Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 38, Number 5, 1 May 2021 — Support for Education a Key Focus of Mana i Mauli Ola [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Support for Education a Key Focus of Mana i Mauli Ola

OHA's 15-year strategic plan aims to affect change in the areas of education, heakh, housing, and economics

By Ed Kalama "Ma ka hana ka 'ike. Ma ka 'ike ka mana; Through work comes knowledge. Through knowledge comes power. " -

|t's been called the foundation of a society. The great equalizer. The way that economically and socially marginalized people ean lift themselves out of poverty and heeome fully participative citizens. As the Office of Hawaiian Affairs embarks on its new strategic plan, the agency has responded to community mana'o by establishing four strategic

directions that are key to impacting lāhui wellbeing: Educational Pathways, Eeonomie Stability, Quality Housing and Heahh Outcomes. By using 'ohana-, mo'omeheu-, and āina-based approaches within these areas where Native Hawaiians face challenges, OHA continues to support the movement of the lāhui toward mauli ola, or total wellbeing, in education, eeonomie stability, housing and heahh, recognizing that education begins with the 'ohana and the community in whieh a child is raised - this is where values, knowledge and wisdom are exemplified, modeled and lived. Through its Mana i Mauli Ola plan, OHA continues its support of inititiatives, leveraged collaborations, and engagement in strategies to develop educational pathways that strengthen culture- and 'āina-based education, early education, K-12 and post-secondary education, ensuring that Native Hawaiians are grounded in their past while developing and applying new 'ike and practices. Hawaiian ali'i such as Bernice Pauahi Bishop knew that education was the key to Native Hawaiians" ability to survive and thrive in the Western world. The efforts of Kanaeokana to collaboratively develop and strengthen the Native Hawaiian education system, focusing on 'ōlelo Hawai'i and 'ike Hawai'i, are taking things to the next level. "We know from research that Native Hawaiian students who are in culture-based educational settings - and/or 'āina-based educational settings - have stronger eonnee-

tions to their culture, have better outcomes on various educational academic measures, and basically have better attitudes toward learning," said OHA Research Director Lisa Watkins-Victorino. OHA's educational strategies include supporting development and use of educational resources for all Native Hawaiian lifelong learners in schools, communities and 'ohana, and supporting education through Hawaiian language medium and Hawaiian-focused charter schools. "Part of rebuilding the Hawaiian worldview, the Hawaiian perspective, is reorganizing the way that we construct the educational experience and reshape youth to actually resemble where they eome from, and to feel more pride and less negativity toward our own individual identity and collective identity," said Kalehua Krug, po'o kumu at Ka Waihona o Ka Na'auao Public Charter School. Krug said OHA support for education in the Hawaiian community is not new. "For charter schools, we definitely focus on that eommunity relationship because we depend on our community as our supporters and our stakeholders. We use OHA funds for many different expenditures, but the main tool is for transportation and staffing. Those are very important, as we know many of our kids live in areas that are far from the school - whieh provides opportunity to access Ka Waihona from farther distances out into Mākaha and Kea'au." Krug said he is sold on the value of Hawaiian-culture based education. "School is an institution that has become legitimized as a plaee to build excellence, and to put folks forward into the real world. So this idea of reestablishing normalcy in Hawai'i, as Hawaiian, that it's reestablishing a Hawaiian normal - our ways, our language, our beliefs, our culture - ean be very valuable to establishing a new future for our students." "Probably the greatest value that I see and appreciate about a Hawaiian-focused charter school education is

that I have an opportunity to positively affect the lives of kiddos who are just like me when I was little, and inspire them long term," said Kamehaihilani Waiau, po'o kumu at Ke Kula 'o Samuel M. Kamakau Laboratory Public Charter School. "Helping you to build relationships, long term relationships with 'ohana, it's probably one of the greatest values of working, living, learning, and just

being in a Hawaiian-focused charter school environment." Waiau said she is glad to see OHA eonhnue to focus its efforts on supporting education in the Hawaiian eommuntiy. "OHA has been very helpful across all of these years in areas of policy and legislation," she said. "And the department within OHA that works on advocacy has been really awesome and super helpful. "And as a leader, as a kumu who is going in front of certain senate committees or house committees to share testimony in support or against certain things that directly affect my kula or our funding, it's been really helpful and really inspiring to have OHA's support in those areas. It feels like oh, somebody's got your back. "I just hope that wherever we are in the next 15 years, it's someplace that we were all able to contribute to. I would be honored and blessed to play a role in that, and I have no doubt that OHA is gonna play a significant role in that as well." ■

OHA's Strategic Plan "Mana i Mauli Ola" (Strength to Wellbeing) includes three foundations: 'ohana (family), mo'omeheu (culture), and 'āina (land and water). OHA recognizes these foundations have the power to affect the wellbeing of Native Hawaiians. Therefore, they are woven into OHA's plans to affect change in the areas of education, heahh, housing, and economics. These four directions will be used to guide OHA's worlc to better the conditions of Native Hawaiians. Over the next 15 years, OHA will be implementing strategies, aligned with our foundations and directions, to achieve our envisioned outcomes for a thriving and abundant lāhui. Supporting initiatives, leveraging partnerships,

SEE MANA I MAULI OLA ON PAGE 5

bducationai Pathways

Lisa Watkins-Victorino - Photos: Courtesy

MANA I MAULI OLA Continued from page 4

engaging in strategies to develop educational pathways that strengthen culture-based education, early education, K-12 and post-secondary education will ensure that Native Hawaiians are grounded in their past while participating in a technologically oriented future. OUTCOME: Strengthened and lntegrated Community, Culture-Based Learning Systems STRATEGY1:Supportd evelopment anel use of educational resources for all Hawaiian lifelong learners in schools, communities and 'ohana. STRATEGYOUTCOMES: • 1.1. Increase number or percent of Native Hawaiian students who enter educational systems ready to leam; • 1.2. Increase number or percent of Native Hawaiian students graduating high school who are college, career, and community ready; and • 1.3. Increase number of Native Hawaiians engaged in traditional learning systems (i.e., hale, hālau, hale mua, hale pe'a) that reestablish/maintain strong cultural foundations and identity. STRATEGY 2: Support education through Hawaiian language medium and focused Charter Schools. STRATEGYOUTCOMES: • 2.1. Adequately resource Hawaiian Focused Charter Schools and Hawaiian medium schools, including funding of transportation, special education, facilities, and meals, and availability of qualified teachers; • 2.2. Increase availability of Hawaiian Focused Charter Schools and Hawaiian medium schools; and • 2.3. Establish a Native Hawaiian Charter School and Hawaiian-medium system.

* J * ~ ^ ' / Kalehua Krug

ij ' Kamehaihilani Waiau