Uplifting hawaiian knowledge - ʻAha Kūkalahale 2025
🌱 ʻAha Kūkalahale 2025: Uplifting Indigenous Knowledge, Strengthening Community Futures
Dates: August 13–14, 2025
Location: Honolulu Community College, ʻili ʻāina of Niuhelewai
Cost: Free and open to the public
Honolulu Community College invites educators, students, cultural practitioners, and community leaders to ʻAha Kūkalahale 2025, a free, two-day Indigenous education symposium grounded in the theme: “E Welo Mau ke Ea Hawaiʻi” – may the life, the breath, the sovereignty of Hawaiʻi rise and endure.
This unique gathering celebrates ʻŌiwi (Native Hawaiian) knowledge systems as a foundation for transformative learning—supporting not just cultural revitalization, but also the long-term well-being, self-determination, and economic empowerment of Hawai‘i’s communities.
Honoring Place-Based Learning, Empowering Community Futures
ʻAha Kūkalahale is a space of pilina (connection) and ea (life, voice, sovereignty), where participants can explore how Indigenous education practices—rooted in language, land, and community—can shape the way we teach, lead, and live.
From classrooms to farms, healing spaces to boardrooms, ʻike Hawaiʻi provides tools for both personal growth and collective resilience. Through this lens, education becomes more than academics—it becomes a pathway to increased economic mobility, stronger career readiness, and more sustainable livelihoods for local families.
What to Expect
The event will feature:
Talk story sessions & cultural workshops led by community educators and practitioners
Panels on language, healing, arts, farming, and ceremony
A local vendor showcase of artisans, makers, and cultural entrepreneurs
“ʻAha Kūkalahale is a space for all of us to gather in learning, pilina, and ea,” said E. Ululani Kahikina, Title III Program Manager. “It’s a reminder that when we learn and lead from the knowledge rooted in who we are, we all rise—and so does the wellbeing of our lāhui.”
Built on Five Years of Investment in ʻŌiwi-Led Learning
This symposium marks the culmination of the Kūkalahale Title III Grant, a five-year, $2.25 million initiative awarded to Honolulu and Kapiʻolani Community Colleges to support Indigenous-serving practices in higher education. Through professional development rooted in Hawaiian language, values, and place-based pedagogy, the grant has advanced the vision of campuses as catalysts for equity, identity, and community-rooted opportunity.
ʻAha Kūkalahale 2025 is hosted by Honolulu CC’s Kūkalahale Title III Program in partnership with Kanaeokana and Pacific Rim Concepts.
