From Hawaiʻi Island to Kauaʻi, 29 University of Hawaiʻi programs serving Native Hawaiian students were awarded a total of $19,369,050 in federal grants for the 2023 fiscal year.
The funding, across all 10 UH campuses, was from the U.S. Department of Education Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian-Serving Institutions program that was established to expand programs at Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian-serving institutions to promote college completion and success.
“The University of Hawaiʻi is committed to advance education for Native Hawaiians as we support and foster appreciation of Hawaiian culture, values and wisdom,” said UH President David Lassner. “These grants will help UH to nurture the personal success, leadership capacity and positive engagement of our Native Hawaiian students through engagement in world-class research, scholarship and service that promotes the welfare and sustainability of Hawaiʻi’s people and environment.”
UH Mānoa
Mai ʻŌ A ʻŌ: Meeting the Needs of Native Hawaiian Educators and Students through Remote Learning Professional Development ($547,950) a holistic program designed to advance Native Hawaiian remote teaching and distance learning.
Kapaʻakea: Engaging Hawaiian Research & Multi-Disciplinary Collaborations at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa ($545,284) proposes to increase Native Hawaiian student educational attainment by transforming institution-wide instructional practices, co-curricular core services, and student engagement opportunities to be a Native Hawaiian place of learning.
Hoapili: Exploring & Restoring Hawaiian Educational Origins at UH Mānoa & UH Maui College ($735,682 with UH Maui College) invokes and reclaims Native Hawaiian educational history as a source of agency and pride for Hawaiian students, faculty and the community at large.
UH West Oʻahu
Hoʻopūliko Kumu Hou Educational Pathway Project ($400,000) to partner with other stakeholders in this region to significantly increase the number of Native Hawaiian and Part-Hawaiian teachers earning their bachelor’s degree and entering the region’s secondary classrooms.
Upena Moananuiākea: Establishing the Hub Pasifika to Empower Native Hawaiian Futures ($550,000) focuses on increasing enrollment, retention and graduation of West Oʻahu students.
Wailau Ola Pathway ($600,000) The Wailau Ola Pathway is a collaborative grant between Windward Community College and UH West Oʻahu that will increase on-time degree attainment and transfers between the two campuses.
UH Hilo
Kūkulu: Strengthening Native Hawaiian Leadership by Building Retention and Graduation Efforts ($448,680) will strengthen leadership development, empower campus and community engagement, and enhance Hawaiian language, culture and knowledge learning pathways.
Hoʻolana: Access and Enrollment, Retention and Graduation Success for Native Hawaiian Students ($543,460) will target Native Hawaiian students from freshmen to seniors through three proposed activities: facilitate student success through an Indigenous framework, enhance campus and community engagement and strengthen leadership development.
E Halakau ai nā Manu: Native Hawaiian Student Engagement and Support ($547,087) to increase the success of Native Hawaiian students by renovating a student space, while specifically targeting Native Hawaiian students in their first and second year.
Pāʻieʻie: Indigenizing the UH Hilo and Hawaiʻi CC Campuses ($599,926 with Hawaiʻi CC) will build an Indigenous learning environment, enhance campus and community, and foster a community of scholars with the goal of increasing Native Hawaiian student enrollment and retention; Native Hawaiian student, faculty and staff engagement; and increasing Native Hawaiian student graduation and transfer.
Hawaiʻi CC
Manai-a-Maui: Transforming Institutions with an Indigenous Framework ($450,000 with UH Hilo and UH Maui College) a cooperative arrangement to transform the student experience through an Indigenous student development model; transform administrators, faculty and staff; and transform campuses into Native Hawaiian places of learning through Hawaiian protocols.
Ulu Kini ($399,858) aims to increase course completion and graduation rates of Native Hawaiian students by expanding distance education, increase engagement and retention rates through campus-wide participation in an Indigenizing curriculum model, and increase enrollment by expanding distance education capabilities and support in rural areas.
Nauane ($550,000) aims to increase enrollment rates of Native Hawaiian students by improving access to comprehensive services through the renovation of a proposed One-Stop Center, Halau Kauwaa, and professional development to enhance remote learning.
Nāʻū II ($550,000) seeks to increase enrollment of Native Hawaiian students by offering more opportunities for place-based education to enhance the remote learning experience, to include an amphitheater with seating and a stage, lighting and sounds and a shade covering.
Honolulu CC
Kūkalahale: Building an Indigenous-Serving Institution through Professional Development ($450,000 with Kapiʻolani CC) seeks to increase capacity to implement Indigenous education frameworks and support student success on both campuses; and increase access to training on Indigenous education methodologies to other campuses in support of UH’s mission to become a model Indigenous-serving institution.
Ola Niuhelewai-Improving Native Hawaiian Success through Well-Being ($555,547 supplement + $450,000 increment) a holistic approach that balances Native Hawaiians’ traditional concepts of physical, emotional, mental and spiritual health to raise Native Hawaiian students’ satisfactory academic progress, retention and graduation by increasing their health literacy through a culturally relevant curriculum.
Kapiʻolani CC
Huliamahi—Joining Together to Support Guided Pathways to Success: A Collaborative Partnership between Kapiʻolani Community College and the UH Mānoa ($445,698) seeks to increase Native Hawaiian student engagement, retention, graduation and transfer to UH baccalaureate institutions; and increase the preparation and participation of Native Hawaiian students in high-demand careers in Hawaiʻi and Hawaiʻi’s workforce.
Kūloaʻa—Advancing Indigenous Innovators ($449,945) seeks to develop Indigenous innovators and expand distance education opportunities for Native Hawaiian students with a focus on promoting engagement, re-enrollment and academic achievement through academic pathways and co-curricular activities with an emphasis on Indigenous innovation, especially in relation to business and industry.
Creating an Ecology for Innovation: Transformative Funds Management Strategies through Shared Services Centers to Support Native Hawaiian Student Success ($599,976 with Leeward CC) will establish shared service centers to improve funds management to increase capacity to apply for and manage extramural funding.
Kūlia—Advancing Indigenous Scholars for Success ($474,957) will incorporate the Kaao Transformation Framework for faculty to indigenize student engagement and learning by creating authentic meaningful curriculum and prove academic peer coaching and tutoring support.
Kauaʻi CC
Kahua Paepae Ola: Foundation to Support Success ($391,841) will address the increased need the COVID-19 pandemic created for students by helping with the transition to online learning and provide an increase in tutoring and mentoring.
Kelekaʻa Hoʻonaʻauao: Education Delivered Through Distance Education ($444,030) seeks to continue support of satellite classrooms established to increase access to reliable internet service for distance education coursework, and provide classrooms for students across Kauaʻi to participate in synchronous distance education classes without the requirement of driving to the main campus.
Kūkulu Aʻe: Building Up and Out ($548,379) sets out to increase enrollment and success for Native Hawaiian students in area high schools by creating an articulated sequence of Early College and/or Running Start courses offered by Kauaʻi CC faculty.
Leeward CC
E Hoʻakea i ke ʻIke: Extend the Vision ($550,000) will transform two key lab sites into spaces that are safe, welcoming and equipped for active and culturally relevant learning.
He Loa Ke Aho: Systematic Practices Reenvisioned for Native Hawaiian Student Success ($548,747) will increase Native Hawaiian student enrollment, persistence and graduation rates by indigenizing Leeward CC and creating a sense of belonging for Native Hawaiian students.
WaHawa#699;a Kaulua: The Foundational Journey to Success ($396,316) will focus on providing G2FO program (a program offered at Leeward CC Waiʻanae Moku to graduate within 2–3 years with an associate’s degree) students with stipends to help cover tuition and living expenses and also help expand the program’s ability to provide free textbook loans and cover e-textbook and computer program fees for online courses.
Ke Ala ʻAnuʻu: The Path of Steps ($449,031) will increase student support services and activities that promote retention, transfer and matriculation of students currently enrolled in STEM pathways at Leeward CC to UH West Oʻahu.
UH Maui College
Kahōkūala: The Rising Star ($550,000) will build capacity to better serve Native Hawaiian students with the goal of increasing enrollment and degree completion.
Puʻuhonua: Native Hawaiian Center— Phase I ($550,000) proposes creating a learning space for faculty, staff and Native Hawaiian students that allows them to explore, discuss, and reinforce their Hawaiian identity, which can be integral to student success.
Hōkūpaʻa: Charting the Pathway for Student Success ($550,000) will build capacity to better serve Native Hawaiian students through four primary activities such as establish remote learning sites, develop and align Early College and Dual Enrollment Pathways, provide faculty with professional development and, support students success through peer mentoring and coaching.
Hulihia Center for Sustainable Systems ($550,000) engage Native Hawaiian students and increase retention and graduation through three primary activities: establish the Hulihia Center for Sustainable Systems; provide real-world experiences for sustainable science management students; and offer in-person experience for distance education students.
Kupuohi i ka Lā: Increasing Capacity for Continual Growth ($500,000) is a cooperative arrangement project between UH Maui College and Hawaiʻi CC to provide solar panel installation and train students; sustain and expand the Shared Service Center to increase extramural awards; and provide financial literacy training.
Kahua Hana ($450,000) proposes activities to train new Native Hawaiian students to manage identified success barriers, build skills to better manage their finances on and off campus, and develop practices to reduce their time to a degree.
Windward CC
Kumuola “Caregivers of Life” ($448,017) supporting Native Hawaiian student success through the development of traditional Native Hawaiian career pathways and indigenous education, including financial literacy and on-campus student employment.
Nā Muo Hoʻopakela: Blossoming Through Online Education ($549,043) will build upon best practice strategies in online education, including the incorporation of video and virtual reality.
Nā Pali Hāuliuli: Growing Community Leaders ($549,983) will develop community leaders through online mālama ʻāina (caring for the earth) based curriculum, campus based, hands on curriculum and activities and internships with local ʻāina (environmental) organizations.
E Oi Mau: Increasing Knowledge Through Application ($449,613) will support Native Hawaiian student success through the development of traditional Native Hawaiian career pathways and Indigenous education including financial literacy and on-campus student employment.
