Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 39, Number 8, 1 August 2022 — Sam Kalanikupua King [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Sam Kalanikupua King

1 1 In 2019 I founded 'Ohana Kilo Hōkū (OKH) with the late Hōkūle'a navigator and captain Kālepa Baybayan and Native Hawaiian astrophysicist Mailani Neal. OKH supports astronomy and space programs in Hawai'i and is on a mission to cultivate, nurture and support the advancement of youths in our eommunities who have the desire to connect, or who may already have a connection, to the science of the skies above. It is one of the greatest honors of my life to serve as the executive director of OKH and, with Kālepa's passing, it is now my kuleana to help continue the work he started. OKH has launched a number of incredible initiatives, all of whieh I have been heavily involved with from marketing, fund-

raising, event coordination, and overall administration. We partnered with UC Santa Cruz to record and upload their "Shadow the Scientist" sessions for puhlie viewing. 1his program allows members of the community to interact with scientists while they use the telescopes on Maunakea and elsewhere live over zoom. OKH held a workshop with educators and our Native Hawaiian astronomy and space science mentors to learn about what tools educators need to get their students excited about STEM projects. In December 2021 we held the first annual Makahiki Stargazing event where we invited the community to enjoy makahiki games, stargazing and space sciences. OKH is now running the 'Ohana Stargazing series where we invite families to enjoy international and Hawaiian star stories, view the sky through telescopes, and meet other Native Hawaiian and community groups engaged in stargazing and space sciences. Our first event was in Waimānalo and our second was at SALT in Kaka'ako. 2 | I heeame involved with Imua TMT in 2019 to advocate for perpetuating our cultural legacy of astronomy, celestial navigation and natural observation through the construction of the 1hirty Meter Telescope on Maunakea. I helped found the 'Ai Noa Foundation in 2021 to protect Native Hawaiians' rights to democracy, equality before the law, and religious freedom. 3 1 As a board member of OKH, a 501c3 nonprofit, I regularly work with my fellow board members to establish policies for managing our organization and events. In my work as an in-house attorney handling vendor contracts and leasing for a large loeal heahh insurer, I regularly collaborate with colleagues on developing policies and procedures for protecting our members and maximizing our efficiency. As president of my AOAO I am regularly working with my fellow board members, managing executive, attorney, and resident manager to develop policies for our building. 4 1 OHA must seek to work with everyone in the state to improve the conditions of Native Hawaiians and all the people of Hawai'i. What is good for Native Hawaiians is good for the state, and vice versa. I would like OHA to coordinate with the state's Executive OfSce on Early Learning, the DOE, preschools, Kamehameha Schools (KS), and our 'ohana-serving nonprofit communities to see how OHA could more effectively assist in developing early childhood education programs for our lāhui. OHA should also collaborate with our major landowning ali'i trusts, our development community, DHHL, and state and loeal governments, to advocate for more housing for all the people of Hawai'i. Houselessness is a housing problem, and only by building more houses, for all our people, will we resolve the houseless crisis in our lāhui. OHA should also partner with KS, the City and County of Honolulu, Hawai'i Community Development Authority, the legislature, and the people of Kaka'ako to create a plan to redevelop Kaka'ako Makai in a way that benefits the people of Hawai'i and helps generate additional non-tax revenue for OHA. 5 1 Finally, OHA should seek to work with supporters and opponents of the TMT project to find a way to heal the community rift over this project and move it forward so that we may continue to perpetuate our culture of celestial observation through our incredible low-carbon, low-impact, high-value astronomy industry. ■