Fanapi Center

The people in the Northwest region need a Center on Weno we can truly call our own, a place that unites the three regions of Pattiw, Pafeng, and Namonweito, and advances our common efforts in educational opportunities, economic development, health care, leadership training, cultural preservation, and other services for our people. Therefore, we call on our political, traditional and religious leadership, sons and daughters of the Northwest region living overseas, and our global partners to help fund the building of a multipurpose Outer Islands Empowerment Center (Uuten Ataween Fanapi) located on Weno. The community center would contain a library, multi-purpose conference room and classroom spaces, outdoor basketball court, a health clinic, internet cafe, classroom space, a radio station, a store, an outdoor seating area for cultural performances, and offices for all Northwest leadership in the State and national government.

Action Strategies:

• Establish an Office for Congressional and State Representatives aimed at making the political leaders accessible to the Northwest constituents.
• Establish an Office for the Northwest Education District aimed at providing administrative leadership for all the public schools in the Northwest islands.
• Establish an Office for Youth Services aimed at creating programs and services to empower the youth from the Northwest.
• Establish an Office for College Advising to help high school students from the Northwest apply for colleges, financial aids, scholarships, etc.
• Establish an Office for Women Leadership aimed at creating training opportunities for women issues from the Northwest.
• Establish a multipurpose Conference Room to be used for meetings, job training programs, leadership development programs, etc.
• Build an outdoor amphitheater to serve as a place for Northwest youth to perform cultural performances for tourists and propagate the learning of cultural traditional artform.
• Establish an Internet Cafe with several internet linked computers to be used by Northwest students for their academic and personal use.
• Establish a Library where magazines, books, wired computers can be accessible.
• Establish an Outer Island Store to sell clothing, school uniforms, tools, food items, fishing equipment, solar panels, inverters, pumps, flashlights, and other supplies that are specifically useful in the outer islands. Northwest people living overseas can pay for items in the store to be picked up by relatives. They can also send money directly through the store.
• Establish a Northwest Postal System to enable mail and supplies to be distributed and shipped out to the outer islands.
• Establish a studio for making radio programs or for broadcasting an AM Radio Station.
• Establish a Health Clinic with the appropriate health personnel to help with medical services and to host volunteer doctors and dentists who will serve the Northwest regions.
• Establish an On-the- Job-Paid-Internship Program for COM students from the Northwest to work at the Fanapi Center for scholarships, college funds, and access to all leadership opportunities.
• Establish partnerships with international NGOs and the Outer Islands Partnership organization in California to help fund programs in areas of microfinancing for outer island small businesses, educational scholarship, research initiatives, and healthcare resources.
• Partner with the California-based Outer Islands Partnership organization (www.outerislands.org) to bring volunteer doctors, dentists researchers, social enterprises, and others to help the Center and conduct free clinics in the outer islands.