Manager Kathy Helfrich explained, “We help them to succeed because if we can train them to do a program like our vet tech program or our certified nurse aide program, which pays decent money when they get out of school, then they will not longer be eligible for SNAP. They’ll be able to pay for food on their own.”

The best evidence that HINET helps comes from the students.

Bernadette Rose Garrett earned her associate in arts degree from Windward CC in the fall of 2018, after chairing the affordability committee for the Associated Students of the University of Hawaiʻi. She said the welcoming HINET staff helped break through her initial hesitation to ask for help.

“Having that HINET opportunity, it just gave me a way to live,” Garrett said. “It gave me a way to not stress out so much about where my next meal was going to come from.”

By fall 2019, the HINET program will expand to six ÌÇÐÄVlog¹Ù·½ Community College campuses statewide and to a seventh the next academic year. Current and prospective community college students are encouraged or go to a HINET office on campus.

Crowton said, “HINET is there for you. HINET wants you to succeed. HINET will help you every step of the way.”

Turalde added, “I think the biggest thing HINET helped me with is being confident in my future.”

Support HINET

Donations to support HINET will be matched by 50 percent and or call (808) 956-8849 if you wish to make a credit card gift over the phone.

—By Kelli Trifonovitch