97 Fellow Meleanna Aluli Meyer is impassioned about art education. For her Leadership Impact Project she is working in a low-income community, Palolo, to bring art education to young residents. "We've worked on two murals, and have more planned. These kids are Hawaiian, Laotian, Vietnamese...many newly arrived and economically disadvantaged. Given some instruction in drawing and painting, they get plugged in. It's a revelation for them that they have something to contribute."

Meleanna's project has grown; they've gotten grant money for theater productions, which will be produced in May, as well as more visual art instruction. "We need to listen better," she exclaims. "Our kids bring to the discussion remarkable resources."

"It's a revelation for them that they have something to contribute."
- Meleanna Aluli Meyer