The Harold K.L. Castle Foundation is excited to announce that the Ko‘olau Pilina Fund has reopened for applications. Now in itʻs second year, the fund prioritizes projects specifically tailored to Ko‘olau communities on Oʻahu from Kahuku to Makapuʻu. The purpose of the Koʻolau Pilina Fund (the fund) is to build community resilience in the Koʻolau […]
Strengthening the Koʻolau Hawaiian-focused Charter School ʻĀina Hui
(Guest commentary by Alice J. Kawakami and Chelsea N. K. Keehne) Since 2018, Koʻolaupoko Hawaiian-focused Charter Schools (HFCS) and ʻāina partners have cultivated pilina between students and ʻāina, with support from the Harold K.L. Castle Foundation and Kamehameha Schools. Our schools (Ke Kula o Samuel M. Kamakau, Malama Honua PCS, and Hakipuʻu Academy) and ʻāina […]
Facing forward
We believe that all people in Hawaii have unique strengths, inherent self-worth, and deserve equal opportunity to reach their potential. This belief has been challenged in 2020 as never before. Community safety nets are pulled thinner and have become far more frayed. In Spring 2020, our Directors approved $1.2 million in pandemic related basic needs […]
The heat is on: cared straight at Castle
Guest commentary by Windward District’s Jorene Barut Old habits die hard. But sometimes a spark ignites change, casts a light and levels the past into a distant memory. The Pookela Academy (Academy of Excellence) is the spark at Castle High that’s refining former self-described “kolohe” kids into steel-willed students committed to turning their lives around […]
Let’s Work Together to Restore Kawainui Marsh
Recent letters to the editor published in the Honolulu Star-Advertiser makes me realize that people are not getting an accurate picture of the state’s well-articulated conceptual plans to restore and protect Hawai‘i’s largest remaining freshwater marsh complex, which sits right in the heart of Kailua. Cheryl McIlroy wrote in “Plan for marsh widely opposed” (Star-Advertiser, […]