About
PHOCUSED is a non-partisan member advocacy project working to improve the quality of life for the children and adults of Hawaii who are low-income or under-served, and for whom better access to health and human services, higher wages and housing is critical.
Our members are health and human service providers and organizations that work to Protect Hawaiʻi's ʻOhana, Children, Under-Served, Elderly, and Disabled (PHOCUSED). PHOCUSED recently became a project within the Hawaiʻi Appleseed Center for Law & Economic Justice to strengthen its capacity and increase its ability to impact and influence decision-makers in government.
PHOCUSED accomplishes its mission of protecting its target demographics through grassroots community organizing and by mobilizing our members to advocate for policies and programs at all governmental levels that alleviate poverty and other social ills. PHOCUSED facilitates collaboration between various stakeholders, organizations and partners in the community to effectively address important social justice issues with a unified and powerful voice.
PHOCUSED is a program of the Hawaiʻi Appleseed Center for Law & Economic Justice.
Christy MacPherson, Director
Christy MacPherson is the first director of health and human services advocacy organization PHOCUSED (Protecting Hawaiʻi’s ʻOhana, Children, Under-Served, Elderly, and Disabled) since it became a project of Hawaiʻi Appleseed in 2019. She is a community organizer, licensed clinical social worker and field instructor for the University of Hawaiʻi Myron B. Thompson School of Social Work.
Christy is the former executive director of Faith Action for Community Equity, a grassroots, interfaith social justice organization, and was program manager for Family Promise of Hawaiʻi, which serves homeless families with children. Her other social work experiences deal primarily with the areas of substance abuse and mental health. She received her education from McKinley High School, Pacific University in Oregon and the University of Hawaiʻi.
Connie Choy, Director of Development
Connie was born and raised on Oʻahu and holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Hawaiʻi at Manoa and a master’s degree in communication management from the University of Southern California (USC). She started her social justice work at USC, where she served as a staff writer for their engineering school and helped establish the first-ever virtual-reality exchange program between USC students and displaced refugees living across Europe.
Most recently, Connie was at Planned Parenthood’s national office in New York City, where she worked as a writer for their Philanthropic Communications team to help cultivate lasting relationships with major donors. She also served on the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion committee for Planned Parenthood’s capital fundraising campaign, with the goal to help transform the traditional philanthropy space into one that’s inclusive and reflective of our communities.
Will Caron, Director of Communications
Will serves as Communications Director of the Hawaiʻi Appleseed Center for Law & Economic Justice and its associated projects, including the Hawaiʻi Budget & Policy Center, Lawyers for Equal Justice, and PHOCUSED (Protecting Hawaiʻi’s ʻOhana, Children, Under-Served, Elderly, and Disabled).
Will was born and raised on Oʻahu and graduated from the University of Hawaiʻi at Manoa in 2012 with a BA in traditional art media and creative writing. He has eleven years of professional media experience, beginning with editorial positions at Ka Leo O Hawaiʻi, including two years as Editor-in-Chief. After graduating, he worked at the Honolulu Weekly editing the news section (“Honolulu Diaries”), as well as the Arts & Culture section. From 2013-2018 he worked as a journalist and editor for The Hawaii Independent, as well as for print quarterly Summit. He has also worked as a freelance media and communications consultant for various advocacy campaigns, and does freelance graphic design and illustration work for various clients. He holds a Hawaiʻi Publishers Association “Paʻi” award and an Associated Collegiate Press award.