Kupu ʻĀina Corps seeking sustainability partners, participants

Conservation and youth education organization Kupu has launched its 2023-2024 Kupu ʻĀina Corps program with an increased focus on sustainability industries.

Kupu is actively seeking host sites and participants to work in sustainability-focused sectors like renewable energy, sustainable agriculture and climate adaptation.

Funded in part by the State of Hawaiʻi’s Green Job Youth Corps program, Kupu ʻĀina Corps is a workforce development initiative.Participants gain up to a year of paid work experience in a sustainability-focused profession, while sustainability-focused employers get the chance to train and grow future leaders for their organization.

Kupu ʻĀina Corps is now accepting applications for both full-time and part-time job applicants and for sustainability organizations interested in serving as host sites. Kupu invites participants and host site applications from across the Hawaiian Islands in areas related to sustainability, renewable energy, agriculture, and natural resource management.

“According to participants who completed the program, more than two out of three moved directly from the Kupu ʻĀina Corps into other long-term employment, with most of those jobs being within a sustainability-focused profession,” said Kawika Riley, Vice President for Kupu External Affairs.

For participants, Kupu ʻĀina Corps Cohort 1 will run from July 17, 2023 to July 13, 2024 and Cohort 2 will run from August 7, 2023 to July 27, 2023.

Kupu ʻĀina Corps host sites can include nonprofit organizations, for-profit businesses, and State and County government agencies. This is an ideal program for organizations that are trying to grow and are eager to train emerging professionals.

Kupu ʻĀina Corps positions are structured as a cost share; therefore, host sites pay only a small fraction of the true cost of adding to their workforce and growing their industry this way.

• Participant application form
• Host site application form