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A planned charter school that will serve the Windward Native Hawaiian community with a ocean voyaging curriculum has been awarded a $125,000 grant from the Harold K.L. Castle Foundation.
The money will go to the Hawaiian Educational Council (HEC) to help establish the Malama Honua Learning Center in Waimanalo. The charter school is being co-founded by Nainoa Thompson, president of the Polynesian Voyaging Society, and Robert Witt, HEC chairman and CEO and Hawaii Association of Independent Schools executive director. The center is scheduled to open in August.
"Malama Honua, first and foremost, has to be in a community where Hawaiian children are," Thompson said in a press release. "Waimanalo has special significance because it’s where (Micronesian navigator) Mau Piailug created his schools. Waimanalo is a community that’s powerful … a community we want to be part of, to engage in, and learn from."
The grant, announced this week, is one of several totaling $365,800 from the Castle Foundation.
Terry George, executive vice president and chief operating officer of the Castle Foundation, said the foundation grants are an "investment in the well-being of Windward Oahu and the education and economic future of Native Hawaiians."
Other grants from the foundation included:
» $55,800 to the Hawaii Appleseed Center for Law and Economic Justice to provide breakfasts for elementary students from low-income families. The center plans to partner with four Windward Oahu elementary schools to provide "Breakfast After the Bell."
» $50,000 to the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel (Hawaii District) to cover for Windward Oahu participants the cost of a four-day summer camp on the North Shore for children of island prison inmates. "Camp Agape" was founded in 2006 and is run by former prison inmate pastor Roy Yamamoto. It brings together 150 children of inmates — both fathers and mothers — each Labor Day. The grant will be spread over three years.
» $60,000 to the Lanikai Beach and Park Foundation Inc. to conduct a biological, human use and cultural assessment of the coral reef ecosystems of Lanikai.
» $75,000 to Mission Houses Museum to implement its new strategic plan over the next three years.
Grants recently announced from other organizations:
» Waipahu High School’s $250,000 grant from McInerny Foundation (Bank of Hawaii, Trustee) for the school’s Early College Program. According to the Department of Education’s new Strive HI Performance System, Waipahu High School is one of the top five schools in the state when it comes to college enrollment rates of its graduates.
Waipahu’s Early College Program, in partnership with Leeward Community College and University of Hawaii-West Oahu, provides college-class experiences by allowing Waipahu students to earn college credits, on the high school campus, while still in high school. In the past two years, Waipahu students have taken college courses such English 100, Psychology 100, Speech 151, Sociology 100, Calculus 205 and Astronomy 110. The courses are now free to the students, thanks to the support from the McInerny Foundation.
» The Mediation Center of the Pacific’s $5,000 grant to support its Kupuna Pono Program from Friends of Hawaii Charities.
The nonprofit program was created to help families engage in difficult conversations, and prevent or resolve conflicts that arise around the care of an elder member, with the assistance of impartial mediators. Through conferences, mediators can help create custom plans for the families and their kupuna.
"When families are faced with the challenges of caring for an aging family member, conflicts often become more emotional and escalate," said Executive Director Tracey Wiltgen of the mediation center. "With Hawaii’s growing elder population, this program is a critical resource for families."
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