Hub Coworking Hawaii

Hawai‘i's Best Coworking Space

Social Impact

May is Mental Health Awareness Month: Let’s Talk More about Mental Health

May is Mental Health Awareness Month, and we want to be part of the movement to destigmatize mental health issues, and help be a part of the conversation to shed more light on this important topic.

Historically, mental health issues, including depression, anxiety, mood disorders (along with many others) were ignored, shamed, and not talked about. This needs to change for the health of our communities.

The Anxiety and Depression Association of America (ADAA) estimates that about 18% of the American population suffers with anxiety, depression, schizophrenia, and bipolar disorder, and only a small percentage of those are receiving treatment. The number of children dealing with anxiety is even higher, at 25%.

Last month we hosted ImpactART featuring the works of Boz Schurr. The work in this show was a departure from her previous work, which is characterized by bright colors and whimsical patterns. In our interview with Boz, she explained her new direction came from recent experiences with her own mental health challenges.

“In the summer of 2017 I was at an artist residency in Iceland and I experienced a severe depression and had frequent and severe anxiety attacks which I had not experienced since college. […] It was a completely surreal, almost out-of-body experience to be aware of what you’re going through and still be completely unable to change your feelings in the moment.” Boz explained that, “[The] current work is addressing that experience – the ebb and flow of our mental stability and how it really affects everyone.”

During the opening of the show there were posters placed around the exhibit that posed important questions focused on mental health. These give us some great ideas and insight for how to be more aware of mental health issues in our community, and how to be a better ally and friend to those that might be (invisibly) suffering.

Each Friday we host an open house to showcase Boz’s work. Anyone is welcome to drop by on Fridays between 9am and 5pm. Check in with our host and enjoy the art – hopefully it will spur further conversation with your friends, family, and coworkers about this important subject.

What are the Sustainable Development Goals (and why are they Important)?

Impact Hub HNL is committed to building a more sustainable working environment – not only is this the best thing to do for our community and our planet, it also is aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). These goals are a framework for building a better world, and Impact Hub global is committed to working towards these goals.

Building a better and more equitable future for all is the goal of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and the SDGs are the guiding framework for this plan. The SDGs map out the various ways that we can achieve a more sustainable world, including gender equity, improved health and education, elimination of poverty, better cities, and so much more.

Read more about the history and future of the SDGs here, or watch the video below.

Impact Hub global uses the global SDGs, “as a lens through which to view our impact in the world.” So how do Impact Hubs around the world work toward the SDGs:

  • 51 Impact Hubs take part in waste recycling
  • 46 use recycled or sustainable office stationery
  • 45 use energy efficient or energy saving practices
  • 35 use reclaimed or reused office furniture
  • 34 use reusable or compostable catering supplies
  • 20 use green or renewable energy sources

Here at Impact Hub HNL, we have our own sustainability policies in place:

  • We choose only organic coffee and tea for our member beverages, meaning better working conditions and less pesticides in the environment (and in your body)
  • We support local companies to make our beer, ‘booch and nitro, meaning less transport costs and fuels
  • We now have paper recycling in addition to our Hi-5 item recycling. Unfortunately, recycling in Hawaii (and everywhere) is going through a major shift because of China’s recent decision to no longer accept recyclables from the US; we’ll continue to do as much as we can to reduce.
  • For our events programming, we don’t allow single-use plastic (bottles, cutlery, or containers) for our events programming, and generally we are working towards being a zero-waste facility.
  • Our facility uses super energy-efficient LED lighting
  • Much of our furniture is upcycled, recycled or secondhand. DYK the long tables in the front are former bowling lanes handmade by our very own George? Or that our wooden phone booths were custom-made from recycled materials by ARCH Hawaii.

We also work with local organizations and partners for events focused on the SDGs. Most recently, we hosted the ABCs of the SDGs event to highlight local groups that are implementing the SDGs locally. Groups like Zero Waste Oahu, Surfrider Foundation, Aloha+ Challenge, Hawaii FoodBank, WorkNow, and many more were present to share their work, and how the community can get involved.

Finally, we are committed to helping companies doing well to do good, and helping those companies doing good, to do well. We see Impact Hub HNL as a unique space when we facilitate these connections with our members, partners, and the broader community.

sustainable development goals

Give Back to the Community During Volunteer Week

The second week in April is Volunteer Week. This is a national-level program led locally by member organization Kanu Hawaii.

Volunteer Week Hawaii 2019 aims to incorporate the UN SDGs, the framework for global sustainable development. These principles set forth by the United Nations are also the guiding foundation for Impact Hubs the world over, and we are so excited to be partnering with Kanu for one of 100+ statewide events.

On Friday, April 12, the Impact Hub team has partnered with Kanu Hawaiʻi, Blue Zones Project, Honolulu Civil Beat, and HPR Generation Listen to host a cleanup at Old Stadium Park, an historic community gathering space in Honolulu. This event is free to the public- if you’d like to join, please register your interest here. After the cleanup, join us at Pint & Jigger to mingle and enjoy special cocktails made for the occasion.

Volunteer Week events are diverse in time, location, and theme. Not sure what organization you’d like to support? You can see the full Oahu volunteer event calendar here to browse events during the week that include everything from beach cleanups across the island, charity walks, Biki-based Meals on Wheels, bike path cleanups, food drives, forest plantings, splashing around in lo’i, and/or helping the newest (and only) animal sanctuary on Oahu. Regardless of your location or conservation passion, there is an event for you!

The 2019 Volunteer Week is focused on organizations and actions that help encourage or city and state communities to move towards our sustainability goals, guided by the Aloha+ Challenge. Kanu Hawaii Executive Director, Keone Kealoha, explains on their website, “We hope to link each volunteer event throughout the Week to the appropriate UN SDGs and Aloha+ Challenge goals. Involvement in local volunteerism translates to positive impact, not only on your immediate community, but also our islandwide and global communities.”

If you are a local non-profit or community group, you can sign up to host an event here. If you’d like to volunteer your time (as an individual or a group), learn more here. Browse all the available events on your island (it’s a statewide event!) and recommend to friends on neighbor islands.

Building Community, Making Impact: Volunteering with Ka Po‘e o Kaka‘ako

Alani Apio, a member of the local volunteer group Hui Aloha, and the Impact Hub team, have been actively building relationships with our Kaka’ako neighborhood over the last few months. Every Saturday at 10am, the group of volunteers gathers on the mauka-side (mountain side) of Kaka’ako Gateway Park to clean together and share a meal. The group includes anywhere from 10-30 volunteers each week. The volunteers are a diverse group, comprised of local business-owners, houseless residents, families, and community members.

In November 2018, Ka Po’e o Kaka’ako (The People of Kaka‘ako, KPOK), a group made up of members of the Kaka‘ako houseless community, began hosting regular cleanups of the Kakaako Gateway Park. In December, IHH members and staff were able to raise about $1300 to host a holiday BBQ for the volunteers and the local houseless community. At the event, over 50 guests shared a meal together. Following that event, weekly clean-ups and potlucks were organized to maintain the park, grow relationships, and serve together.

In January 2019, the KPOK group organized a major clean-up around the Children’s Discovery Center. The center was struggling to stay open because of the houseless community that surrounded it. The KPOK group worked with those living near the Center to voluntarily move locations– an unprecedented move that the Center leadership said they had been attempting for over a decade. The clean-up around the center was a tremendous success and truly inspiring.

If you’d like to volunteer for an upcoming clean-up and potluck, email Anne to learn more or come to the mauka-side of Kaka’ako Gateway Park at 10am on Saturdays, rain or shine. We provide gloves, trash bags, water, and aloha. If you can, please bring a dish to share following the clean-up.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Announcing our 2019 Impact Partners

Impact Hub HNL is fortunate to partner with select local businesses to help make a bigger impact in our community.

Impact Hubs worldwide are united in the commitment to make social impact in the community, and locally we are grateful for the support of our 2019 Impact Partners.

These companies have demonstrated their support for the growing entrepreneurial and small business community in Honolulu. All Impact Partners are dedicated to bettering Hawaii through their thoughtful business actions.

Our Impact Partner Circle serves as a valuable advisory council that provides sponsorship of events and memberships, strategic insights, and thought leadership for the Impact Hub HNL community. We are proud to announce continued partnership with the following organizations: :

airbnb

Airbnb is a homeshare and experience app that helps create a world of global citizens. With 4,500,000 listings in over 65,000 cities in 191 countries, Airbnb offers the widest variety of unique spaces for rent, whether you want a room, a house, a boat, a tent, or a castle (along with offering other awesome experiences.)

airbnb’s work supports the following SDGs:

American Savings Bank

American Savings Bank is one of the primary financial institutions in the state of Hawaii, and have been serving Hawaii’s businesses and communities since 1925. ASB provides a full range of financial products and services, including business and consumer banking, home loans, insurance and investments.

We’ve partnered with ASB for many events at Impact Hub HNL that help grow financial literacy in the community, including the free public event entitled Building Community with Women Entrepreneurs that aims to build communication and connection between female entrepreneurs and freelancers in our community.

ASB’s work supports the following SDGs:

Elemental Excelerator

One of the leading cleantech incubators in the world, Elemental Excelerator is committed to deploying solutions that make direct impacts on our energy and water usage across the state and throughout the Asia-Pacific region. They work in partnership with the Emerson Collective’s Elemental platform, which is focused on balancing the needs of humanity and nature by supporting scalable, equitable, and innovative solutions.

Elemental Excelerator’s work supports the following SDGs:

Hawaii Investment Ready

Hawaii Investment Ready (HIR) is an accelerator program designed to help Hawaii businesses thrive. Their statewide peer-to-peer learning program has been created to support the sustainability of island social enterprises so that they can scale their businesses in Hawaii and beyond.

HIR’s work supports the following SDGs:

simplicityHR by Altres

ALTRES Staffing is Hawaii’s largest staffing and recruiting company, with seven offices across the state, and simplicityHR by ALTRES serves as the human resources “back office” for more than 2,200 local businesses. For nearly 50 years, they have been Hawaii’s #1 HR outsourcing company and is ranked as one of Hawaii’s Best Places to Work.

Altres’ work supports the following SDGs:

Ulupono

Ulupono Initiative is a local non-profit that invests in a more sustainable Hawaii. Founded by eBay founder Pierre Omidiyar. Ulupono seeks to invest in and help grow local organizations involved in clean/renewable energy, diversified agriculture, and waste-to-energy management – choosing to invest in projects that have high potential for creating large-scale social impact. They invest in companies focused on improving the local energy, food, water, and waste sectors.

Ulupono’s work supports the following SDGs:

Investment Crowdfunding: Democratizing Investment for the 99%

Crowdfunding is a type of financial support that allows curious or excited individuals to pledge money to companies, people, or products that spark interest. And that interest is BROAD: the world of crowdfunding is incredibly diverse and has garnered some very interesting spinoffs, like equity and debt crowdfunding.

Crowdfunding became really popular about a decade ago: Indiegogo launched in 2007 and the other large platform, Kickstarter, launched in 2009. In the decade or so since, there has been a constant flow of campaigns and projects supporting projects both big and small. Some of the most successful campaigns have brought in hundreds millions of dollars, everything from cryptocurrencies, consumer technology, food, smart home items, and games.

Indiegogo and Kickstarter are the two most popular examples of rewards-based crowdfunding. In this type of crowdfunding, consumers will give funds in exchange for a reward, usually the product or service that’s being funding. This allows savvy consumers to give direct support to companies and products that have great promise, and ensures that they are early adopters of cool technology.

In 2017, Impact Hub HNL launched its first crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo to raise scholarship funds for local groups and organizations who needed financial support. In the campaign the community contributed over $10,000, and we able to provide scholarships for 35 memberships, events, and programs, proving that crowdfunding can be a powerful tool for increasing equity.


Another type of fundraising is donation-based crowdfunding, which doesn’t ask for a return product or service. This includes sites like GoFundMe and Crowdrise, which often people use to raise money for themselves and their friends in need.

One of the biggest changes to the crowdfunding world came in 2015 with new rules that updated the Obama-era JOBS Act. This new ruling created exceptions to US securities and investment laws to allow anyone – not just accredited investors (ie: those with $1million net worth) – to become investors: thus, the creation of equity crowdfunding.

Equity crowdfunding allows ‘investors’ to give money to a company in exchange for shares, even if it’s just a small percentage. This created a huge shift in the investment world, and continues to democratize investment for the other 99%. Some examples of equity crowdfunding sites include SeedInvest, WeFunder, CircleUp, and StartEngine.

Another shift was the creation of Debt Crowdfunding (also known as peer-to-peer lending, or P2P lending). This model allows non-accredited investors to support individuals or businesses with direct financing. Examples of these sites include Prosper and LendingClub. These sites offer people a funding route that is not tied to banks, and gives investors an opportunity to support people and projects and earn money in return for their investment.

One of the most exciting things about both equity and debt crowdfunding is that they generate real results for both the investor and company. Debt crowdfunding can bring in returns of about 7%, which is on par with traditional investments. Equity crowdfunding can get startups off the ground with significant capital without the hassle of investors taking over the day-to-day of the company, it can be a great way to build a base of supporters, and offers a range of other benefits.

Of course, with any venture of this sort, it’s good to ensure that the company or product you are investing in (or supporting) has a good track record, is poised for successful delivery of product, or has good projections for return on investment. Any equity crowdfunding platform requires due diligence for the companies to be hosted on site, but it’s always good to do your own research before using your money. WeFunder explains that, “Startups either win big or go bankrupt. You could lose all your money. Consider them more like socially-good lottery tickets.”

Beyond just getting a cool, early-adopter product or receiving a good return on investment, crowdfunding is really a way to vote with your dollars for the world that you wish you see. This democratization of investment is key to building a world beyond traditional investment structures – most of which exclude women, people of color, lower income and otherwise marginal investors.

Voting with your dollars, whether for a product, service, or investment, allows you to expand your social impact and support businesses that align with your core values, which is has the potential for huge social, financial, and economic impact – something we can definitely support!