Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 39, Number 7, 1 Iulai 2022 — Gatherers of Knowledge, Farmers of Wisdom, Harvesters of Understanding [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Gatherers of Knowledge, Farmers of Wisdom, Harvesters of Understanding

1 'AHA HO'ONA'AUAO 'OIWI HAWAI'I V 1 NATIVE HAWAIIAN EDUCATION COUNCIL "

By Elena Farden "Eli'eli kūlana o 'Āina 'ike." - #339 cc ■ rofound is the nature of 'Aina 'ike." \ W This olelo no'eau refers to a person I respected for the depth of their knowledge. Our ancestors, past and present, respected the importance of knowledge ffom kilo, to literacy, to analysis and interpretation of the natural and physical phenomena of our world. I believe this oiwi lens in whieh our kūpuna lived elevated their insight as a knowing culture, learning culture, and expressive culture. Our kūpuna understood the assignment. Today we have the same opportunity to forward this knowledge legacy. Big data has heeome the global currency and for mueh of this movement, Native Hawaiians have been left out of the exchange. Henee, the continued advocacy for data disaggregation for accurate, meaningful, and timely data to inform evidence-based policy as well as deeper conversations of data sovereignty for the rights of native communities to govern, collect, have ownership and say in the applieation of data, is as important as our individual and collective rights. At the core of our work, the Native Hawaiian Education Council (NHEC) advocates for Native Hawaiian education funding, support, and success. We do this by leveraging the extensive data, research studies, and community consultation discussions we've gathered over the years and continue gather eaeh year. For example, at the height of the pandemic in March 2020, NHEC petitioned the governor's oflice to extend $10 million of the $40 million CARES Act funds for Native Hawaiian Education Program grantees based on the program's funding analysis. In the following year, for FY21 NHEC pushed for increased appropriations for Native Hawaiian education grantee programs to $44 million to address pandemic program safety needs and

increased īeehnieal support. Further, in the initial Build Back Better plan, NHEC worked closely with Native Hawaiian-serving organizations such as OHA and Kamehameha Schools to advocate for $1.47 hillion in facility replacement, renovation, repair, and deferred maintenance for kaiapuni schools and Hawaiian-focused charter schools (HFCS). The power of our data is the power of our impact narrative and collective storytelling. As an advocate organization, we understand that shared data means shared learning for our community. Henee, NHEC has embarked on developing an online clearinghouse for Native Hawaiian education that will initially house all of our data collection, research studies, needs assessments, evaluations, and reports on a eentralized platform for puhlie access. This digital resource is set to launeh in early fall 2022. Like everything we value and create, we have named this digital resource Hīpu'u - whieh means to knot or fasten. This is in reference to the lei style using lau kukui where the act of tying a knot symbolizes the bonding of knowledge and steadfast enlightenment. It is our goal that the Hīpu'u Native Hawaiian Education Clearinghouse resource will support increased data literacy for our community, programs, and policymakers, will shape Kānaka 'Ōiwi-informed approaches to data rights and governance, and overall, help to support new and current programs to serve our keiki, kumu, and 'ohana. We look forward to our site launeh and sharing this with our community soon. For more information, or to request a site launeh demo for your organization or community, please contact us at nhec.org. ■ Elena Farden serves as the executive director for the Native Hawaiian Education Council, established in 1994 under the Native Hawaiian Education Act, with responsibility for coordinating, assessing, recommending and reporting on the effectiveness of educational programs for Native Hawaiians and improvements that may be made to existing programs, policies, and procedures to improve the educational attainment of Native Hawaiians. Elena is a first-generation college graduate with a BS in telecommunications from Pepperdine University, an MBAfrom Chaminade University and is now in her first year ofa doctorateprogram.