In this issue: Workforce Development • SMALLIFY Accelerator

John Leong shares how Kupu connects youth to ʻāina-based careers through hands-on service, having employed about 7,000 young adults, with 80% of alumni continuing into higher education or related fields.

Gabe Amey shares how RiseHI’s ʻOihana Career Explorations videos, now in 13 schools, show students local careers and reveal that character, not technical skill, drives most professionals’ success.

Meli James explains how Mana Up helps local founders build values-driven companies, now supporting over 1,200 jobs, so people can build careers rooted in Hawaiʻi’s communities and ʻāina.

Quinn Vittum describes how Re-use Hawaiʻi offers second-chance employment to people facing barriers, building a circular economy where both people and materials get a second life.

Laura Reichhardt explains how the Hawaiʻi State Center for Nursing uses local data and coordinated hiring programs to build nursing careers that let people stay in Hawai‘i and earn a livable wage.