Inter-generational Connection and Empowerment

It’s about the ‘Kūpuna Empowerment’ that has been occurring in all the workshops:

About how our partners in every region are part of the kūpuna community.
Inter-generational learning
Sharing of place-based knowledge (ʻIke or Naʻauao)
Giving a voice to those in our community
Teaching digital literacy through GIS (Geographic Information Systems) skills, etc.

In our Community Resilience Hub planning efforts, which CERENE has been hosting with partners across the island, we have had many participants come out and show their support, but none more consistent than local kūpuna .

They have come out of each community engagement activity (from Hub workshops to lei braiding) and shared invaluable knowledge about their neighborhoods and the unique needs of the communities that they have lived in for most, if not all, of their lives. The exchange of inter-generational information between our student leaders and these Kūpuna community leaders has allowed us to go in depth to see what resilience looks like from their point of view. Their information and experience having gone through all forms of disaster (natural and man-made) and hardship over the years helps the younger generations see what must be done for the future events that will come due to climate change, global warming, rising sea levels, etc. In doing so, the kūpuna are able to help the younger generation fine-tune modern technology to accurately and effectively create solutions for the future.