Title III, Part F Alaska Native Native Hawaiian (ANNH) Serving Institutions program has given a $9 million grant to the Kīpuka Native Hawaiian Student Center at the University of Hawaii (UH) at Hilo to help facilitate native students' educational development, according to the UH Hilo website.
The financial aid will cover expenses spanning three years to help locals be more successful, according to the director of the Kīpuka student center, Gail Makuakāne-Lundin.
"The grants provide us the opportunity to work with our colleagues on campus and across other UH campuses to create new pathways for Native Hawaiian students to achieve success," Makuakāne-Lundin said, according to the UH Hilo website. “All of our project goals include increasing Native Hawaiian student enrollment through retention efforts, increasing Native Hawaiian student graduation rates and increasing Native Hawaiian student engagement in Hawaiian language and culture learning pathways.”
The recent collaboration between the facility and Hawaii Community College will prioritize two campuses as a partial payment and cover an almost $3 million project, titled "Pā'ie'ie," to increase staff engagement through the creation of indigenous resources and spaces on both campuses, plus the Kō Education Center in Honoka'a.
Supported with just over $2.7 million, the project will aim to increase Native Hawaiian student persistence and retention in their first and second year at the university. The three main areas of activity will consist of engaging students, renovating the institution's infrastructure to ensure a strong building and further development opportunities.
The third project, funded with $2.6 million and called "Ho'olana," will prioritize the access, enrollment, retention and graduation rates for Native Hawaiian students from freshmen through senior years. Planned activities are summer bridge programs, a first-year course focused on place-based service learning, sophomore programs that engage the campus and local communities, and strengthening leadership development in seniors to get them through to graduation.
Kīpuka also received a one-year supplemental ANNH grant of $551,298 to expand and enhance the Kūkulu: "Strengthening Native Hawaiian Leadership by Building Retention and Graduate Efforts." The goal of the initiative is to increase Native Hawaiian student enrollment through retention efforts, increase Native Hawaiian student graduation rates and increase Native Hawaiian student engagement in Hawaiian language and culture learning pathways.