Native Hawaiian serving programs through the University of Hawaiʻi will receive more than $6 million in federal grants under the Native Hawaiian Education Program. This federal funding, secured by U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz through his work on the Senate Appropriations Committee is part of $26,992,923 that was awarded to 23 Native Hawaiian educational programs, including UH or UH partnership programs across the state.
”We are deeply grateful to Sen. Schatz and his colleagues for their support of these truly transformational programs,” said UH President David Lassner. “The University of Hawaiʻi is deeply committed to improving the lives of Hawaiʻi‘s people and communities that need us most through public higher education. In these challenging times, federal support is more critical than ever to increase access and success for Native Hawaiians across our UH campuses.”
The UH programs receiving funds:
Oi Ka Naʻauao STEM Pathways for Success will provide scholarship and academic support services to undergraduate students at four Native Hawaiian-serving postsecondary institutions in the UH System. The project will partner with Nā Pua Noʻeau to provide educational STEM outreach activities for K–12 students and families.
Manawa Kūpono undergraduate and graduate school access and success will increase the college readiness, access and success for Native Hawaiian students from high-poverty schools on Oʻahu, Hawaiʻi Island, Kauaʻi and Molokaʻi. This program will provide intensive and individualized services to a targeted group of students who are most at risk of not attending college.
Kūlia Support Project STEM Preparation, Coaching, Mentoring, proposes to enhance and expand a successful support model addressing the needs of Native Hawaiian youth at-risk of failure in postsecondary education.
Ka Pilina Noʻeau II STEM Workforce Development seeks to refine and replicate the math and science learning model to increase STEM engagement and improve the math and science outcomes of Native Hawaiian K–5 students.
Project Hōkūlani STEM Workforce Development is a three-year, culturally responsive, strength- and work-based STEM enrichment and college transition project proposed in response to the STEM workforce shortage among underrepresented groups such as Native Hawaiians and individuals with disabilities.
LaupaʻI Ka ʻIke KuamoʻO Hawaiian Language Multimedia Development seeks to increase access of grade 6–20 Hawaiian language/immersion students to critical multimedia Hawaiian language and knowledge resources, skills and career pathways through an innovative multi-pronged process designed to pass knowledge and career skills from a cohort of seasoned educators to a new generation of Hawaiian language speakers resulting in increased language fluency and career readiness.
ʻAha Lamakū ʻOiaʻiʻo Culturally Responsible Leadership Development, Mentoring and Transition Support is a large-scale comprehensive effort to assist at-risk Native Hawaiian youth led by a longstanding partnership between the UH Curriculum Research and Development Group, Pacific Literacy Consortium in the College of Education and the Hawaiʻi Department of Education.
“This new federal funding will ensure that Native Hawaiian educational programs have the resources they need in time for the upcoming school year,” said Schatz.
