Aloha Kākou,

I am honored and blessed to step into this role of Coordinator for the Kauaʻi Resilience Project this year. I believe so much in The Resilience Project’s mission, and in the power of #OneCaringAdult to make a life-long, significant impact in the lives of our young people. 

From my experience with at-risk youth on-island, many of our young people possess untapped talents that we need in our island community. As we recognize the gold in them early in their lives, and cultivate and nurture those aptitudes that they have, we create rich soil for them to one day reach their potential, and give back to our island home.

So many individuals and organizations on Kauaʻi are doing amazing work on behalf of our youth. At KPAA, we are in a unique position to not only create systemic solutions through facilitating cooperation across agencies and private organizations; but to also identify those pukas in our net, so that by addressing them, we can together pull in the hukilau with success. 

With the lightning-speed transformations we are undergoing as a society: the struggle of our education systems to adequately prepare youth for todayʻs world; the incredible impact technology is having on our society; and the spiraling costs of food and housing on-island–we need all hands on deck in order to positively impact as many youth as we can. 

I will be continuing KRPʻs work of facilitating systemic solutions for our youth, whether collaborating with local schools, foundations, government agencies, or community groups. I am especially focused on supporting the next generation of Hawaiian and local youth to be able to stay and raise healthy families here in Hawaii nei. I would like to support those who are creating viable economic pathways for the next generation; work together with our partners to address health disparities; and address issues around land access and food security so that the next generation of Hawaiians and locals can flourish. 

Let’s continue our important work together! I look forward to meeting all of you and joining our efforts in one accord. I mua!