Hawaii Business magazine held a breakfast symposium called “Confronting our Problems, Investing in Our Future” this morning at the Hawaii Prince Hotel to discuss key findings of its state of the community report entitled “Hawaii 2011: Our Quality of Life.”

The report, written by senior writer Beverly Creamer, focuses on six challenges facing our state: the economy, health, education, the environment, housing and homelessness, and crime and communities. In it, we offer statistics, personal stories and ways forward. For instance, find out if we’re doing better or worse in the area of crime than national averages, or which industries will experience the most job growth through 2018.

The report shows that we have much to celebrate – both when we compare Hawaii to overall U.S. figures, and when we compare ourselves to our recent path – but the data does not hide our shortcomings and, instead, reveals our many areas for improvement.

Dr. Sylvia Yuen, interim dean and director for research and cooperative extension for the University of Hawaii’s College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources, summed it up best when she reminded guests that these types of studies are important because once we identify and understand our strengths and weaknesses, we can collectively act to improve our quality of life. “Prevention is better than intervention,” Yuen said, adding that transformation is possible if we collaborate and focus more efforts on early education.

Check out the “Hawaii 2011” report in our February issue or view it online starting Feb. 1 at www.hawaiibusiness.com.