Regional Data Connections – Cohort I Descriptions and Summaries

Hawaii

Problem/Opportunity

Hawaii faces two immediate, foundational challenges:

• Fragmented data access: Following the legislative restructuring, users must visit multiple websites to find LMI—WIG-funded deliverables reside in the Geographic Solutions system while BLS products live on a different agency’s website. Hawaii wants to create a seamless one-stop-shop experience, likely via interactive Tableau dashboards.
• Lack of outreach and engagement: Prior to the restructuring, engagement was limited to the unit chief and focused on the community (schools, industry panels). Hawaii needs to rebuild that engagement and extend it to one-stop centers, service providers, and directly to job seekers.

The project lead brings experience from Washington State building LMI training curriculum and wants to adapt and enhance that work, create a new outreach strategy, and build a dependable, documented training schedule.

Targeted Support Needed

Hawaii wants to learn from states similar in size and funding that have faced analogous disruption—systems that were siloed, had weak field relationships, or had their processes upended by funding or leadership changes. The state is especially interested in how peers rebuilt without abundant resources.

Definition of Success

An LMI vision and strategy that is sustainable and dependable; a more visible unit with standard products that satisfy multiple audiences; a field that feels comfortable reaching out to LMI staff; and LMI staff who can efficiently respond to ad hoc requests and provide innovative solutions.

What Hawaii Contributes to Other States’ Learning

Hawaii can share how it has navigated funding and organizational challenges through flexible staffing and relationship maintenance despite structural silos. Its unique economy (tourism-dependent, island geography, small state) offers insights transferable to similar contexts: tourist-heavy metros like Las Vegas or Orlando, small states, and economically isolated rural or outlying regions.

What Hawaii Hopes to Learn

How more established LMI shops got their programs off the ground; the critical success factors; best champions; approaches for building trust in LMI staff expertise; and which tools are actually used regularly by local areas.