Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 36, Number 7, 1 July 2019 — Grounded Legacy [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Grounded Legacy

-BY: IKAIKA HUSSEY-

Bringing international attention to Hawaiian environmentalism The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is the global authority on the status of the natural world and the measures needed to safeguard it. IUCN held its 2016 World Conservation Conference in Hawai'i, whieh is a global center for biodiversity, endangered species and climate risk. OHA was a co-sponsor of the conference, whieh attracted more than 10,000 participants from 176 countries.

Reconnecting traditionalfarming and voyaging īn 2016-2017, the Oihee of Hawaiian Affairs awarded a Programmatic Grant of $150,000 to Kānehūnāmoku Voyaging Academy, based in Ka'alaea, for its cultural farming initiative "He Wa'a He Moku, He Moku He Wa'a," ("a eanoe is an island and every island is a eanoe"). The program combines classical navigation, haumāna in the program grow crops like kalo and 'uala as provisions for the voyaging crew. "Bemg Hawahan is not only about having Hawaiian blood," said Kainoa, a student of Hālau Kū Māna. "It's about connecting to the 'āina. With no mea 'ai and no resources, there can't be ola." Helping low-incomefamilies to build wealih Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) is a federal "welfare-to-work" grant to states to administer their own welfare programs. The Hawah program had. In 2012 and 2013 OHA successfully advocated for the Legislature to eliminate a eap of $5,000 in assets, whieh discouraged low-ineome families from building weahh. 38 percent of TANF recipients are of Native Hawaiian ancestry. Using information technology to better understand and manage Hawai'i's resources

KIPUKA PAPAKILO DATABASE

OHA launched two new tools to provide new windows into native Hawaiian land, culture and history. Kipuka Database is a geographical information system (GIS) to provide a window into native Hawai-

ian land, culture and history. And Papakilo is a "Database of Databases" weaving together mukiple collections of including the Ali'i Letter Collection, Bishop Museum Collections, the Hawaii State Archives, Hawaiian newspapers, and OHA's Kipuka database. Repatriating ihe ahu'ula of Kalani'ōpu'u On his terminal 1779 voyage to Hawaii, Kalani'ōpu'u, ali'i nui of Hawai'i Island, greeted James Cook in Kealakekua Bay and draped his treasured 'ahu 'ula over the captain's shoulders. While Cook himself would not leave Hawai'i, Cook's crew carried Kalani'ōpu'u's feathered eape and mahiole back to Europe. OHA orchestrated a successful effort to return Kalani'ōpu'u's garments to Hawai'i. lncreasing after-school opportuniti.es The Ofhce of Hawaiian Affairs supports programs like After-School All-Stars and Boys and Gnis Club of Maui and Hilo to provide after-school enrichment, mentoring, and tutoring activities for students throughout the archipelago. The programs have been very successful. A majority of the student

body at Wai'ānae Intermediate School, for instance, attends the after-school program. Native Hawaiian students who participated for at least 30 days experienced a 9.7% increase 111 reading proficiency and a 23.9% increase in math prohciency. Cultivating Mana In 2017, culminating hve years of research, OHA published Mana Lāhui Kānaka, a 300-page multidimensional study of mana: what it is, how to articulate it, and how to access and cultivate it. lncreasing collegegraduation rates OHA worked closely with Hawai'i Comniunity Foundation to award 200 scholarships a year to Native Hawaiian students pursuing a college education. Kapo Cope is among the students who have received some of the $500,000 in scholarship money that OHA awards every year. "It has actually helped me a lot to further my education to help my family and my community," said Cope, 22, a senior who is pursuing college degrees in communications and Hawahan Language at the University of Hawai'i at Mānoa. "Without the OHA scholarship, it would have taken me a lot longer to graduate."

Partnershipsfor better research Good public policy requires clear-eyed research. OHA played a key rok increating the Hawai'i Housing Planning Study, released 111 2016 by the Hawai'i Housing Finance and Development Corporation.

The 188-page report included collaboration with the housing directors of eaeh county, HUD, Hawai'i Department of Human Services, and the Hawai'i Tourism Authority. And 111 2017, OHA

worked closely with the US Department of Housing and Urban V Development (HUD) 111 a comprehensive study of the housing needs of Native Hawahans.

Improving ihe healih of kāne and wāhine OHA produced a pair of reports dedicated to examinations of the heakh of * Hawaiian men and women: the Kānehō'ālani Report, focused 011 kāne; and Haumea, focused on wāhine. The reports are calls to action to

improve the heak integrating eukui nity-based progra lncreasing thepi Between 2010 am The agency has a( addition to Pahua Protecting thewi OHA played a piv Papahānaumokuā National Monunn ten islands and at wkh 140,000 squ ing its border to t largest protected

h of the Lāhui. We must continue to advocate for better methods of al values and resiliency across state agencies and uplifting eommumming and expert coalitions. '.rcentage ofahupua'a thatare managed sustainably 1 2018 OHA increased its land management kuleana substantially. lded Kaka'ako Makai (30.72 acres) and Kūkaniloko (511 acres), 111 Heiau, acquired in 1998, and Wao Kele o Puna, acquired in 2006. irld's largest marine sanctuary ital role in the establishment, and subsequent management of, the kea Marine National Monument a World Heritage-listed U.S. mt encompassing 583,0 0 0 square miles of oeean waters, including olls of the Northwestern Hawahan Islands. Created in June 2006 are nnles (360,000 km2), it was expanded in August 2016 by movle limit of the exclusive eeonomie zone, making it one of the world's ireas. OHA is a co-trustee of the monument.

L.I " J 1 ' i. /JC. Photo: Kai Markell

1 Photo: Norm Heke, Te Papa Tongarewa