‘KōCreate’ initiative launches in August with bold vision for how communities shape their futures

A transformative movement is taking root on Hawaiʻi Island — one that reimagines how communities come together to plan, lead and shape their future.

“KōCreate: Designing Homegrown Futures” is the latest initiative from Vibrant Hawaiʻi — a community-driven nonprofit organization dedicated to strengthening resilience around Hawaiʻi Island — and made possible through support from the Trust for Civic Life.

Launching this August — with a dynamic cohort of KōCreators — residents from around Hawaiʻi Island will embark on a 6-month learning journey grounded in seven core themes that will prepare participants to lead with clarity, connection and purpose to build practical skills in organizing, storytelling, systems thinking and civic trust.

Together, they’ll strengthen their capacity to lead change grounded in local strengths, lived experience and collective vision.

The initiative seeks people who are:

• Experienced in community needs assessments and organizing around shared goals.
• Strong listeners, with positive, action-oriented mindsets.
• Well-connected and trusted within their communities.
• Natural leaders who inspire collaboration and spark ideas.
• Committed to co-creating inclusive, community-driven solutions.

Core themes include visionary communication, relational leadership and strategic design — equipping participants to inspire action, hold inclusive spaces and design community-rooted initiatives.

Additional focus areas include resource mobilization, organizing and activation and regenerative leadership practices that sustain long-term engagement.

A theme of civic trust will navigate KōCreators through complex decisions with integrity, empathy and a deep understanding of power and values.

Rooted in the belief that communities already have the wisdom, relationships and creativity to chart their own course, the KōCreate initiative shifts the focus of engagement from extracting input to cultivating leadership.

It centers community members not as advisors to someone else’s agenda — but as the architects of their own solutions.

This place-based effort responds to the urgent need for more inclusive, imaginative and community-led approaches to housing, economic development, renewable energy and disaster preparedness.

KōCreate combines the Hawaiian word kō, meaning “fulfill” or “carry through,” with the word “create” — reflecting a commitment to bringing community visions to life through collective effort.

The initiative is designed and led by a cross-sector team including Breeani Kobayashi-Kūaliʻi, Ashley Kierkiewicz, Misty Pacheco, Raynn Dangaran and Janice Ikeda.

“We believe that when community members are supported to organize and take action together, the solutions that emerge are relevant and rooted,” said Vibrant Hawaiʻi Chief Execuitve Office Ikeda in an announcement about the initiative. “This means investing directly in residents — not just to participate, but to become facilitators, data analysts and storytellers of their own communities.”

KōCreators will host islandwide gatherings in 2026 designed to bring people together through community potlucks, vision board workshops, 3-D mapping sessions and hands-on training in emergency preparedness and energy resilience to generate tangible outcomes.

Those outcomes will include Community Emergency Action Plans tailored to local needs and a synthesis of community priorities around housing, energy and economic opportunity.

KōCreate’s long-term goal is even more ambitious: to grow confident, connected leadership in every community so residents are equipped to organize, make decisions and take collective action for generations to come.

“KōCreate offers a blueprint for what real community-driven change can look like. It’s not always clean or linear — it’s relational, emergent and grounded in trust,” said KōCreate Facilitator Misty Pacheco in the announcement. “But when done with integrity, it becomes a force for transformation: power is shared, knowledge is honored, change is created together.”

Whether you’re a community leader, student, cultural practitioner or someone passionate about organizing, storytelling or systems change, you are welcome at the KōCreate table, and together, you can help build relationships, skills and strategies needed to turn local vision into collective action.

“You’ll engage in hands-on activities, deepen your understanding of local systems and help design practical solutions that reflect the values and vision of your community,” the online application message says. “Whether you bring lived experience, technical skills, cultural knowledge or curiosity, we welcome you to apply and co-create meaningful change alongside neighbors and partners from across the island.”

Deadline to apply is July 11.

Learn more and register at the Vibrant Hawaiʻi website. You can also email contact@vibranthawaii.org for additional information.

“We are thrilled to launch this initiative with an invitation to imagine and implement new models of leadership rooted in a deep sense of belonging to and responsibility to Hawaiʻi,” Ikeda said.