Hawaiʻi Rising

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 holiday...

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),...

A conversation with Nikki Cristobal, Ashley Mahaʻa, and Makanalani Gomes about the Missing and Murdered Native Hawaiian Women, Girls, and Māhū (MMNHWGM) movement.

The MMNHWGM movement and research work is a focus of Kamāwaelualani, a Kauaʻi-based grassroots organization dedicated to Native Hawaiian public art, education, and community activation. Kamāwaelualani undertakes this work to re-connect Hawaiʻiʻs people with cultural stori...

Our first monthly community news episode! In each news episode, you'll get community headlines followed by two interview segments sharing timely updates from our partners from across all our grantmaking programs.

Our November 2025 episode features updates from two hui who demonstrate that community takes care of community:

• Mōʻī Kawaʻakoa from Holomua Outreach shares about their urgent organizing with the houseless community li...

An interview about building up communities' capacity to heal their own lands with Kauʻi Lopes, Hannah Hartmann, and Kaʻimi Kaleleiki.

Earth RM is a Hilo-based nonprofit with a mission to develop, implement, and share accessible bioremediation solutions to heal communities, lands, and waters affected by environmental pollution. Bioremediation involves allying with microbes, fungi, and plant communities to break down environmental po...

An interview from early 2025 about community stewardship of ʻāina with Pualiʻi Rossi and Mason Chock from I Ola Wailuanui.

I Ola Wailuanui is a grassroots community organization formed and managed by Kauaʻi residents for the purpose of preserving, protecting, and restoring Wailuanuiahoʻāno and the environmental, historical, and cultural treasures there. Their vision is a living ʻili ʻāina for and by thriving kamaʻāina who are cultu...

A conversation about community restoration of place with Addison Bulosan of the Rice Street Business Association (RSBA).

RSBA is dedicated to fostering a thriving, just, and self-sustaining Downtown Līhu‘e by empowering local entrepreneurship, perpetuating Native Hawaiian culture, and strengthening community power. RSBA invites Kauaʻi community members to the annual Rice Street Block Party this coming Sa...

Season 5 of Hawaiʻi Rising is here! The new season kicks off with a conversation about building support and acceptance for LGBTQ+ loved ones with Ryna Yamada and Cameron Miyamoto, the co-presidents of PFLAG Oʻahu.

PFLAG Oʻahu is a local chapter of the US’ largest organization dedicated to supporting, educating, and advocating for LGBTQ+ people and those who love them. PFLAG Oʻahu hosts a monthly support ...

Lā Hoʻihoʻi Ea is coming up this weekend! Join us at Thomas Square on Sunday, July 27, 2025. Each year for Lā Hoʻihoʻi Ea, two aloha ʻāina are honored for their activism and commitment to ea. The two 2025 honorees are Likookalani Martin and the late Abel Simeona Lui. In this episode, Uncle Liko shares about his life, music, and activism, from the writing of the movement anthem “All Hawaiʻi Stand Together” to his trans...

In this multi-grantee episode, Hawaiʻi Rising speaks with three organizations uplifting their communities through filmmaking.

First, we speak with Pua Case from Mauna Kea Education & Awareness and filmmaker Jalena Keane-Lee about their feature-length documentary Standing Above the Clouds, which premiered last year. Building on an earlier short film with the same name released in 2020, the feature-len...

A reposted episode from 2023 about food access and resilient futures with Hulali Soza and Megan Fox from Mālama Kauaʻi.

Mālama Kauaʻi has been working to increase food production and access for a resilient Kauaʻi since 2006. They do this through a lens of resilience and sustainability, leveraging workforce and economic development efforts, partnerships, and innovative programs to grow community capacity. Their Kaua‘i Food Access Pl...

In our fourth multi-grantee episode, we hear from three organizations working to restore ahupuaʻa systems and perpetuate ʻike kupuna about ʻāina stewardship on three different islands.

First, on Molokai, we hear from Hano and Maile Naehu at Hui o Kuapā about their work to restore loko iʻa and grow a new generation of modern konohiki.

Sec...

An interview from 2023 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 Cente...

Hawaiʻi Rising presents "Mākua: Piko of Peace" from the Before Us podcast, an audio-documentary series produced in collaboration with Mālama Mākua.

In episode five, Mālama Mākua board members Aunty Lynette Cruz and Uncle Sparky Rodrigues discuss the evolution of Mālama Mākua's mission, and we hear significant recent developments in the movement for the return and restoration of Mākua Valley.

To learn more about Mālama Mākua, visit ...

In our third multi-grantee episode, we hear from three organizations working towards 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 w...

An interview from 2023 about ʻāina restoration and hale construction with Ed Gomes and Kukona Lopes from Ke Kahua o Kūaliʻi.

Ke Kahua o Kūaliʻi’s mission is to inspire and support cultural and environmental wellness through land stewardship of Palalupe and Pōhakea at Kawainui fishpond in Kailua, Oʻahu. Their Kūkulu Kauhale Program fosters traditional land management and supports cultural practice by training community members in th...

Hawaiʻi Rising presents "Mākua: Piko of Peace" from the Before Us podcast, an audio-documentary series produced in collaboration with Mālama Mākua.

In episode four, scholar and Mālama Mākua board member Kyle Kajihiro shares the story of the Army's 65-year lease in Mākua Valley, which expires in 2029, and of community efforts to protect and reclaim lands taken by the military.

To learn more about Mālama Mākua, visit www.malamamakua....

In our second multi-grantee episode, we hear from three organizations who identify their work with kīpuka: regenerative spaces that help reseed and regrow the areas around them.

First, we hear from Mehana Vaughan and Jennifer Luck from Kīpuka Kuleana (featured in episode 2), which perpetuates kuleana, ahupua’a-based natural resource management and connection to place through protection of cultural landscapes and family lands on Kau...