Hawaiʻi Rising

Tanya Mailelani Naehu: Hoʻoulu ka ʻāina i Kūmimi (2023)

An ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi special episode from 2023 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

Kū Kahakalau me Pōlani Kahakalau: Hoʻomau i ka ʻōlelo makuahine (2025)

In addition to fresh episodes in ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi this Hawaiian Language Month, we're resharing this special episode in ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi featuring Dr. Kū Kahakalau and Pōlani Kahakalau, with guest host Pualiʻi Rossi. Also check out our past English-language episode with Dr. Kū and Pōlani about EA Ecoversity.

Ma kēia hualono, kamaʻilio ʻo ʻAnakē Kū Kahakalau lāua ʻo Pōlani Kahakalau e pili ana i ko lāua hoʻomau ʻana i ka ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi ma ka hale, ma ke kula, a ma ko lāua ʻoihana i kapa ʻia ʻo EA Ecoversity. ʻO ka mea hoʻokipa no ia kamaʻilio ʻana, ʻo ia ʻo Pualiʻi Rossi, he alakaʻi ma ka hui ʻo I Ola Wailuanui a he lālā ma ka hui ʻo Hawaiʻi Alliance for Progressive Action.

Website: www.kuakanaka.com/eaecoversity

Tags: Hawaiʻi, Hawai'i, Hawaii

97. Pualiʻi Rossi (I Ola Wailuanui): "He aha ka makemake o ka ʻāina ʻo Wailuanui?"

We kick off Mahina ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi with a special episode in ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi featuring Pualiʻi Rossi, the president of I Ola Wailuanui, with guest host Brad Watanabe. Also check out our English-language episode about I Ola Wailuanui with Pualiʻi and her fellow board member Mason Chock.

Ma kēia hualono, kamaʻilio ʻo Pualiʻi Rossi e pili ana i kona aʻo ʻana i ka ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi a me ka hana a ka hui ʻo I Ola Wailuanui, ʻo ia hoʻi, ka mālama ʻana i ka ʻāina ʻo Wailuanui no nā hanauna e hiki mai ana.

Tags: Hawaiʻi, Hawai'i, Hawaii

96. ʻĀina Kōnea: Establishing a Kīpuka in Wahiawā, Oʻahu

A conversation about ʻāina stewardship with Kekupuloa Kim from ʻĀina Kōnea.

ʻĀina Kōnea is a grassroots hui with the mission to restore the reciprocal ea between the kānaka and ʻāina of Wahiawā by way of cultural revitalization. They care for a kīpuka in the forest of Wahiawā Uka along a section of Kaukonahua Stream known as Kuaʻikua.

Website: https://www.ainakonea.org

Tags: Hawaiʻi, Hawai'i, Hawaii

95. January 2026 Community News: Keliʻi William Ioane Legacy Foundation and the Hawaiʻi Workers Center

Community news for January 2026! After headlines, we feature interviews with updates from two long-time grantee partners:

• ʻĀinaaloha Ioane, the executive director of the Keliʻi William Ioane Legacy Foundation, shares the latest milestones in the efforts of the King's Landing community to secure long-term leases on the homestead lands they have lived on for decades.
• Kami Yamamoto and Lauren Taijeron from the Hawaiʻi Workers Center share updates on their work organizing low-wage, non-union workers on Oʻahu, including the reinvigoration of the COFA Workers Association of Honolulu and their ongoing campaign against wage theft.

To learn more, listen to our previous episodes:

• 5. Keliʻi William Ioane Legacy Foundation: Growing Up in King‘s Landing
• 45. Keliʻi William Ioane Legacy Foundation: Community, Ceremony, and Collective Abundance
• 51. Hawaiʻi Workers Center: Empowering Workers to Organize

Subscribe to the Hawaiʻi Rising zine here to receive the next issue in the mail!

Tags: Hawaiʻi, Hawai'i, Hawaii

94. Kūpaʻa Kuilima: Protecting ʻĀina in Kahuku, Oʻahu

A conversation about protecting ʻāina with Jessica Dos Santos and Lillie Makaila from Kūpaʻa Kuilima.

Kūpaʻa Kuilima is dedicated to advocating for responsible and pono development on O’ahu’s North Shore from Waialeʻe to Keana, elevating and protecting the ‘āina by holding it sacred, staying rooted in place, and reviving ancestral traditions.

Linktree: linktr.ee/kupaakuilima

Tags: Hawaiʻi, Hawai'i, Hawaii

Food Sovereignty through Hawaiian Engineering: A Story of Two Kahaluʻu (2025)

How are organizations in Hawaiʻi addressing the need for sustainable and abundant food systems to feed our island communities?

In this issue area episode from the spring, we hear from three community partners working toward the restoration of Hawaiian food systems, in particular through the foundational practice of uhau humu pōhaku (Hawaiian drystack masonry).

First, we hear from Keʻalohi Wang at Hui Hoʻoniho, an organization founded in 1996 to perpetuate the intergenerational transmission of uhau humu pōhaku.

From there, we learn about two ʻāina-based organizations working to restore significant traditional agricultural systems, both with the name Kahaluʻu:

At Kahaluʻu Kūāhewa in Kahaluʻu, Kona, Hawaiʻi, we hear from Jesse and Kim Kahoʻonei about their work restoring a 354-acre parcel of the traditional Kona field system.

From Kaiāulu ʻo Kahaluʻu in Kahaluʻu, Koʻolaupoko, Oʻahu, Hiʻiaka Jardine and Philip Kapu share about their efforts to restore the Kahaluʻu Loʻi--the largest intact terraced loʻi system on Oʻahu.

To learn more about these hui, listen to our full episodes with them:

29. Kaiāulu ‘o Kahalu‘u: Hawaiian Engineering and ‘Āina Restoration in Kahalu‘u

33. Kahaluʻu Kūāhewa (Huliauapaʻa): Food Sovereignty and ʻĀina Education in Kona

62. Kahaluʻu Kūāhewa: Reconnecting Kānaka to ʻĀina in Kona

63. Kaiāulu ʻo Kahaluʻu: Restoring the Kahaluʻu Loʻi

73. Hui Hoʻoniho: Building a Foundation through Uhau Humu Pōhaku

Tags: Hawaiʻi, Hawai'i, Hawaii

93. December 2025 Community News: Lāhaina Strong and the Lāhaina Community Land Trust

Community news for December 2025! After headlines, we feature interviews with two Maui Aloha grantees organizing in Lāhaina:

• First, De Andre Makakoa from Lāhaina Strong shares about community organizing after the 2023 wildfire as well as the 2025 documentary Lāhaina Rising, which won the Made in Hawaiʻi award at the Hawaiʻi International Film Festival.
• Second, Carolyn Auweloa from the Lāhaina Community Land Trust speaks about the community land trust as a structure to ensure that land remains permanently accessible to Lāhaina residents and to give the Lahaina community a say in how its land is used — whether for affordable housing, open space, or commercial properties. Founded after the fire in 2023, LCLT is on track to have secured 17 properties by the end of 2025.

Click here for the interest form for I Ola Wailuanui's Heiau Mapping Internship .

Tags: Hawaiʻi, Hawai'i, Hawaii

 

92. The Moʻolelo of Lā Kūʻokoʻa with ʻĪmaikalani Winchester

Today is Lā Kūʻokoʻa, the Hawaiian Kingdom’s Independence Day! On this day in 1843, the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi was officially recognized as a sovereign nation by Great Britain and France in the Anglo-Franco Proclamation.

In this special episode, we speak with ʻĪmaikalani Winchester to hear the history behind Lā Kūʻokoʻa. ʻĪmai is a lead organizer for the annual celebration of Lā Hoʻihoʻi Ea at Thomas Square. These two national holidays are linked, both commemorating landmark moments of the Kingdom’s history in the same year 1843. So in this episode, in commemoration of today’s holiday, ʻĪmai is guiding us through this watershed moment of Hawaiian history.

Tags: Hawaiʻi, Hawai'i, Hawaii

91. Live from Hale Līhuʻe: A pop-up radio show featuring our Kauaʻi-based partners!

HPF and our partners are on the radio! In this special episode, we share a recording of a live radio show on KKCR Kauaʻi Community Radio highlighting our Kauaʻi-based grantee partners through a pop-up broadcast from Hale Līhue. Hosted by KKCR's executive director Anni Caporuscio, the broadcast features Akira "Kiki" Katsumata-Smith (Rice Street Business Association), Pualiʻi Rossi-Fukino (I Ola Wailuanui), Tina Aiu (Kīpuka Kuleana), and Kāhealani Collins (Kalauokekahuli), as well as HPF's executive director Micky Huihui.

Tag: Hawaiʻi, Hawai'i, Hawaii