La´i´ōpua 2020 Will Use Grant to Help Kealakehe High School Students

La´i´ōpua 2020 has been awarded a $30,000 grant from the Hawai´i Resilience Fund of the Hawai´i Community Foundation (HCF). The funding was made possible by HCF’s CHANGE Grants program and will be used to enhance learning opportunities for high school students in the Kealakehe ahupua´a.

La´i´ōpua 2020 is one of 194 organizations statewide chosen to receive a portion of the $7 million in funding made available to nonprofits that are working to address some of the state’s most difficult challenges. Each letter of the CHANGE Framework represents a sector, or area, that affects the community and its ability to thrive — from the economy to education. 

La´i´ōpua 2020 will focus its efforts on the “E” in CHANGE, which stands for education. Funding will be directed toward building success in school and high school completion by teens attending Kealakehe High School.

“It is our intent to engage students at Kealakehe High School who are in most need of supportive programming. We want them to understand they have a future and that future starts right now with a commitment to staying in school, learning and graduating. We want to increase family engagement and support for these students,” said Kawehi Inaba, president of La`i`ōpua 2020.

“We are so very grateful for the support from the Hawai´i Community Foundation. The coming year is full of promise for students and, with the partnership of Kealakehe High School, we have high hopes for student engagement and success, especially by the seniors of the Class of 2022.”