Kapiʻolani Community College has been awarded a €50,000 (approximately $58,000 USD) grant from the Veolia Corporate Foundation in recognition of its exemplary stewardship of Māla Māunuunu, a long-standing campus initiative dedicated to the restoration and preservation of Hawai‘i’s indigenous, endemic and endangered flora.
Since 2004, the Veolia Foundation has supported community-oriented, non-profit projects worldwide, with a focus on development aid and humanitarian emergencies, social inclusion through work and social links, and environmental conservation and biodiversity.
“We are proud to support a project that aligns so deeply with our mission of environmental stewardship and sustainable water management,” said Veolia’s Hawaiʻi-based account manager David Vanegas-Lytle. “This initiative models how traditional ecological knowledge and modern conservation efforts can work hand in hand.”
Established in 2008, Māla Māunuunu serves as both a cultural learning space and a living laboratory where students, faculty and community members engage in the practice of mālama ʻāina – traditional Hawaiian land stewardship. This effort reflects a deep commitment to sustainability education and the revitalization of ancestral knowledge.
“We have to be cognizant of the history of the land, and how ancient Native Hawaiians nurtured it,” said Kapiʻolani Community College Chancellor Misaki Takabayashi. “It’s important to learn what they grew, how they grew it and why that matters today.”
The support from the Veolia Foundation underscores the international significance the college’s work in biodiversity conservation and environmental restoration. The grant will strengthen Māla Māunuunu’s ability to expand community engagement, preserve vital plant species and advance climate-resilient land care practices rooted in Native Hawaiian values.
“This grant from Veolia affirms that the work we’re doing in the māla matters,” says Kohlby Soong, Māla Māunuunu facilitator and a KCC alumnus. “It gives us the chance to care for this ʻāina in a consistent, meaningful way, and to create space for students and the campus community to connect with the land and each other.”
FOR UH • FOR HAWAIʻI, The Campaign for the University of Hawaiʻi, is focused on raising $1 billion to support UH priorities on all 10 campuses across the state, including student success; research that matters; kuleana to Native Hawaiians and Hawaiʻi; sustainability, resilience and conservation; innovation and entrepreneurship; building Hawaiʻi’s workforce; and engaging our community. Learn more at uhfoundation.org/4UH4HI
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The University of Hawai‘i Foundation, a nonprofit organization, raises private funds to support the University of Hawai‘i System. The mission of the University of Hawai‘i Foundation is to unite donors’ passions with the University of Hawai‘i’s aspirations by raising philanthropic support and managing private investments to benefit UH, the people of Hawai‘i and our future generations. uhfoundation.org
