Aloha! Ran Annim! Iakwe! Paing Kom! Kaselehlia! Alii! and Mogethin! September 24, 2008

Welcome to the Nations of Micronesia (NOM) website. Thank you for visiting our website. Here you will find resources to learn about and help you work with, our newest migrant groups from Micronesia.

History
The Nations of Micronesia Committee (NOM) was initially formed by Public Health Nurses back in 1997 when they recognized the need to learn about the cultures of our newest migrant group from the Compact of Freely Associated States. The group met to develop a resource manual of cultural information to help nurses in their practice. The Manual was very grassroots with information on the Republic of Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Palau and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. Copies of this Manual now sit in every Public Health Nursing Section as a resource. Other DOH programs and soon other agencies became interested in our committee and we then embarked on a goal of collecting translated materials to help with servicing this population. Speakers were invited to share their knowledge and experiences with working effectively with our new migrant population.

In 2001 the NOM committee evolved into a Community Committee with a goal of formulating a list of community resources to help us work more efficiently with our families. Our vision statement was formed in 2002; “to foster mutual respect and understanding, to provide quality of life for all Micronesians from the peoples of freely associated states” . Our Mission is to provide a forum to identify issues, needs and resources for a healthy and successful community and “newcomers will be able to access these resources to make healthier choices and become successful contributing citizen to our Hawaii community”

The NOM website was launched in 2004 by PREL one of our partners. Our group expanded to include many community non-profit groups, government; State, Federal, and City which spanned areas of Health, Education, Housing, Employment, and Safety. We also included the Micronesian Groups; Micronesians United and Micronesian Community Network, MCN ( NOM helped to create MCN through a Mo’Bettah grant from Volunteer Resource Center). The members continue to network and participate with sharing of information, studies, and resources that help us move towards our vision. It is a very fluid group which includes members who attend regularly and those that participate by receiving the minutes and announcements. In addition to our mission of creating a forum for identifying issues, we have added another role of advocacy. In 2007, the NOM group helped to support a resolution which created a Task Force to explore:
• funding resources for this population,
• research if a current census exists, if not, consult with the US Census Bureau on obtaining this information
• Investigate the needs of these migrants and recommend how to plan and coordinate the provisions of services to this population.

Several members of the NOM group now attend the Task Force Meetings. In addition to advocacy, the group has embarked on creating a tool for education in the community by partnering with its members, and writing for grants, to create a public education campaign for the radio and TV programming. These programs will bring information to the Marshallese and Chuukese communities in language, through the KNDI ethnic radio station and the Olelo TV programs. The scenarios are being created by the Marshallese and Chuukese Women’s groups and resources are added to these scenarios so families can learn from them.
Our meetings are held monthly with many agencies, both public and private partnering to make a difference for our new Micronesian families settling in Hawaii.