New Immersion Preschool Classroom Opens in Hāna
Nakoa Named VP at Kupu
Keone Nakoa was recently named vice president of external affairs for Kupu, an Oʻahu-based nonprofit that develops youth training programs across the pae ʻāina in the field of environmental stewardship. Prior to his appointment, Nakoa was deputy assistant secretary for Insular and International Affairs in the U.S. Department of the Interior and a senior advisor in the Executive Office of the President under the Biden administration.
Nakoa is also a former executive at the Office of Hawaiian Affairs having served as the organization’s Washington, D.C., bureau chief for more than three years from 2018-2021. He has also worked as a private practice attorney and clerked for Chief Judge Craig Nakamura and Chief Justice Mark Recktenwald and, in early in his career, he served as speechwriter and media assistant for the late Sen. Daniel K. Akaka.
A graduate of ʻIolani School, Nakoa went on to attend Harvard University where he earned a bachelor’s degree. From there, he returned to Hawaiʻi and pursued a law degree from UH Manoa’s William S. Richardson School of Law, and then an MBA from UH’s Shidler College of Business.
HC Acquires Hawaiʻi Staffing and Services
The Hawaiian Council (HC), through its for-profit subsidiary, Hawaiʻi Holdings & Investments, has acquired Hawaiʻi Staffing and Services (HSS). The acquisition marks the Council’s commitment to building a workforce ecosystem rooted in local values, cultural understanding, and community advancement.
Acquired earlier this year, HSS employs some 400 individuals. Since the acquisition, HSS has undergone a comprehensive restructuring and rebranding.
Samlynn Kubota will serve as HSS executive director. Staffing services range from filling short term staffing needs to assembling specialized teams for complex initiatives. They also offer contract-to-hire placements, giving employers the opportunity to assess candidates on the job before extending permanent offers.
HSS also partners with businesses in co-employment relationships to manage critical HR and administrative functions including payroll, benefits, compliance, and employee relations.
“When we approach workforce development and human resource management through a cultural lens, we’re not just filling jobs — we’re investing in Hawaiʻi’s people, our values, and the future of our islands. We see a tremendous void in this market that we plan to fill,” said HC CEO Kūhiō Lewis.
The acquisition expands HC’s efforts to strengthen Hawaiʻi’s workforce infrastructure through education, training, and employment. Its other workforce initiatives include the Hawaiian Trades Academy, Maui Workforce Development Program, and other culturally informed training and certification opportunities.
Pauʻole Prevails at 4th Annual Falsetto Contest
Youth-Driven Zero Waste Initiative in Kaʻū
A group of students from Kaʻū are leading Mālama ʻĀina Compostables, an ambitious youth-driven zero waste initiative. So far, they diverted over 19,000 pounds of food waste from the landfill and organized a Youth Convergence focused on zero waste and plastic reduction policy.
The Kaʻū High & Pāhala Elementary students work closely with Recycle Hawaiʻi to transform cafeteria waste into compost for the school’s agriculture program and local farms. Partnering with community mentors, they developed a model that is now being shared with other schools.
“Sometimes people think you have to start big,” said youth organizer Kona. “But we started with lunch trays. That’s how you build momentum — one meal, one bin, one community at a time.”
This fall, they convened 70 young leaders from Hawaiʻi – and from “Cancer Alley,” Louisiana – to connect the dots between where plastic is made and where it ends up. The four-day event in Nāʻālehu featured workshops and presentations from policy experts and kūpuna. “Bringing youth from Louisiana and Hawaiʻi together closed the loop on plastic’s life cycle, from production to pollution,” said Recycle Hawaiʻi Program Director Ulu Makuakāne. “That’s how movements are born.”
The youth are also supporting Bill 83, a Hawaiʻi county initiative to ban single-use plastics in food service. “This generation isn’t afraid of change,” said Laura Acasio, County Office of Environmental Resilience. “They know it’s necessary for their health, their island, and their future.”
With landfill space running out and global plastic negotiations stalling, this next generation isn’t waiting for permission to lead.
Papahānaumokuākea Cultural Working Group Meets at OHA
TMT Being Discussed Again
An October 24 letter signed by all four Hawaiʻi Congressional Delegates and Gov. Josh Green to the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) board of directors has reignited concerns in the community.
The letter stated that the governor and his administration will work with the Maunakea Stewardship and Oversight Authority (MKSOA) and the University of Hawaiʻi to “promptly establish a clear and transparent procedure for obtaining the necessary permits associated with a decommissioned site.”
Act 255, passed in 2022, established the MKSOA as the sole authority for managing Maunakea and prioritized the “reuse of footprints of observatories scheduled for decommissioning, or [that] have been decommissioned” as sites for future observatories instead of on undeveloped land.
Recently decommissioned (and removed) observatories Caltech Submillimeter Observatory and UH Hilo’s Hōkū Keʻa are being eyed as possible locations for a relocated TMT – but community advocates note that neither site is large enough to support TMT without extending the existing “footprints.”
Some 300 written testimonies – the majority in opposition to TMT and the contents of the October 24 letter – were submitted ahead of a November 13 MKSOA meeting, with dozens more testifying in person or online. Cultural concerns and past mismanagement issues were frequently cited.
After funding for the National Science Foundation (NSF) was cut earlier this year as part of sweeping federal budget cuts, NSF announced they would pull funding for TMT and redirect their available funding to building the Magellan Telescope in Chile. However, backers of TMT have since approached Congress requesting funding via the NSF.
Hawaiʻi Exhibit at the British Museum
Sanders Selected to the AIANTA Board
Native Hawaiian Hospitality Association (NaHHA) Executive Director Mālia Sanders was recently named to the board of directors of the American Indian Alaska Native Tourism Association (AIANTA).
Sanders has been with NaHHA for over 14 years, is an expert in regenerative tourism, and holds multiple professional certifications: sustainable tourism and destination management from Cornell University; sustainable tourism for Native Nations and communities from Arizona State University; and cultural heritage tourism from George Washington University. NaHHA is a nonprofit organization that advocates for authenticity in the promotion of Native Hawaiian culture in the visitor industry.
A graduate of Kamehameha Schools Kapālama and UH West Oʻahu, Sanders was named Social Impact Entrepreneur of the Year by the Hawaiʻi Venture Capital Association in 2022. That same year she also received a Pineapple Award, which honors tourism professionals, from Pacific Business News.
In 2023, Sanders was selected as a Pacific Century Fellow, and last year she was recognized as one of Hawaiʻi’s “20 for the Next 20” by Hawaiʻi Business Magazine. Sanders currently serves as president of the Hawaiian Civic Club of Honolulu.
Founded 27 years ago, nonprofit AIANTA is governed by an all-Indigenous board of directors and serves as a united voice for the $11.6 billion Indigenous hospitality sector. AIANTA envisions Indigenous tourism as a catalyst for Native economic sovereignty.
Minn Appointed RAM CEO
Malama Minn is the new chief executive officer of the REALTORS® Association of Maui (RAM). Born and raised in Hāna, Maui, Minn will lead RAM’s strategic direction, government relations and member engagement efforts.
Minn has an extensive background in renewable energy projects and policy development, working at the intersection of energy, environment, and equity. She had led efforts in clean energy policy, Indigenous land and water management, and energy education and outreach.
Prior to joining RAM, she served as executive director of the Hawaiʻi Construction Alliance, project development specialist at the State Department of Land and Natural Resources, energy consultant with Johnson Controls, a transformational outreach specialist with Hawaiʻi Energy, and a wind energy specialist with the State of Hawaiʻi.
Minn has the distinction of being the first kupa of Hāna to earn a Juris Doctorate from the University of Hawaiʻi William S. Richardson School of Law. Her journey from Hāna High & Elementary School to becoming a respected leader in environmental policy and land stewardship is a testament to her dedication, grit and passion.
Three ʻŌiwi Win Literary Awards
Native Books Hawaiʻi Publisher Maile Meyer and Poet Laureate Kealoha Wong were honored last month by the Hawaiʻi Literary Arts Council with Loretta D. Petrie Awards for outstanding service to Hawaiʻi’s writing community. Megan Kamalei Kakimoto, author of Every Drop is a Man’s Nightmare, received an Elliot Cades Award for Hawaiʻi Literature. The awards were presented on November 1 at a public event at the Hawaiʻi State Library by the Hawaiʻi Literary Arts Council in concert with the library and Friends of the Library of Hawaiʻi. Also honored with an Elliot Cades Award last month were Larry and Rosemary Mild, a husband and wife duo residing in Honolulu who write cozy mysteries and thrillers. – Courtesy Photos
Yuen to Serve as Gemini Cultural Resident
Kumu hula and cultural practitioner Leilehua Yuen of Hilo has been tapped to serve as Gemini Observatory’s first Hawaiian culture and language resident.
Yuen has a long history of working on Maunakea and one of her main projects for Gemini will be to reimagine NOIRLab’s 88 Constellations map from an ʻŌiwi perspective. She will work with Hawaiʻi Education and Engagement Manager Leinani Lozi to help ground the observatory “in Hawaiian values and knowledge” and “provide advice and a unique perspective” to its leadership.
Projects include creating monthly star charts that begin on the Hilo moon. Community can access these charts and their related moʻolelo on maunakea- observatories.org.
Via the observatory’s Malalo o ka Lani Maunakea program, the community can learn about Hawaiian constellations, while the Papa Wahi Pana program will train people to properly enter the sacred space that is Maunakea with oli and hoʻokupu.
Gemini’s Hawaiʻi Culture and Language Residency program offers one-year, full-time positions to members of the community who are experts in Hawaiian language and culture.
“Culture and science are not mutually exclusive,” Yuen said.
OHA Trustees Travel to Hawaiʻi Island
Office of Hawaiian Affairs (OHA) Board of Trustees (BOT) and a contingent of staff spent most of the week of November 3 traveling to communities across Moku o Keawe to listen to community concerns with evening meetings scheduled in Kona, Waimea and Hilo. While on-island, they took the opportunity to visit various sites and projects and meet the ʻŌiwi leading stewardship efforts in their respective kulāiwi. The first day they visited LaʻiʻŌpua 2020 Community Center in Kealakehe and Kahaluʻu Kūāhewa in Kahaluʻu ma uka, both in Hawaiʻi Komohana. On day two they traveled north where they visited Puʻukoholā Heiau, Māhukona – a Hawaiʻi Land Trust site stewarded by Nā Kālai Waʻa – and then met with Waimea Homestead Association leadership. The next day, before heading to Hawaiʻi Hikina, they traveled to Pōhakuloa to see the impact of the military training for themselves. In Hilo, they spent most of their time in Keaukaha, visiting Wai ʻUli, Ka Ana Laʻahana Public Charter School, and Kawānanakoa Gym. The huakaʻi culminated on November 6 with a well-attended BOT meeting hosted by UH Hilo’s Ka Haka ʻUla o Keʻelikōlani College of Hawaiian Language. – Photos: Jason Lees and Lehua Itokazu
