The public is welcomed to join the General Meeting of the Hawai`i County League of Women Voters on Saturday, January 21st, featuring guest speaker Rebecca Villegas, Hawai`i County Council Member for District 7, will present on "The Comfort and Clarity of Acknowledging Capacity."

Ms. Villegas is the Chair and Presiding Officer of the Communications, Reports, and Council Oversight Committee (CRCOC) and Vice Chair of the Policy Committee on Climate Resilience and Regenerative Agriculture (PCCRRA). This year marks her third term representing District 7. (Speaker Bio below.)

MEETING DETAILS

The meeting will be held via Zoom. Link and other details will be sent closer to the event date. Please be sure to log in by 9:50 a.m., as the event will start promptly at 10 a.m.

If you are new to Zoom, please download the app ahead of the meeting: https://zoom.us/download . The app is free and can be used on a PC, Mac, smartphone, or iPad. The meeting (audio only) can also be accessed by phone.

REGISTRATION DEADLINE

5 p.m., Thursday, January 19th.

SPEAKER BIO

Born and raised on the Big Island, Rebecca Shute Villegas is a graduate of Konawaena High School. She holds a Bachelors in Business Management from the University of Hawaii at Manoa, a certificate of completion from Ulumau, A Hawaii Island Leadership Series, and a certificate of completion from UC Berkely’s Extension Course on Circular Economy.

Ms. Villegas has a long history of working for and with Hawaii’s non-profit and for profit organizations. During her 14 years with the Kona Brewing Company she championed their Hawaii Brand Marketing Strategies, Sustainability Initiatives, Event Sponsorships and Community Partnership Programs. As President of the Kohanaiki Ohana, she worked with a team of community advocates, government agencies, and the developer, to create Kohanaiki Beach Park and perpetuate the Keiki Surf for the Earth & Beach Clean Up held annually for 25 years.

Ms. Villegas currently serves her community as the Hawaii County Council’s District 7 Council Member, representing North & South Kona. Rebecca spent her first two terms in office focused on a multitude of community concerns, one of them being solutions for the issues surrounding Kona’s growing Houseless population. There is still more work to be done. Thankfully the relationships she’s established with outreach workers, houseless service providers, and community policing are paving a path for these solutions to be implemented.

With a lifelong passion for the environment, she helped found and Chaired the County’s first Climate Resilience and Natural Resource Management Committee. She successfully passed legislation which prohibits the use of herbicides that contain glyphosate in our County Parks and Recreation Facilities. Her most recent legislative accomplishment, cosponsored with Council Member Holeka Inaba from District 8, prohibits the sale of non-mineral sunscreens in the County of Hawaii.

As she begins her third term in office, Ms. Villegas will continue listening, learning and supporting District 7 and her island home as we navigate the path to a new normal. One where we take the lessons learned during COVID and turn them into our strengths going forward. Pursuing regenerative agriculture, reducing single-use plastics, securing energy self-sufficiency, and executing the infrastructure improvement projects we are in dire need of. She believes strongly that Kona is at capacity. Until there is true balance and re-alignment of projects and services to authentically support our kamaaina, we cannot add more pressure to our already over-burdened roads, sewer systems, schools, parks, and first responders.

The League of Women Voters is a nonpartisan political organization that encourages the informed and active participation of citizens in government, works to increase understanding of major public policy issues, and influences public policy through education and advocacy.