Hawaiʻi Rising

An interview from early 2025 about community stewardship of ʻāina with Pualiʻi Rossi and Mason Chock from I Ola Wailuanui. I Ola Wailuanui is a grassroots community organization formed and managed by Kauaʻi residents for the purpose of preserving, protecting, and restoring Wailuanuiahoʻāno and the environmental, historical, and cultural treasures there. Their vision is a living ʻili ʻāina for and...

A conversation about community restoration of place with Addison Bulosan of the Rice Street Business Association (RSBA). RSBA is dedicated to fostering a thriving, just, and self-sustaining Downtown Līhu‘e by empowering local entrepreneurship, perpetuating Native Hawaiian culture, and strengthening community power. RSBA invites Kauaʻi community members to the annual Rice Street Block Party this co...

Season 5 of Hawaiʻi Rising is here! The new season kicks off with a conversation about building support and acceptance for LGBTQ+ loved ones with Ryna Yamada and Cameron Miyamoto, the co-presidents of PFLAG Oʻahu. PFLAG Oʻahu is a local chapter of the US’ largest organization dedicated to supporting, educating, and advocating for LGBTQ+ people and those who love them. PFLAG Oʻahu hosts a monthly s...

Announcing a new season of Hawaiʻi Rising featuring our 2025 grantee cohort, issue-area episodes, and new monthly community news segments, coming soon wherever you listen to podcasts.  Tags: Hawaiʻi, Hawai'i, Hawaii

Lā Hoʻihoʻi Ea is coming up this weekend! Join us at Thomas Square on Sunday, July 27, 2025. Each year for Lā Hoʻihoʻi Ea, two aloha ʻāina are honored for their activism and commitment to ea. The two 2025 honorees are Likookalani Martin and the late Abel Simeona Lui. In this episode, Uncle Liko shares about his life, music, and activism, from the writing of the movement anthem “All Hawaiʻi Stand T...

In this multi-grantee episode, Hawaiʻi Rising speaks with three organizations uplifting their communities through filmmaking. First, we speak with Pua Case from Mauna Kea Education & Awareness and filmmaker Jalena Keane-Lee about their feature-length documentary Standing Above the Clouds, which premiered last year. Building on an earlier short film with the same name released in 2020, the feat...

A reposted episode from 2023 about food access and resilient futures with Hulali Soza and Megan Fox from Mālama Kauaʻi. Mālama Kauaʻi has been working to increase food production and access for a resilient Kauaʻi since 2006. They do this through a lens of resilience and sustainability, leveraging workforce and economic development efforts, partnerships, and innovative programs to grow community ca...

In our fourth multi-grantee episode, we hear from three organizations working to restore ahupuaʻa systems and perpetuate ʻike kupuna about ʻāina stewardship on three different islands. First, on Molokai, we hear from Hano and Maile Naehu at Hui o Kuapā about their work to restore loko iʻa and grow a new generation of modern konohiki. Second, we go to East Maui to hear from Jerome Kekiwi, Jr. from...

An interview from 2023 about community empowerment and language access with Eola Lokebol, an advocate and interpreter at Waipahu Safe Haven Immigrant and Migrant Resource Center. Waipahu Safe Haven provides holistic programs and services with language access to empower and uplift Hawaii’s immigrant and migrant communities, primarily serving our growing Marshallese and Chuukese communities as well...

Hawaiʻi Rising presents "Mākua: Piko of Peace" from the  Before Us  podcast, an audio-documentary series produced in collaboration with Mālama Mākua. In episode five, Mālama Mākua board members Aunty Lynette Cruz and Uncle Sparky Rodrigues discuss the evolution of Mālama Mākua's mission, and we hear significant recent developments in the movement for the return and restoration of Mākua Valley. To...

In our third multi-grantee episode, we hear from three organizations working towards the restoration of Hawaiian food systems, in particular through the foundational practice of uhau humu pōhaku (Hawaiian drystack masonry). First, we hear from Keʻalohi Wang at Hui Hoʻoniho , an organization founded in 1996 to perpetuate the intergenerational transmission of uhau humu pōhaku. From there, we learn a...

An interview from 2023 about ʻāina restoration and hale construction with Ed Gomes and Kukona Lopes from Ke Kahua o Kūaliʻi. Ke Kahua o Kūaliʻi’s mission is to inspire and support cultural and environmental wellness through land stewardship of Palalupe and Pōhakea at Kawainui fishpond in Kailua, Oʻahu. Their Kūkulu Kauhale Program fosters traditional land management and supports cultural practice...

Hawaiʻi Rising presents "Mākua: Piko of Peace" from the  Before Us  podcast, an audio-documentary series produced in collaboration with Mālama Mākua. In episode four, scholar and Mālama Mākua board member Kyle Kajihiro shares the story of the Army's 65-year lease in Mākua Valley, which expires in 2029, and of community efforts to protect and reclaim lands taken by the military. To learn more about...

In our second multi-grantee episode, we hear from three organizations who identify their work with kīpuka: regenerative spaces that help reseed and regrow the areas around them. First, we hear from Mehana Vaughan and Jennifer Luck from Kīpuka Kuleana (featured in episode 2 ), which perpetuates kuleana, ahupua’a-based natural resource management and connection to place through protection of cultura...

Hawaiʻi Rising presents "Mākua: Piko of Peace" from the Before Us podcast, an audio-documentary series produced in collaboration with Mālama Mākua. In episode three, we hear the last living memory of the pre-WWII Mākua community before the eviction. Born in Mākua in 1925, Ford Ushijima shares stories of his childhood in the Valley, fishing, farming, and learning steel guitar in a multi-ethnic ranc...

Hawaiʻi Rising presents "Mākua: Piko of Peace" from the Before Us podcast, an audio-documentary series produced in collaboration with Mālama Mākua. In episode two, we enter Mākua Valley with Mālama Mākua and hear the story of how Mālama Mākua fought to protect the valley, reconnected with the ʻāina through cultural access, and brought about an unlikely end to live-fire training. To learn more abou...

Multi-Grantee Episode! A conversation with Leila Kealoha from Pōhaku Pelemaka and ʻĀinaaloha Ioane from the Keliʻi William Ioane Legacy Foundation. Leila and ʻĀina share about their work on the Puna coast and in Keaukaha respectively, reclaiming and stewarding spaces in their own communities for their communities, as well as collaboration between their organizations. Check out our previous episode...

Hawaiʻi Rising presents "Mākua: Piko of Peace" from the Before Us podcast, an audio-documentary series produced in collaboration with Mālama Mākua. In episode one, Mālama Mākua board members Uncle Sparky Rodrigues and Uncle Vince Dodge share the backstory of how Mālama Mākua formed out of the convergence of two streams of activism: the anti-eviction struggle at Mākua Beach and the peace activists...

This week, Hawaiʻi Rising presents episodes from the series "Mākua: Piko of Peace" from the Before Us podcast, an audio-documentary series produced in collaboration with Mālama Mākua. In this final mini episode, Mākua descendant ʻEleu Robins reads an excerpt from He Moolelo Kaao o Hiiakaikapoliopele from the Hawaiian-language newspaper Ka Hoku o Hawaii, published on November 30, 1926. In this part...

This week, Hawaiʻi Rising presents episodes from the series "Mākua: Piko of Peace" from the Before Us podcast, an audio-documentary series produced in collaboration with Mālama Mākua. In this third mini episode, Mākua descendant ʻEleu Robins reads an excerpt from He Moolelo Kaao o Hiiakaikapoliopele from the Hawaiian-language newspaper Ka Hoku o Hawaii, published on November 30, 1926. In this part...

This week, Hawaiʻi Rising presents episodes from the series "Mākua: Piko of Peace" from the Before Us podcast, an audio-documentary series produced in collaboration with Mālama Mākua. In this second mini episode, series producer Kenji Cataldo reads an excerpt from He Moolelo Kaao o Hiiakaikapoliopele from the Hawaiian-language newspaper Ka Hoku o Hawaii, published on November 23, 1926. In this par...

This week, Hawaiʻi Rising presents episodes from the series "Mākua: Piko of Peace" from the Before Us podcast, an audio-documentary series produced in collaboration with Mālama Mākua. In this mini episode, series producer Kenji Cataldo reads an excerpt from He Moolelo Kaao o Hiiakaikapoliopele from the Hawaiian-language newspaper Ka Hoku o Hawaii, published on November 23, 1926. In this part of th...

Conversations about supporting community healing and dreaming through art with organizers, artists, and youth at Wisdom Circles Oceania: Sierra Dew (founder) and Nara Boone (Maui coordinator); Mariana Monasi (community artist); and Violet Aarona, Alana Koa, and Taytum Herrick (youth participants). Founded in 2016, Wisdom Circles Oceania fosters healing and justice through artistic expression. Thei...

An interview from 2024 about education and liberation with Dr. Kū Kahakalau and Pōlanimakamae Kahakalau, the president and executive director of EA Ecoversity. EA Ecoversity is a culture-based, post-secondary education and career training institution grounded in Education with Aloha (EA). Their inaugural Kanaka Culinary Arts Diploma program was launched in the summer of 2024. Tags: Hawaiʻi, Hawai'...

Celebrating Hawaiian Language Month with a special episode in ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi featuring Dr. Kū Kahakalau and Pōlani Kahakalau, with guest host Pualiʻi Rossi. Also check out our past English-language episode with Dr. Kū and Pōlani about EA Ecoversity. Ma kēia hualono, kamaʻilio ʻo ʻAnakē Kū Kahakalau lāua ʻo Pōlani Kahakalau e pili ana i ko lāua hoʻomau ʻana i ka ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi ma ka hale, ma ke kul...