Manaia Cunningham
Manaia is a young, adventurous Ngāi Tahu tāne. As a father of two, Manaia enjoys quality time with his children, T āmati 5 and Amelia 3. During the summer months, they particularly enjoy spending their time outdoors at the family batch in Port Levy.
Manaia has been a Primary School teacher of Social Sciences at Spreydon Primary since 2003. He holds a Bachelor of Teaching and Learning (BTchLN) and is continuing his studies for a Post Graduate Diploma in Bilingual and Immersion teaching. Currently, Manaia is the Treasurer for Te Rūnanga o Koukourārata, supporting the r ūnanga by developing an Aquaculture Academy programme. Manaia enjoys many outdoor activities and holds a Certificate in Outdoor Education and Outdoor Adventure. He also enjoys regular exercise and is an ambitious golfer.
Kamakani Dancil
Kamakani “Kama” Dancil is Kama‘āina o Makawao. He is the Land Asset Manager for Kamehameha Schools’ Land Assets Division. His kuleana include KS’ lands in the moku of Ka‘ū, Kohala, South Kona and Mauka Kona. In his prior position, Forester, with Forest Solutions Inc., he was responsible for managing the Prutimber tree farm on KS’ lands near Pāhala and the implementation of conservation stewardship in Keauhou, Ka‘ū. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Forest Management from Colorado State University. Kama has used his education and experience to support the development of silvicultural methods in managing plantation koa. Although many expert opinions doubt the success of plantation koa, Kama is unwilling to concede to the results of past attempts. “He ‘a’ali’i ku makani mai au; ‘a’ohe makani nana e kula’i.” “I am a wind-resisting ‘a’ali’i; no gale can push me over.” – Pukui, ‘Olelo No’eau. We have the opportunity to positively influence the future for the next generation of stewards. We are in the era of creating abundance in resources and options.
Riki Ellison
Riki Ellison is a well educated and knowledgeable Ng āi Tahu t āne. Riki has a strong awareness of the needs and aspirations of Ng āi Tahu wh ānui through his upbringing and family connections, and through raising his own children. He has also had the opportunity to work with whanauka from Kamehameha Schools as a guest presenter at the initial First Nations’ Futures Institute and also being involved in the establishment of the FNFP.
Currently working in a dual role as both Maori Development Manager and Policy Manager with Aquaculture New Zealand, Riki has a strong desire to make a positive personal contribution to Maori achieving success through involvement in this industry.
Riki also served as Private Secretary – Environment, working directly with the Minister for the Environment of New Zealand. Among his various interests, he holds in especially high esteem the ideal fact that perspectives of the Maori are an important part in agenda setting for the government and should be incorporated in a movement towards national standards, policy, and priorities.
Nick Kalamakani Francisco
My name is Nicholas Donald Kalamakani Francisco. I am very grateful and honored to have the opportunity to participate in the First Nations’ Futures Program. I look forward to learning and becoming an instrument of positive change for the Hawaiian community. I am a graduate of Kamehameha Schools Kapalama and Loyola Marymount University (LMU) Los Angeles, CA. At LMU, I received a Bachelor of Arts in Classical Civilizations with a minor in Music, as well as a Masters of Arts in Education.
I am a co-founder and director of Ho`ai Hawai`i, a not-for-profit organization aimed at teaching native Hawaiian youth hands-on organic dryland kalo cultivation. Both the kalo and poi produced by the students participating in our program are donated to our Hawaiian kupuna and surrounding communities. Our goal is to re-establish Hawai`i’s sustainable agricultural independence starting from the community and family level; as well as to strengthen Hawaiian health, values and cultural identity.
I am an advocate for Hawaiian culture, values and rights. I passionately believe that protecting and preserving our lands and natural resources, as our ancestors skillfully managed before us, is of paramount importance in order to sustain the life and traditions of our proud and industrious people. I value the advice, experience and wisdom of my ancestors and elders. I believe that by looking to the past we can find answers to all of life’s contemporary issues and challenges.
I love and value my family and their unending support of all my endeavors and dreams. My main inspiration and source of strength is my love, my partner and co-founder of Ho`ai Hawai`i, Kaleo`onalani of the Manuwa `Ohana. She has blessed me with her everlasting love and with our strong and healthy son, Kalamakua – to whom I dedicate all my work and any good I accomplish. My son serves as a constant reminder of the pressing need to make a positive change in Hawai`i for the future of all our children.
Jason Alapaki Jeremiah
Jason Alapaki Jeremiah was born and raised in Kailua, O’ahu, graduated from the Kamehameha Schools, Kapālama Campus in 2000. Jason earned his B.A. in Hawaiian Studies from Kamakūokalani Center for Hawaiian Studies at the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa in 2004. He has finished his coursework for a Masters’ in Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa, and is currently working on his Masters’ thesis on kuleana water rights in Nā Wai ‘Ehā.
Jason is currently working at the Office of Hawaiian Affairs as a Policy Advocate in Land and Historic Preservation with the Native Rights, Land, and Culture Hale. He also manages and maintains OHA’s Geographic Informatoin System (GIS). His advocacy work at OHA includes oversight of federal, state, county, and private actions that impact traditional and customary rights, historic sites, iwi kūpuna, and cultural practices. In his capacity at OHA, Jason has conducted many community-based mapping projects which aim to introduce and educate the youth and community on Geographic Position System (GPS) and GIS technologies.
Jason interned at the Kamehameha Schools, Land Assets Division from 2006-2007 as a Land Legacy Database Intern and a Land Information Systems Intern. Jason has also volunteered with the `Ahahui Mālama i ka Lōkahi, a community group charged with the environmental and cultural restoration of Kawainui Marsh in Kailua, O’ahu. He is also a coach with the Boys and Girls Volleyball programs at the Kamehameha Schools, Kapālama Campus.
Jocelyn M-Doane
BBA, 2002, Shidler College of Business; JD, magna cum laude, William S. Richardson School of Law (“WSRSL”), 2007; MBA, Shidler College of Business, 2008.
After receiving her BBA, Jocelyn worked at her high school alma mater (Mililani High School) in the Business Department, teaching general business courses. She was then accepted into the WSRSL as a student in 2004. During law school she served as an alaka’i for ‘Ahahui o Hawai’i, the Native Hawaiian law student organization. She also completed an externship with the honorable Hawaii State Senator Clayton Hee, where she researched Native Hawaiian and Environmental law for a project on Moloka’i. In 2005 she entered into a dual-degree JD/MBA program with the Shidler College of Business.
Benefiting from the establishment of Ka Huli Ao Center for Excellence in Native Hawaiian Law and the efforts of Assistant Professor Melody MacKenzie, Jocelyn became one of the first graduates to earn a Pacific Asian Legal Studies (PALS) Certificates with a Specialty in Native Hawaiian Law.
Jocelyn is a 2008-2009 fellow for Ka Huli Ao and working on creating a framework to identify, interview, and document oral histories of kūpuna that have mana’o on traditional and customary practices.
Rangimarie Mules
Born and raised in the tranquil backdrop of Hokianga, my childhood is a memory of vibrancy and diversity. This start in life has carried me into my young adulthood where it is not only a passion, but is an innate sense of living. I have lived in a variety of environments, such as Hokianga, where my grandfather still resides on the family farm; Harihari, in South Westland; Collingwood, in Golden Bay; Dunedin, in Otago; and now Wellington, where I work as a Policy Analyst for Te Puni Kokiri, Ministry of Mori Development.
My whakapapa (genealogy) links me back to the ancestral mountains of Aoraki, Mt. Cook Ngai Tahu, Ngati Mamoe, Waitaha, and Taranaki (Te Atiawa). This inherited identity is the backbone behind my passion for our surroundings and the sustainable use of our resources. I believe that our ancestors were some of the most adaptable scientists and that their matauranga (knowledge) coupled with contemporary knowledge can offer a lot to how we develop and use natural resources. My passions lie within te reo Mori (Mori language) as the clothing for this diverse matauranga and the exploration of how the knowledge from the past can help better inform our practices of the present.
Keola Nakanishi
Keola’s kupuna are native to Hawaii (especially Kohala), Japan, Guam, Russia, Poland, and Spain. He spent his keiki days in Nanakuli, before “house hopping” to Wai’anae, Waipahu, and Pearl City. He attended public schools on the Leeward Coast for his elementary years and KS for his middle and high school years. Those he cites as his primary source of intellectual, cultural, and spiritual learning and inspiration are his ‘ohana – especially his Tutu – along with 3 other kupuna that were pili to him (all of whom have passed in recent years): Kupuna Margaret Aipoalani, ‘Anakala Eddie Ka’anana, and Kumu Keola Lake.
Keola’s formal education includes a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics at Occidental College, and an MA in Pacific Islands Studies at UH-Manoa, with an emphasis in Education. Other sources of learning, grounding, and inspiratin over the last 10 years include various lo’i, loko i’a o He’eia (traditional fishpond), Kanehunamoku (traditional sailing canoe), learning oli (Kumu Lake), lomilomi (Kumu Keoho, Kumu Alvah) and weekly kanipila jam sessions held at his house (’98-’07). He also enjoys surfing, canoe surfing, and hiking.
In 1998, at age 23, he began visioning, planning, networking, fundraising, as well as providing weekly ‘ike Hawai’i classes and monthly community events, under Mana Maoli, which soon became a 501(c)3 non-profit, striving for community based education, sharing and pooling of resources, and sustainability. Mana Maoli’s first and primary focus (through today) is to strive toward their vision through starting – and sustaining – Halau Ku Mana Public Charter School, which was the first startup charter school on O’ahu to receive its charter (December 2000), opening its doors in 2001.
Halau Ku Mana is a community, culture and environment-based school serving ‘opio grades 6-12, from its two original host communities – Papakolea and Maunalaha (the only 2 Hawaiian homesteads in Honolulu) as well as through O’ahu. ‘Opio have been very responsive and successful with the real world, hands-on, interdisciplinary approach, with major improvements in attendance, academics, cultural grounding, and sense of service and leadership in their communities. Keola was recognized nationally for his efforts with Mana Maoli and Halau Ku Mana as one of the “Top 20 Leaders Under 30”.
Renée Young
He korokio taku rerenga ki runga taku maunga kohatu ko Pootiki-a-Rehua.
Kareu te pewa ki te iti o Ngaa Rauru-kii-tahi te karapoti mai nei. Tuu mai raa te maunga me onaa mana, oona wehi, oona wana. Ka heke nei au ki runga ki ngaa wai riporipo o Waitootara awa.
Rere amio whenua taku turanga-riri, ko Tauranga Ika. Toona koke koorero “Ruaiti kaiponu maunu”
Nei raa taa raatou mokopuna, ko Renée Marina Te Kehu Young, e ngana nei ki te haapai i oo raatou wawata moemoea. Auee te matapoorehu! Teenaa katoa mai taatou.
I have spent all of my adult life working for my iwi, Ngaa Rauru Kiitahi, coming up through the ranks from receptionist. This was an exciting time to become involved in iwi development as I began during the Treaty Negotiations phase and saw through the establishment of our post settlement governance entity, Te Kaahui o Rauru. I am currently in the management seat of the Ngaa Rauru Kiitahi social development subsidiary, Te Hapai Mauri Ltd.
I have been supported and aided in my development by my whanau, hapu and iwi and it is with this experience and my involvement at my marae that I attribute my in-depth understanding and empathy for the aspirations of Ngaa Rauru Kiitahi uri. I am passionate about seeing our people reach their potential and feel privileged to be involved in helping to do so.
I am a confident and enthusiastic young Ngaa Rauru wahine with a taane who puts up with my theatrics and parents who are impatiently waiting for mokopuna. I am studying part time with a view to extending my management qualifications. When there is spare time, I love nothing better than to spend the day with my nephew fishing.
I am honoured to have been given this opportunity by my iwi and hope to use the knowledge and information gained through this experience to help achieve the long term vision of revitalisation of our Ngaa Rauru Kiitahitanga.