More Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders are living on the mainland and finding ways to keep their culture alive

For 15 years, Jocelyn Lii has called Las Vegas home. But the 35-year-old will never forget how difficult it was to leave her family and home in Waialua to move to the mainland for the lower cost of living and more opportunities.

“I was scared but excited. I really had to ask myself, ‘Is this really for me?’” Lii said. “I just wanted to better myself and be the first in my family to take that leap of faith.”

Lii is part of a growing number of Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders who have left Hawaii in favor of the mainland, as reflected in two decades of U.S. census data.

From 2010 to 2020, the percentage growth of the NHPI population on the mainland was nearly double that seen in Hawaii, according to newly released census data. The NHPI population on the mainland grew by 31.6% over the 10-year span, an increase of 127,930 people. During the same period, the NHPI population in Hawaii grew by 16.3%, which represents an increase of 22,023 people.

The data for 2000 to 2010 follows a similar trend: While the NHPI population in Hawaii increased by 19.3%, the figure was 41.8% for those living on the mainland. Still, Hawaii’s 157,445 NHPI residents counted in the 2020 census make up 10.8% of the state’s population, the highest number and percentage of any state in the country. (The numbers reflect census respondents who identified as “NHPI alone” and do not include those who identified as NHPI in combination with other ethnicities.)

When she made her decision to move to Las Vegas, Lii, who is Native Hawaiian, Chinese, Portuguese and Puerto Rican, was working at a shave ice shop and renting the ground floor of a cramped two-story house with her mom, sister and brother. The owner lived upstairs and there were other renters in the back of the property.

Her dad was homeless, and she knew others who were experiencing homelessness too. The Waialua High and Intermediate School graduate said she felt stuck and didn’t want to end up homeless herself.

By April 2006, Lii had saved up enough money and decided to move to Las Vegas, boarding a plane with a one-way ticket in hand. She quickly landed a retail job and rented a house with friends, paying $300 a month versus the $1,500 she and her family were paying in Waialua.

Adjusting to the culture shock, feeling homesick and crying on the phone during long-distance talks with her mom were part of daily life, especially that first year, she said. Even though Lii still misses Hawaii, she said she doesn’t regret her decision — and she isn’t alone.

Nevada has the sixth-largest population of NHPI residents in the country, behind Hawaii, California, Washington, Utah and Texas, according to the 2020 census. Hawaii just edged out California, which counted 157,263 NHPI residents.

Although Asians, Hawaii’s largest ethnic group, follow similar trends in population growth on the mainland, some experts point out that the issue is particularly significant for Native Hawaiians because they are indigenous to the islands.

“Native Hawaiians’ connection to their ancestral homelands in Hawaii is a matter of cultural and spiritual significance, and our separation from Hawaii due to economic factors is a form of emotional and cultural trauma that deeply affects all members of our Hawaiian lahui (nation),” said Carmen Hulu Lindsey, chairwoman of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs Board of Trustees. “Our identity as a people is defined by our relationship and connection to this aina, by our moolelo (history) tied to this aina and to our ancestors who lived here for generations before us … .”

Little things add up

When Lila Yamaguchi’s in-laws approached her and her husband about moving from Pupukea to Tennessee in 2007, she said they made the decision pretty quickly because of Hawaii’s high cost of living and the desire to give their son and daughter, who were 9 and 7 at the time, more opportunities.

Yamaguchi, 45, who is Native Hawaiian, Chamorro, Chinese, Irish, German and Portuguese, said she and her family live in a four-bedroom, 2,200 square-foot house on a 1-acre property near Nashville and still have enough time and money to travel and spend time with their kids.

A training supervisor for Nissan, she said the little things add up: She pays just $55 for car registration, 98 cents for a dozen eggs, $175 in property taxes and $2.89 for a gallon of milk — items that could cost two to three times more in Hawaii.

She touted the diverse and convenient educational opportunities available to her kids, who attended public school and went on to college. Her son attended the University of Tennessee and her daughter earned a scholarship that covered most of her tuition for nursing school at East Tennessee State University.

And with their two incomes — Yamaguchi’s husband, Jeff, works for FedEx — they are able to save money instead of living paycheck to paycheck like many families do in the islands.

“When (my in-laws) said they wanted us to come move to the mainland with them, we took that opportunity. There’s more to offer here than in Hawaii,” she said. “We needed a change. I wanted to look to the future.”

Yamaguchi also convinced her mom, who was going to lose her home in Hawaii due to foreclosure, to move to Tennessee in 2018.

Yamaguchi’s reasons for moving mirror those expressed in a 2018 Kamehameha Schools survey of 3,000 residents, which found that about 40% of Native Hawaiian respondents have thought about or were planning to move away from Hawaii. About 60% said the primary reason was the high cost of living here, followed by more affordable housing and employment opportunities on the mainland.

A 2021 WalletHub report ranked Hawaii’s economy dead last in the country when analyzing 29 key indicators of economic performance, including gross domestic product and unemployment. Housing prices are on the rise too, according to the Honolulu Board of Realtors, which reported that the median cost of a single-family home on Oahu increased to $992,500 in July, up 22% from a year ago.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development considers a single person living in Hawaii who makes $55,900 a year and a family of four with an annual salary of $79,850 as low income.

Advocates say Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders face additional challenges in the islands. A recent report by HUD found that Native Hawaiians tend to work in lower-paying jobs and have higher unemployment rates than other groups in Hawaii.

About 16.3% of NHPI families live below the poverty line, compared to 4.2% of Asians and 5.6% of Caucasians, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2019 American Community Survey. The unemployment rate for NHPIs in the state is 7%, compared to 2.8% for Asians and 3.8% for Caucasians.

“The concern for those who are leaving is they’re away from the culture. It’s going to impact our community and our people in the future,” said Josie Howard, CEO of We Are Oceania, a nonprofit that serves the Micronesian and Pacific Islander communities in Hawaii. “For us Micronesians, we already made that move when we left our islands. It’s always hard when you have to pick up again. There’s that hope that life is going to be better than where you’re living.”

For Lii, she likes living in Las Vegas and said she doesn’t plan to move back to Hawaii. After she was laid off from her retail job during the COVID-19 pandemic, Lii found success in starting her own arts and crafts business, making custom shirts, tote bags, party favors and “pretty much anything my Cricut can do.”

Her husband, Danten Range, who is Hawaiian, Korean, Chinese and Portuguese, works as a sheet metal worker, and they are able to spend more time with their daughters because their dollar stretches further, Lii said. The couple met at the Pure Aloha Festival, an event that brings Hawaii entertainment, food and culture to Las Vegas.

Lii’s mom, sister and dad followed her to the mainland and are now living in Las Vegas too.

“They were just tired. I think it was like, enough is enough, working so hard and not having it show,” she said. “When I was growing up, I remember my parents would be working a lot. That takes a toll on the kids.”

Alysa Andrade, another former Hawaii resident who lives in Las Vegas, said she expects her four children to stay on the mainland when they are older because “it’s pretty much all they know.”

Andrade, who is Native Hawaiian, Chinese and Portuguese, was 7 when her parents moved their young family from Kapahulu to Las Vegas in 1992. She remembers her parents telling her and her two sisters there were more opportunities on the mainland, especially for education and homeownership.

After attending the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Andrade, 36, chose to remain there to raise her family. Her fiance, Shawn Santana, who is Hawaiian, Korean and Puerto Rican, also moved with his family to the mainland when he was a kid from Kihei, Maui.

The couple are organizers of the Pure Aloha Festival. What started as a small party of about 100 people in a friend’s backyard 19 years ago turned into a gathering of about 15,000, many of whom are families who moved to the mainland from Hawaii.

Andrade, Lii and Yamaguchi all said they have many friends and family from Hawaii who are now living across the country, from the West Coast to Arkansas, Florida, Michigan, Maine and New York.

“We do miss the family, the people and being in Hawaii, period, but it’s just so darn expensive,” Andrade said. “Up here, there’s so much more you can do with your dollar than you can back home.”

Cultural connection

While NHPIs have different stories about life on the mainland and different reasons for leaving the islands, many maintain a strong connection to Hawaii and island culture.

The Hawaii-based Papa Ola Lokahi, which works to improve Native Hawaiian health and well-being, partners with community groups on the mainland to host cultural programs and workshops, such as feather lei making, diabetes education, hula and Hawaiian language classes, in addition to helping to expand access to health care services, said Executive Director Sheri Daniels.

Staying connected to one’s culture is a major part of living a healthy life, particularly for Native Hawaiians, she said, and her organization seeks to help those both in Hawaii and on the mainland.

Daniels said Papa Ola Lokahi recently partnered with a group in Alaska to hold lei poo workshops. They also showed local families how to use healthful ingredients available in Alaska to make Hawaiian dishes, such as salmon as a substitute for pork in laulau.

There also are nearly 20 Hawaiian civic clubs on the mainland, from California, Washington and Nevada to Utah, Arizona and Tennessee.

“Health isn’t just physical. Health is also relative to mental health and the health of education, housing, economics and connection to culture,” Daniels said. “We recognize there is no cookie cutter for approaching health for Native Hawaiians. If we’re being supportive of our community, it’s to allow them to have health and well-being wherever they are in the world.”

Elena Farden, executive director of the Native Hawaiian Education Council, said education grants and teacher recruitment are ways her organization seeks to make the islands more affordable for Hawaiians. She also pointed out that some of the main sources of federal funding for Native Hawaiians — Papa Ola Lokahi, the education council and the state Department of Hawaiian Home Lands — are pillars in the community.

Advocates say DHHL is a major stakeholder in helping to improve the housing crisis for Native Hawaiians. Although the department has placed about 10,000 families onto homestead lands since the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act was signed into law 100 years ago, more than 28,000 remain on the wait list.

Other ways to incentivize staying in Hawaii include networking, mentorship and entrepreneur workshops offered by the Native Hawaiian Chamber of Commerce, according to President Shannon Edie, who worked as a lawyer in California before taking a pay cut to move home.

Edie said several of the chamber’s more than 200 members are cultural practitioners who contribute to a thriving community, both culturally and economically. The chamber, she said, tries to help these business leaders with establishing price points and providing resources so they can make a living while practicing their traditions.

The nonprofit We Are Oceania hosts virtual talk story sessions and connects with Pacific Islander scholars who work at colleges on the mainland to support their communities wherever they are, said Howard. One of their talk story sessions inspired some community members to create the First Chuukese Washington Women Association.

We Are Oceania also has hosted conferences to discuss Pacific Islander health issues with the Arkansas Coalition of Marshallese and groups on the West Coast.

Andrade said she feels most connected to her culture at the Pure Aloha Festival, which is like a reunion for many Hawaiian families. Her fiance came up with the idea for the festival after missing the people, food and culture in Hawaii.

Lii’s youngest daughters dance hula for their church’s halau and have performed at the festival. The family also participates in a cultural club in Las Vegas, and Lii practices speaking Hawaiian with her daughters by introducing a new Hawaiian word every day.

“If it wasn’t for the tough times in Hawaii, I wouldn’t be able to survive the tough times here,” Lii said. “I miss (Hawaii) a lot … but Las Vegas is my home for now.”

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Jayna Omaye covers ethnic and cultural affairs and is a corps member of Report for America, a national serv­ice organization that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on under­covered issues and communities.