Support CNMI website launched
NORTHERN Marianas College-Cooperative Research, Extension, and Education Services, with partnering agencies and organizations, on Thursday launched a website called Support CNMI (https://www.supportcnmi.com/).
The website is a project of a coalition of public, private and non-profit agencies that came together to enhance the network of social services for community members.
“This initiative will help us become better stewards of each other,” according to NMC President Galvin Deleon Guerrero, EdD.
“In the Marianas, we are no stranger to challenges, whether it be climate change, or all the natural disasters that come our way, or whether it be geopolitical forces beyond our control — what makes us unique as islanders is our ability to not just survive but thrive despite all the challenges,” Deleon Guerrero said.
“Maybe because when you are stuck on an island you cannot just evacuate to the next state, but I think it’s more than that. There is something about living in the island, and the shared culture that we have, that makes us help each other — that’s how we make it through every crisis.”
He said at NMC, “this is something that we took to heart with our new mission statement to cultivate stewardship through scholarship by taking the best of what higher education has to offer, in education, training, and research extension, to help everyone to become better stewards of our world.”
He said the website “is exactly that — it’s helping us become better stewards for each other…. After a typhoon we are not out there rioting, looting stores; we are out there checking on our neighbors to see if they are okay. We saw this happen in Maui, with the recent wildfires, we saw this happen in Guam with Typhoon Mawar, and we saw that happen here in the CNMI after every single disaster.”
NMC-Cooperative Research, Extension, and Education Services manages the website.
NMC-CREES Interim Dean Patricia Coleman said NMC’s role is “a conveyor, to bring all our service providers together, all of the people who represent agencies, departments and non-profits that help either by providing a safety net or by connecting people to opportunities so they can enhance their quality of life.”
She added, “Aside from the website, we’ve all been working together diligently by talking about how we can best serve our community and help…and reach those who really need our help [due to the] fiscal crisis that has been happening. Aside from discussing coordination, we also banded together to see how we can seek additional funding, whether it’s leveraging local funding, which we know is rather scarce right now, or whether it’s working together to pool in more federal money so that we can get it to the people who need it most.”
CNMI Labor Secretary Leila Staffler said, “One of the best parts of this collaboration is the fact that we are able to bring [together] so many agencies, partners and non-profits. I don’t know if that has happened before for the purpose that we came together, which is to assist our people, be proactive, be a leader that looks at the future, [and provide] what we know our community needs.”
For Karidat Executive Director Lauri Ogumoro, information is power. “If we can give access to information…[we can give] the power back to the family so that they can access that information they need, and they have that power to give some control back to their family, especially if they have been affected by the [federal] touchback [rule]. They need a little bit of help with food or rental assistance while their parents are off island because they can’t make rent, or they don’t have food on the table. The information they need is what this website offers,” she said.
The organizations that are part of Support CNMI are:
• Northern Marianas Technical Institute
• Marianas Alliance of Non-Governmental Organizations
• CNMI Department of Labor
• Commonwealth Medicaid Agency, Office of the Governor
• Karidat
• Commonwealth Healthcare Corporation
• DOL-Workforce Investment Agency Division
• Kagman Community Health Center
• Office of Personnel Management
• NMC
• NMC-CREES
• Public School System
• DCCA-DYS Family & Youth Enhancement Program
• Nutrition Assistance Program
If you are interested in partnering with Support CNMI, go to bit.ly/supcnmi/.