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ʻŌiwi: Practice

ʻŌiwi: Practice

Kukulu kumuhana report cover

Kukulu Kumuhana

Kūkulu Kumuhana is a wellbeing framework built on the six principles of Ea, ʻĀina Momona, Pilina, Waiwai, ʻŌiwi and Ke Akua Mana.

In 2016, Liliʻuokalani Trust sought to conceptualize and measure Native Hawaiian wellbeing differently. A group of researchers and evaluators came together to talk story about how we might reimagine the still dominant deficit narrative with a more balanced perspective that included resilience and wellbeing from a Native Hawaiian perspective. The vision for Kūkulu Kumuhana was established, and in 2017 the first Kūkulu Kumuhana gathering was held at Kuilima, Oʻahu. Researchers, scholars, musicians, artists, administrators, and kūpuna or elders collectively identified six dimensions reflecting Native Hawaiian wellbeing: Ea, ʻĀina Momona, Pilina, Waiwai, ʻŌiwi and Ke Akua Mana.

Ea

Self determination and agency

ʻĀina Momona

Healthy and productive lands and people

Pilina

Mutually sustaining relationships

Waiwai

Ancestral abundance and collective wealth

ʻŌiwi

Cultural identity and Native intelligence

Ke Akua Mana

Spirituality and sacredness of mana

Kūkulu Kumuhana During Covid-19

We are facing new stresses, and new ways of working, living, and connecting with each other. It is important, now more than ever, to ground in our values as resilient peoples, to center ourselves, and to stay connected with each other.

This tip sheet, “Native Hawaiian Wellbeing during COVID-19,” provides simple ideas, activities and reminders for self care, ʻohana care and community care.

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Reports

Presentations

Covid-19 Resources

We are facing new stresses, and new ways of working, living, and connecting with each other. It is important, now more than ever, to ground in our values as resilient peoples, to center ourselves, and to stay connected with each other.

This tip sheet, “Native Hawaiian Wellbeing during COVID-19,” provides simple ideas, activities and reminders for self care, ʻohana care and community care.

Read More

Articles & Reports

A systematic review of culturally focused interventions for Native Hawaiian youth

This report is a collaboration between Liliʻuokalani Trust (LT) and the Myron B. Thompson School of Social Work. Native Hawaiians are a resilient nation with a rich history and culture with specific health and wellbeing needs and disparities, particularly for youth. This study presents a review of published literature focusing on culturally focused interventions for Native Hawaiian youth to better understand key components, service gaps, and concerns that may improve future health interventions tailored to Native Hawaiian youth that protect and promote positive health outcomes, a sense of agency, and self-determination. The purpose of this article is to (a) present a review of the literature focusing on culturally focused interventions as it relates to health and wellbeing of Native Hawaiian youth and (b) identify limitations and gaps to promote future research.

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Kānaka Maoli, Native Hawaiian, Indigenous, Youth, Intervention, Program, Culture, Self Determination

Changing the Story: Strategies for Guiding Native Hawaiian Youth to Success

This report is a collaboration between Liliʻuokalani Trust (LT) and the Myron B. Thompson School of Social Work. The moʻolelo or story of this report is about changing the story of the past, the present, and the future - starting with the story of the present [Perpetual Pa‘ahao], moving toward the story for the future [guiding youth to success], then returning to the story from the past [knowig our strengths], and ending with the story to be told [thoughts for future action and opportunities]. Contributing to this report were the voices of community members as told through LT's Systems Map, data from GIS mapping, and a comprehensive review of the literature on youth interventions.

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change, youth

Youth Services Center Development Story

This report provides an overview of the Liliʻuokalani Trust’s Youth Services Center (YSC) project origins and the processes employed for preliminary planning. It covers planning work conducted between March 2019 through June 2019. It is important to note there were dual concurrent planning processes: one focused on the design of services and one focused on the design of physical environment. This report is concerned with the design of services. 

Liliʻuokalani Trust’s vision is of thriving Hawaiian children (e nā kamalei lupalupa). The organization is intentionally building pathways to facilitate thriving by addressing root causes of inter-generational poverty across the ecosystem (e.g., micro, mezzo, and macro levels). Expanding reach and impact requires innovative services and programs. This requires strategies that are both expansionary and customized to the specific needs of vulnerable target populations. 

Data reveal that Native Hawaiian youth and young adults are disproportionately represented within Hawaiʻi’s child welfare and juvenile justice systems. Research has found these youth are highly vulnerable and benefit from long-term, stable housing with supportive services to prepare them for the workforce and adulthood. Furthermore, youth transitioning out of foster care or the juvenile justice system benefit from occasional drop-in services, educational and workforce programs, and interaction with caring, supportive adults. 

A systematic review of literature, data, and environmental scan provided understanding of the problems facing this population. Using human-centered design, Liliʻuokalani Trust’s Youth Services Center is taking a collective community approach to visioning, developing, implementing, and evaluating future programs to best meet the special needs of Native Hawaiian youth and young adults with a history of child welfare services or juvenile justice system involvement. The goal is for the Youth Services Center to begin programming by the end of 2020.

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grief and loss, poverty

Kūkulu Kumuhana: Native Hawaiian Wellbeing during COVID-19—A Resource

Today, during the COVID-19 pandemic, we are facing new stresses, and new ways of working, living, and connecting with each other. It is important, now more than ever, to ground in our values as resilient peoples, to center ourselves, and to stay connected with each other.

Kūkulu Kumuhana is a wellbeing framework built on the six principles of Ea, ʻĀina Momona, Pilina, Waiwai, ʻŌiwi and Ke Akua Mana. This tip sheet, “Native Hawaiian Wellbeing during COVID-19,” provides simple ideas, activities and reminders for self care, ʻohana care and community care.

Remember, we are descendants of incredibly akamai, resourceful, connected and resilient peoples, including our beloved Queen Liliʻuokalani. We are their living legacy and honor them through our resiliency during this time. Ola i ka lāhui Hawaiʻi!!

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youth, language

Kūkulu Kumuhana

Our first report, the proceedings of the 2017 Kūkulu Kumuhana: Creating Radical and New Knowledge to Improve Native Hawaiian Wellbeing, was co-sponsored by Kamehameha Schools, the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, the Consuelo Foundation, Culturally Responsive Evaluation and Assessment Hawaiʻi, the Department of Native Hawaiian Health-John A. Burns School of Medicine, and the Kualoa-Heʻeia Ecumenical Youth (KEY) Project.

2017 Kūkulu Kumuhana: Creating Radical and New Knowledge to Improve Native Hawaiian Wellbeing

2018 Kūkulu Kumuhana: Year in Review

2019 Kūkulu Kumuhana Collider: Connect, Practice, Catalyze

2020 Indicators and Measures of Wellbeing from Community Conversations

2022 Kūkulu Kumuhana Community Report

wellbeing

Evaluation with Aloha: A Framework for Working in Native Hawaiian Contexts

The Culturally Responsive Evaluation and Assessment-Hawaiʻi (CREA-HI) hui began meeting in 2014 as a group of evaluation professionals and other community practitioners seeking to uplift indigenous paradigms in evaluation.

The Aloha Framework is humbly and respectfully offered to evaluators, those who commission evaluation services, and those who participate in or are otherwise stakeholders in evaluations conducted in Native Hawaiian contexts. It is our hope that evaluators will use this document to reflect on their practice and be inspired to share their successes and challenges, that evalua­tion funders will use this document to guide the solicitation and selection of evaluators, and that the communities and organiza­tions who are impacted by and who are (ideally) participants in evaluations will use this document to ensure their voices are fully and fairly represented. (Note, communities is used in this docu­ment as comprising regions or locales or social or affinity groups.)

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evaluation

LT and CREA-HI Framework Featured in Power Beyond Measure

The Evaluation with Aloha framework created by LT and theCulturally Responsive Evaluation and Assessment-Hawaiʻi (CREA-HI) is featured in a new National report released on April 21, 2021. The report, Power Beyond Measure, highlights the important work to reshape the evaluation and research landscape for Boys and Men of Color.

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