Hawaiʻi Rising

47. LAING Hawaiʻi: Reclaiming and Relearning Heritage Languages

An interview about heritage language learning with Catherine Taylan, Janine Mariano, and Rebecca Carino-Agustin from LAING Hawai’i.

LAING Hawaiʻi utilizes heritage language learning as a tool for social and political education. Their programming provides opportunities for cultural reclamation of ancestral knowledge as they work towards collective liberation and radical futures.

Website: lainghawaii.org

Tags: Hawaiʻi, Hawai’i, Hawaii

46. Honua Scholars: Growing STEM Leaders in Hawaiʻi

A follow-up conversation about STEM in Hawaiʻi with Kyle Yoshida, one of the founders of Honua Scholars.

Honua Scholars empowers students to pursue STEM careers and advanced degrees to be Hawaiʻi’s STEM leaders. A critical aspect of Honua Scholars is the creation of a network of future leaders who aim to empower others and to promote personal and professional development in STEM. Their mission is to highlight Native Hawaiian value-based STEM practices, inspiring individuals from any background to facilitate a relationship between their career, their culture, and their community.

Website: honuascholars.org

Tags: Hawaiʻi, Hawai'i, Hawaii

45. Keliʻi William Ioane Legacy Foundation: Community, Ceremony, and Collective Abundance

A follow-up conversation with ʻĀinaaloha Ioane and Haʻawina Wise about celebrating Makahiki at King's Landing, lease negotiations with Department of Hawaiian Home Lands, and the re-release of Uncle Skippy's music.

Keliʻi William Ioane Legacy Foundation was created in 2020 to honor and perpetuate the legacy of Keliʻi William Ioane Jr., the Mālama Ka ‘Āina Hana Ka ‘Āina Association (M.A.H.A), the Keaukaha Makahiki Ceremony, and the promotion of Hawaiian Nationalism through his music. The effort underscores the social inequities of Hawai’iʻs people, and celebrates its resilience through the mo’olelo of King’s Landing and the formation of M.A.H.A.

Facebook: www.facebook.com/KeliiWilliamIoaneLegacy

Tags: Hawaiʻi, Hawai’i, Hawaii

44. Ke Ea Hawaiʻi: Normalizing Hawaiian Culture-based Education

A conversation about EAducation and student leadership with student representatives Hema Watson and Leinani Gutierrez-Kelley and advisor Trevor Atkins from Ke Ea Hawaiʻi.

Ke Ea Hawaiʻi is an interscholastic student council composed of elected representatives from 17 Hawaiian-focused charter schools. After a two year COVID break, theyʻre relaunching their transformative 5-day immersive summer and winter camps for the newly elected ʻaha (student council).

facebook.com/eahawaii

Tags: Hawaiʻi, Hawai'i, Hawaii

43. Kuhialoko: Bringing the Breath Back to the Land

An interview about reconnecting ʻohana and ʻāina with Kalei Miner and Iokepa Miner from Kuhialoko on Oʻahu.

Kuhialoko promotes Native Hawaiian, Indigenous, and culture-based land, species, and natural resource management. As an ʻohana, they encourage the growth and education of family units to reconnect with ʻāina and each other. They do this work in an area riddled with the impacts of displacement, disconnection, misuse, urbanization, and militarization. Their stewardship revitalizes the area’s historic level of cultural importance, abundance of natural resources and native species, and community based subsistence and connections.

Tags: Hawaiʻi, Hawai'i, Hawaii

42. Waipahu Safe Haven: Empowering Communities to Be Their Own Advocates

An interview about community empowerment and language access with Eola Lokebol, an advocate and interpreter at Waipahu Safe Haven Immigrant and Migrant Resource Center.

Waipahu Safe Haven provides holistic programs and services with language access to empower and uplift Hawaii’s immigrant and migrant communities, primarily serving our growing Marshallese and Chuukese communities as well as Samoans and Filipinos. The Center convenes Chuukese and Marshallese steering committees to guide programs and build support for their respective communities.

Website: waipahusafehaven.com/

Tags: Hawaiʻi, Hawai'i, Hawaii

41. Grassroots Community Development Group: Uplifting Kūpuna and ʻŌpio on Hawaiʻi Island

A conversation about intergenerational community development with Trina Nahm-Mijo, president and founder of the Grassroots Community Development Group, or GCDG, on Hawaiʻi Island.

GCDG has been a 501(c)(3) since 2005 and is best known for its award-winning program Keaʻau Youth Business Center (now Hawaiʻi Youth Business Center), which piloted an innovative hands-on skill-building curriculum in music and sound recording, digital arts, and culinary Arts. GCDG’s project Moʻo Pōʻai: Kūpuna Naue ʻŌpio has two parts. The Kūpuna component develops capacity in communities on Hawai’i Island to learn about the practice and application of Hoʻokuʻu ka hewa/Hoʻoponopono ʻike to health and social services in their communities. The ʻŌpio component supports media literacy classes in schools to increase social media proficiency while supporting social justice values in Hawaiʻi Island youth.

Website: gcdghawaii.org

Tags: Hawaiʻi, Hawai'i, Hawaii

40. Hui Aloha Kīholo: Community Stewardship of Kīholo Bay

An interview about ʻāina stewardship and community care with Kuʻulei Keakealani and Monika Frazier, the cultural director and interim executive director of Hui Aloha Kīholo.

Hui Aloha Kīholo is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to protect, perpetuate, and enhance the cultural and natural landscape of the Kīholo Bay area on Hawaiʻi Island through collaborative management and active community stewardship. They work closely with the Division of State Parks through a Curatorship Agreement to steward the Kīholo State Park Reserve.

Website: https://www.huialohakiholo.org/

Tags: Hawaiʻi, Hawai'i, Hawaii

39. Hoʻopae Pono Peace Project: Putting Together the Pieces of Peace

A conversation about peace-building and intergenerational community care with Laulani Teale, the coordinator of the Hoʻopae Pono Peace Project.

Hoʻopae Pono Peace Project builds strength in the Hawaiian community, and in its connections with others, through culture-based support for the prevention and resolution of family and community issues, support for youth as nonviolent warriors, and promotion of nonviolent solution-building and activism.

Website: https://www.eapono.org/

Tags: Hawaiʻi, Hawai’i, Hawaii

Tanya Mailelani Naehu: Hoʻoulu ka ʻāina i Kūmimi

Our third ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi special episode with guest host Krisha Zane. 

He kamaʻilio ʻana me Tanya Mailelani Naehu (Hui o Kuapā) e pili ana i ka hana o kona hui i ka loko iʻa ʻo ʻŌhalahala ma ke ahupuaʻa ʻo Kūmimi ma ka mokupuni ʻo Molokai. 

For our English-language episode with Maile and Hanohano Naehu, see episode 1. Hui o Kuapā: Restoring Fish Ponds on Molokai.

Tags: Hawaiʻi, Hawai'i, Hawaii