KBG April 2022 Luncheon

center for tomorrows leaders with joy yoshida center for tomorrows leaders logo and url

Thank you to the Center for Tomorrow’s Leaders and the guest speakers/presenters, Joy Yoshida & Sheena Choy.

The Kaneohe Business Group’s membership had an inspiring presentation and discussion about the operations of the Center. We talked about it’s successes with the youth of the Hawaii and their progress to becoming our community’s next future leaders and change makers.

Starting at 10th grade HS students and continuing into college graduation the programs span the approximate ages form 15 to 25 years old. The CTLHAWAII Fellows program is currently operating in13 DOE schools with 500+ HS students and 60+ CTL vanguard college and career program candidates in the program. On their way to becoming leaders in their neighborhoods and beyond!

We got to know all about the full operation of the programs and how to get involved in the mentorships known as: Unfoldhawaii.org – for mentorship and volunteer information. Some of the members expressed interest in becoming mentors and helping further the programs reach. Great!

KBG would also like to thank you Windward Mall’s Big City Diner location for a fantastic lunch to accompany our experience. We urge all of our community members to visit the CLTHAWAII website and talk to the CTL Team to understand and support these excellent youth advancement initiative.

The CLT HAWAII Story:

A movement of young leaders in Hawai’i, world-class and local, could make a literal world of difference.

Since 2003, the Center for Tomorrow’s Leaders has been engaging, equipping, and empowering over 2,400 young leaders for Hawaii. Mahalo to everyone who has been part of our story! In August 2013, Center for Tomorrow’s Leaders became an independent non-profit organization. CTL Fellows was our inaugural high school program — a select cohort of 20 public and private high school upperclassmen for advanced leadership training.

The organization hit a major inflection point when former DOE principal, Caroline Wong, asked the visionary question, “What would it look like if this program could reach thousands across Hawaii?” Inspired by this challenge, CTL began offering leadership courses directly in public high schools, which met weekly with students — the CTL Ambassadors program was born. The concept started to gain traction.

People were interested in the idea of non-traditional student leaders, those who had potential but were not being invested in the traditional structure of leadership development: student government. In December 2014, CTL saw the success of “The Canvas”, a student project that is a collaborative student study space in Kalihi, and “Fahrenheit 73”, a student project that crowd-funded over $20,000 for a photovoltaic air-conditioning unit at Campbell High School. The projects inspired the community and galvanized further action. Since then, CTL has seen big growth in programs and great partnership with public high schools. Hawaii needs leaders, now more than ever, and CTL remains committed to engaging, equipping, and empowering young leaders for our home.

center for tomorrows leaders with governor david ige