Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 39, Number 5, 1 May 2022 — SUPPORTING THE MĀLAMA 'ĀINA ECONOMY [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

SUPPORTING THE MĀLAMA 'ĀINA ECONOMY

Continued from page 5 grow, they are there to stretch themselves, and they are there to work. So, they are compensated for it." On Maui, where OHA's Board of Trustees meeting will be held later this month, participants are working with nonprofits KA'EHU and Kīpahulu 'Ohana, as well as Upcountry Farm Specialties, a wholesale coffee roasting company. Throughout their service term, students are educated, trained, and mentored by participating staff experts in hopes that one day, they will have the opportunity for employment that continues their aloha 'āina efforts. "Most of our programming is focused on green-col-lar jobs for young adults and early professionals. We're preparing the next generation of mālama 'āina professionals, empowering them with the tools, the access and experience to really grow that economy; helping them to create the kind of Hawai'i that we all want and envision, but that we haven't achieved yet," Riley said. Riley said Kupu was excited to apply for and recieve the grant awards from OHA. "This partnership with OHA is solely focused on providing training, ineome and opportunity for Native Hawaiians. But another thing that we've worked

hard to do is to plaee them at organizations that are owned, led or managed by Native Hawaiians as well. "So you get this double impact, because we want to support not only these future green-collar professionals, but we want to support today's mālama 'āina leaders who are trying to run their organizations in very difficult changing circumstances." Riley said he sees the value of partnerships and realizes that no one organization ean address all the needs of the Hawaiian community singlehandedly. "When you reach a certain level, there's an opportunity to focus on your core strengths that are of val-

ue to other organizations so that they ean then focus on their own core strengths," he said. 'At Kupu we picture ourselves as a connector to a network of hundreds of organizations. And through partnerships we ean do great things. We focus on the things that we're good at. And then we work with our partners, like OHA, to have an impact that none of us could achieve on our own." ■ To hear reflections from the OHA grantees, visit: https://kawaiola.news/videos/

Lo'i kolo in Kīpahulu, Moui. Nonprofit Kīpohulu 'Ohono is one of the loeol businesses thot Kupu is portnering with os port of its Conservotion Leodership Development Program. - Photo: Kīpahulu 'Ohana