04 October 2013 - Dr. Serafin “Jun” Colmenares, Executive Director of the Hawaii State Office of Language Access (OLA) and a prominent and active
leader of the Filipino community in Hawaii, received the 2013 William J. Harris Equal Opportunity Award, in recognition of his outstanding accomplishments in the field of equal opportunity.
Dr. Colmenares received the award on September 19 during the 77th Annual Conference of the National Association of State Workforce Agencies (NASWA) in Denver, Colorado.
Said award is given annually by the NASWA in honor of William J. Harris, who served with distinction as the Director of the Civil Rights Center (formerly Directorate of Civil Rights for the US Department of Labor). NASWA is an organization of state administrators of unemployment insurance laws, employment services, training programs, employment statistics, labor market information and other services provided through the publicly-funded state workforce system.
As Executive Director of OLA, Dr. Colmenares is responsible for providing oversight, central coordination and technical assistance to state and state-funded agencies in their implementation of the requirements of Hawaii’s language access law.
He was recognized for developing the Hawaii Department of Labor and Industrial Relations’ (DLIR) Limited English Proficiency (LEP) plan, which is part of Hawaii’s Methods of Administration (MOA). Dr. Colmenares was also instrumental in ensuring the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) programs and services provided language access to customers. END