The wooden skirts at the base of the walls and the walls themselves were replaced, wall insulation was added, and glass windows were installed.

“One of the main reasons we installed the glass windows was that all the zippers of the old zippered screen windows had torn over time and were just flapping in the wind,” said Ka Paʻalana Program Manager Terry Nakamura. “The glass windows will not present this problem and will last much longer.”

Ke Kama Pono’s Project Director, Mike Kahue, oversaw the renovations. Young men and staff from our Ke Kama Pono Safehouse program also assisted.

Ronnee Stewart, a Parent Educator with Ka Paʻalana, led some of the preschool parents in sewing curtains for the windows and will be installed soon.

Mahalo nui to our staff and program ʻohana for their kōkua in carrying out the renovations!

Hot chocolate was provided for the keiki and coffee for the adults, along with a myriad of sprinkles, marshmallows, and other toppings to decorate. Ka Paʻalana provided different Christmas and holiday-related activities for the families, including a ‘gingerbread’ house using graham crackers and fruit.

As the families went caroling to their neighbors at the veterans’ home and transitional housing units, the Starbucks staff brought in Santa Claus himself with presents for the keiki. Each keiki received a gift, a stuffed animal, and got to pose for a family photo with Santa.

Mahalo nui loa to the Starbucks ʻohana and Ka Paʻalana staff for helping to make the season merry and bright for our families!

“Ka Paʻalana started this program with the hopes that we could join families of different cultures together,” said Kasey Galariada, a Family Education Coordinator with Ka Paʻalana.

The families at HOPE Shelter work hard throughout the year to put together dances and other performances from their different cultures. The time allows them to connect to their cultural roots, and take a break from their struggles to just celebrate with one another.

Qahhara Griffin is a participant of our Ka Paʻalana program and says that the annual event fosters a lot of love between the families. “It helps everyone become closer, to appreciate each other’s music, dancing, traditions… I’m so grateful I was a part of it.”

To see more photos from Culture Night, visit our Facebook page here.

The elementary and middle school-aged keiki residing at the Hope Shelter in Kalaeloa received a donation of nearly 100 science kits from Super Science Kids, Inc. Inside the kits were a range of activities incorporating aspects of science as well as engineering, math and art, all components of STEAM that Ka Paʻalana has included in its curriculum since 2014.

“The kids are getting an opportunity to explore science kits, play with them, and see what types of materials are in them,” says Kasey Galariada, a family education coordinator with Ka Paʻalana. She went on to explain the different ways the keiki interacted with the kits, following along the scientific method of experimenting.

Angela Krubeck, a young teen from Georgia, started the nonprofit Super Science Kids when she was 9 years old to spread the love of science through the kits she creates. She especially focuses on teaching and engaging at-risk youth, like our keiki of Ka Paʻalana.

“Any time we have someone invest in our families or in our children here at Ka Paʻalana or at [Hope Shelter], I think it says something about them being important and valued,” says Galariada. “It makes the children feel like theyʻre important.”

Besides the educational benefits, the kits allowed the kids to work with one another to complete some of the activities. Super Science Kid’s mission is to help children who have a lot of worry in their lives to briefly remove themselves from that situation, to explore science, and have fun.

“That’s what the kits did today. They really allowed our kids to sort of step away from some of their worries and their troubles that they’re going through, and just have fun and explore the kits together.”

As part of their milestone “30 in 30 for 30” campaign, the Locations Foundation surprised 30 different community-based organizations in Hawaiʻi every day through the month of September. They selected Partners in Development Foundation’s Ka Paʻalana program as one of their donation recipients.

“30 in 30 for 30 is a fun, impactful way for the Locations Foundation to celebrate its 30th anniversary while spreading some extra kindness across the communities in which we, as realtors, live, play and work,” said Kristin Mukai, realtor and Locations Foundation president, in a press release.

From their history of working with our Ka Paʻalana program bringing supplies and smiles, it was a “no brainer” to select Ka Paʻalana as one of the organizations to donate to for the campaign, said Jodie Tamaye, realtor-associate and active volunteer with the Locations Foundation.

Items like air mattresses and children’s shoes may not seem like much, but to these families they make a world of difference. The Locations Foundations staff sees the difference this makes as well as the heart Ka Paʻalana staff puts into serving these families.

“This is how we produce change,” begins Kasey Galariada, Ka Paʻalanaʻs family education coordinator. “By building relationships with these families, we help them to create a better future for themselves and their keiki.”

Ka Paʻalana serves homeless and at-risk families on the Leeward Coast of Oʻahu by providing basic needs items as well as educational programming. The programming includes family-child interaction preschool, parent education, adult education, and home visiting. Ka Paʻalana also serves as an initial contact agency for families ready to transition to local shelters or temporary housing facilities.

(KAPOLEI, HI) – Partners In Development Foundation’s (PIDF) Ka Paʻalana Homeless Family Education Program located in Kapolei has once again earned accreditation from the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC)—the world’s largest organization working on behalf of young children.

NAEYC Accreditation is a rigorous and transformative quality-improvement system that uses a set of 10 research-based standards to collaborate with early education programs to recognize and drive quality-improvement in high-quality early learning environments. “We are so honored that our program has been recognized by the NAEYC as one that delivers an educational experience for our keiki that is of the highest quality. It is what every child deserves,” said Kathleen Fong, Ka Pa‘alana Curriculum and Program Administrator.

To fulfill PIDF’s mission of inspiring and equipping families and communities for success and service, Ka Pa‘alana provides comprehensive family education programming for homeless/at-risk families with young children on the Leeward Coast and Kakaʻako on O‘ahu, and East Hawai‘i Island. Annually, the program serves about 500 children ages birth to five and their caregivers by preparing children for school, equipping caregivers to be their child’s first and most important teacher, and empowering adults to not only move toward self-sufficiency but to give back to their community.

To earn NAEYC Accreditation, Ka Paʻalana’s HOPE Shelter site went through an extensive self-study and quality-improvement process, followed by an on-site visit by NAEYC Assessors to verify and ensure that the program met each of the ten program standards, and hundreds of corresponding individual criteria. NAEYC-accredited programs are always prepared for unannounced quality-assurance visits during their accreditation term, which lasts for five years.

In the 30 years since NAEYC Accreditation was established, it has become a widely recognized sign of high-quality early childhood education. More than 7,000 programs are currently accredited by NAEYC—less than 10 percent of all child care centers, preschools, and kindergartens nationally achieve this recognition.

“NAEYC-Accredited programs bring our definitions of excellence for early childhood education to life each day,” said Kristen Johnson, senior director of Early Learning Program Accreditation at NAEYC. “Earning NAEYC Accreditation makes Ka Paʻalana an exemplar of good practice for families and the entire community.”

For more information about NAEYC Accreditation, visit the NAEYC website.

On Friday, December 16, 2016, the group drove to Kaka‘ako Park to pass out food and donated clothing. Many who participated in the event spoke of how they never forgot what it was like living on the streets and how thankful they are because they are currently living in a shelter with their children. After feeding everyone at Kaka‘ako Park, they headed to IHS and fed families there with the remaining food.

We could not be more proud of our parents as they undertook these activities on their own; their selfless acts of generosity during the holiday season truly exemplify the values of Partners in Development Foundation and of the holiday season.

Deciding to get an early start, we picked up the youth at 9:00 a.m. even though the game didn’t start until 2:00 p.m. Plans were to obtain good parking, tailgate with Ke Kama Pono (KKP) staff and their boys, and relax in the parking lot until game time. Success! It all worked out as planned and the youth had a fantastic time playing ball with the KKP team while we waited.

It was a joy to see their faces light-up as we walked to our seats. Crossing over the catwalk high above the stadium turf, we paused so they could look down at the field and take in the many colors and decorations as well as the painted turf that said, “NFL Pro Bowl.” “Woah! This is so cool!” many of them blurted out. Fourth grader Tino L. grabbed my arm and said, “I can’t believe I’m here. This place is . . . so big!” When we finally got to our seats at the top of the stadium, we had such a great view of the entire place that each student’s eyes were opened wide in awe. From the pre-game festivities to the final seconds of the game clock, they had a great time jumping, dancing, singing, woohooing, and laughing at the NFL team mascots.

When asked what they thought of the entire day, this is what they said: “I had fun!” “Can we come back?” “The Super Bowl is next week, yeah. Can we go?” “Aww, do we have to go home now?” “The red guys will win next year!” “We wanna do this again!” And as a group they yelled, “Thank you, Ka Pa‘alana!”