Shortly after keiki joined in mele and dance, they broke into stations set with fun activities ready to kickstart the summer fun. The Tūtū and Me Hawaiʻi North team felt it was important to bring their community lāhui together in a safe manner while providing ʻohana with networking opportunities. 

Present were four PIDF programs: Pili A Paʻa, Tūtū and Me ʻOhana Support, Project Pilina, and Hoʻopalekana Ola. Also present was Hāmākua Health, who distributed keiki-friendly first aid kits, the Community Police officers Waimea Station, County of Hawaii Police Department, and Mahina Mea, who graciously shared all kinds of ʻono freeze dried candies for the keiki and their ʻohana to take home and enjoy. 

“As an extension of our gratitude, we honored our kūpuna, mākua and keiki for their perseverance through the pandemic,” said Yonette Nakamura, Tūtū and Me Traveling Preschool Site Manager – Hawaiʻi North. “Being a virtual team since April 2020, it is our intention to acknowledge accomplishments and to also offer encouragement as we continue to journey through life as we have come to know. Together we are stronger!”

Pili A Paʻa, the PIDF educational project based out of the Kohala School Complex, set up an outdoor obstacle course, with challenges for all preschool-aged keiki. Caregivers supported their little ones in balancing while other keiki jumped over posts. The Tūtū and Me haumāna chased their laughter throughout the course and circled round over and over again, until they could fine-tune their gymnastics. 

Tūtū and Me ʻOhana Support, the PIDF Home Visiting and Parent Hui services, engaged keiki in kai (ocean) themed activities. Keiki and their caregivers water painted a local fish, uhu. The keiki also went fishing! In a small pool filled with toy sea life, caregivers helped their keiki fish out plastics and trash to help mālama i ke kai, take care of the ocean. 

Project Pilina, PIDF’s Foster Care program, handed out wooden unicorn keychains for the keiki to color in. ʻOhana came by and talked story with West Hawaiʻi Community Liaison, Chelsea, to learn more about the many ways they can support keiki in foster care. Project Pilina hopes to strengthen household units, both birth and hānai alike, through family-friendly activities. 

Hoʻopalekana Ola, PIDF’s newest project to strengthen rural and remote island communities to navigate the new norm, handed out over 300 at-home Covid-19 test kits. The team equipped multi-generational ʻohana with the tools needed to stay safe and healthy this summer in case someone in the household is exposed to or becomes Covid positive.  

After 25 years of serving Hawaiʻi’s families and living Hawaiian values, PIDF is proud to call on the support of our fellow programs, as well as our community organizations. Many memories were made and laughter shared— hoʻomaikaʻi to our graduating class of 2022! 

Several months ago, when school was in session, Ross Pagat knew he wanted to do something extra to help students start their day off right.

One morning he wrote a positive quote on a white board, walked himself to where the long parade of cars forms from families dropping off their children on Honomakau Road, and held it up.

At first he was nervous, unsure how he was going to be received, but his nerves calmed when he was met with copious smiles and waves. After that he came out every morn- ing he could, rain or shine, first thinking he’d go to Spring Break, but once that passed, decided to take it all the way to the end of the year. “It’s important that we do these things because we all go through struggles, every one of us. Some days, I may be struggling more than others. And that’s when that act of kindness can go a long way,” Pagat said.

Pagat is the Community Man- ager for Partners in Development Foundation (PIDF), a nonprofit that “empowers families to navigate social challenges and to grow self resiliency, vibrancy, and healthy, secure communities in Hawai’i.” PIDF partners with the three schools in Kohala, where Pagat’s job is to go out and gather information on school issues and needs, many of which he finds from the students themselves. These concerns are then brought to community partners and stakeholders to build relationships with the schools and find solutions, in what Pagat says is a Community-School strategy.

The community partners Pagat liaises with are extensive and include Liliuokalani Trust, Big Island Substance Abuse Council, Vibrant Hawaiʻi, Kohala Village HUB, Overflow Church, Takata Market and Hawaiʻi County Parks and Recreation.

In part, he attributes being able to hold up these signs to this teamwork. He came up with the daily quotes alongside his wife and son, whether by searching for them online, hearing them from friends, or making them up himself. Now that school is out, when asked what he could impart to the students, Pagat says, “My wish for the students over the summer is that they continue to seek out positive things and do positive things for other people.”

The Partners in Development Foundation recently received a $10,000 grant from Hawaiian Electric to continue the Resilience Hub in Kohala, a project under the Pili a Pa‘a program that provides a safe space for keiki who are doing distance learning because of the COVID-19 pandemic and whose caregivers are unable to supervise them.

The project launched in September 2020 and successfully allowed children to participate in distance learning and parents to re-enter the workforce.

The Resilience Hub prioritized assisting Kohala school complex teachers who do not have access to affordable or reliable child care for their children who have to continue distance or hybrid learning. The project supported teachers and other parents, largely in the service industry, to work instead of taking a leave of absence to care for their children.

“Kohala does not have a large pool of teacher candidates or substitute teachers, so the schools would have been short-handed and may not have been able to provide quality education to the students,” said Ross Pagat, Pili A Pa‘a community school manager.

When online schooling is done for the day, Resilience Hub staff coordinate extracurricular activities such as archery, gardening, cooking and 3-D printing.

The project also promotes more than just emotional and physical health; the hub allows for keiki in the community to socialize, problem solve, follow instructions and learn ways to give back to their families.

Not only that, but the Resilience Hub served as a center for adults who needed help getting connected with services that dealt with alcohol and drug recovery.

The grant enabled the project to continue this work of connecting and assisting Kohala community members with critical services.

The Partners in Development Foundation is a nonprofit public charity that inspires and equips families and communities for success and service, using timeless Native Hawaiian values and traditions.

For additional information or to learn more about the Partners in Development Foundation and Resilience Hub, get online and visit pidf.org.

See the story in the Kohala Mountain News, here.

The Partners in Development Foundation received a $27,027 grant from the William J. and Dorothy K. O’Neill Foundation for the Piha Me Ka Pono program. The funding will provide North Kohala community students additional educational support and resources to enhance their school experience, which has been drastically altered due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, community workshops will be offered based on the needs of the community and can include, but not be limited to, financial literacy, first aid and CPR, Hawaiian culture, and other certifications. 

Piha Me Ka Pono sparks unique partnerships with community agencies to meet the needs of Kohala Complex students and their ʻohana, servicing beyond academic requirements like collaborating with the high school culinary arts school students to cook and prepare food for community events and health assistance to build a healthy and resilient community.  

Past and current partnerships and efforts allow Piha Me Ka Pono to supplement innovation and keep up with the ever changing needs and challenges of the community, particularly with the pandemic. These projects include utilizing a 3D printer to create PPE like masks, Medical Assistant Certifications for high school students, and a resilience hub that supports working parents with a safe place where their  child can be supported with their distance learning and interact with others during the pandemic.  To learn more about Piha Me Ka Pono or support their efforts, please visit pidf.org/piliapaa

Located in Kapaʻau, Pili A Paʻa was created to address critical deficits in reading, math, and science for Native Hawaiian students on Hawaiʻi Island. The project seeks to build teachers’ knowledge while integrating Native Hawaiian cultural values and processes.

Ross was first introduced to PIDF by the Kohala High School principal, who mentioned Pili a Paʻa. Ross was excited for the opportunity to work for an organization helping the three schools he attended and graduated from. 

“What really inspires me about my work is I am able to give back to the community I grew up in,” says Ross. 

Brennen ‘Mana’ Pasco is a Replacement Instructor with Pili a Paʻa and has worked alongside Ross for four years. “Ross is an inspiration to me both professionally and personally,” he says. “I admire the way he carries himself day in and day out, and the way he cares for the people he is trying to help.”

Although Kohala Elementary School principal Hannah Loyola has only known Ross for four months, she praises him as a dedicated individual who “works with relentless fervor,” doing whatever it takes to provide opportunities to families to be engaged with the schools and for teachers to engage with families.

“He has been a blessing,” she says, “offering to help in any way possible.”

Hoʻomaikaʻi, Ross! We are so thankful to have you as part of the Partners in Development Foundation ʻohana, bringing your community-mindedness and aloha to all you encounter. 

Na Makamae is our monthly segment where we recognize employees who are doing tremendous work with the children and families they serve.  ‘Na Makamae’ refers to those who are prized, highly valued, highly appreciated. Na Makamae are those who are endeared to us.

The grant will go to PIDF’s latest project, Piha me ka Pono, a new initiative at the Kohala Schools Complex on Hawaiʻi Island that cultivates partnerships to bring needed academic, health, and social support services for the students and their families.

“The Complex’s three schools are Title I eligible and it has been recognized that so many of the students are coming to school with excess baggage,” says Alison Masutani, PIDF Vice President of Operations and the Program Manager for Pili a Paʻa. “Unless we help to remove that baggage, no matter how strong the instruction is, the students will have difficulty learning.”

That ‘baggage’ Masutani is referring to includes poverty, food insecurity, and poor physical, mental or emotional health. One of the Project’s goals is to increase academic achievement of disadvantaged and under-served students through the development of after school enrichment programs that provide positive alternatives for students’ free time. Support from the Nā ʻŌiwi Kāne Fund will go towards two different mentorship programs: sports conditioning and music.

The Piha me ka Pono Project is an offshoot of the existing Pili a Paʻa program, which was created to build teachers’ skills in instructional delivery in order to raise student achievement, particularly for the Native Hawaiian students, and it is also at the Kohala Schools Complex.

The Hawaiʻi Community Foundation (HCF) is a 501(c)(3) public charity with over 100 years of community service and is the leading philanthropic institution in the state of Hawaiʻi. HCF is a steward of nearly 800 funds – including more than 200 scholarship funds – created by donors who desire to transform lives and improve communities. HCF distributes over $47 million charitable dollars to support improvements in our local communities annually. HCF also serves as a resource on community issues and trends in the nonprofit sector. For more information, visit their website.

“Pili A Pa’a was a blessing for me as a brand new teacher. I now have a greater sense of how to structure my lessons, reach ALL of my students, and how to incorporate rigor at all levels of learning. Without the time at Pili A Pa’a I don’t know if I would have felt nearly as confident as I do now, nor would I have had the time or opportunity to learn these things.”