‘Your children deserve just as much opportunity as any child throughout the state’
Posted: September 29, 2025
Children and families at Kahauiki Village in Iwilei attended a “Good Neighbor Day” event Saturday afternoon, sponsored by members of the Hawaiʻi State Teachers Association’s Human and Civil Rights Committee.
Kahauiki Village, the plantation-style permanent supportive housing community for formerly homeless families on Oʻahu, saw dozens of residents come out to its open-air recreation center for community-building activities, which included the following:
- Giant games
- Native plant gardening and planting with Mālama Learning Center
- Creating cardboard pots for plants
- Bracelet making
- Cookie decorating
- Traditional rope making with Hoʻoulu ʻĀina and Kōkua Kalihi Valley (KKV)
- Coconut tasting and activities with We are Oceania (WAO)
Keiki and families received a snack for every station they attended. They also received pre-packaged farm-fresh produce and meat from the Hawaiʻi Foodbank, as well as period product kits from Maʻi Movement Hawaiʻi.
Residents, with the help of Mālama Learning Center, planted 5 trees and numerous cuttings and plants including:
- 1 Ma’afala ‘ulu (breadfruit)
- 2 plumeria
- 1 crown flower
- 1 dragonfruit
- ‘Uala (sweet potato)
- Kalo (taro) huli
- Liliko’i (passion fruit vine)
- Aloe cuttings
HSTA President Osa Tui, Jr., who participated in Saturday’s event, told attendees, “Our students, no matter if they live in Kahala or if they live in Kalihi, you all matter to us.”
Tui shared that he grew up in public housing, with a single parent, and on food stamps.
“I know how important education is for our keiki so that they can go up and do good things. That is why public education is so important. Your children deserve just as much opportunity as any child throughout the state,” he added.
Connie Mitchell, executive director of the Institute for Human Services, the agency that oversees Kahauiki Village, said, “The keiki are really at the core of our mission. It’s about helping folks really have a vision for their future to get the resources that they need. And I just think that your being here is a match to our mission and our purpose here.”
Mitchell told the educators that she was grateful for their hands-on help with the kids at the village.
“I don’t know if you know of another group that would dare do something like this, except most of you guys are teachers,” Mitchell said.
Saturday’s event was attended by members of HSTA’s Human and Civil Rights Committee, as well as HSTA’s Board of Directors, along with teacher representatives from across the state.
Jodi Kunimitsu, state chair of HSTA’s Human and Civil Rights Committee and a math teacher at Maui High, said Saturday’s event was a way for teachers and students to get to know one another outside of the classroom and foster community engagement.
“It’s important for keiki to see us outside of the classroom, and to see that we’re not just about academics, but we care about them as the whole child and the community that they live in. And it’s also important for us to see our students in their home setting and to help break some of those internal biases that we might have.”
Kunimitsu shared that it’s her hope that the committee could expand its reach and host similar events at other communities around the state in the future.
