Over the last two years, our Foundation has proudly invested in a focused portfolio of seven grants—each designed to help more young people in Hawaiʻi enter the skilled trades, especially those from underrepresented and rural communities. We marked the close of this work at our Skilled Trades Final Convening in late 2025 at Honolulu Community College.
Skilled trades—construction, electrical, plumbing, HVAC, welding, and related fields—keep our islands running, and they offer one of the clearest pathways to family-sustaining wages for students who want to earn while they learn.
The data underscores the need. Skilled trades represent about 8% of Hawaiʻi’s workforce—roughly 58,000 jobs—projected to exceed 75,000 by 2028, with an average salary around $67,000 and many of these opportunities offer paid, on-the-job training that can accelerate upward mobility right after high school. But the promise comes with real challenges: an aging workforce, persistent shortages, and too many young people who are academically or emotionally unprepared for the demands of training and job sites. That’s why we partnered with The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation to recruit community-based nonprofits, trade associations, employers, and training institutions—aiming to both expand access for underrepresented and rural youth and build durable on-ramps into apprenticeships and careers.
One of the clearest bright spots has been Honolulu Community College’s Summer CTE Academy: across the last two summers, over 230 students from 30+ public high schools participated, rotating through hands-on modules and exploring pathways like carpentry, welding, occupational and environmental safety management, diesel mechanics, and automotive. We saw what early exposure can do when young people try a trade, picture themselves in it, and then keep going.
We also strengthened front-door pathways into construction. ABC Hawaiʻi built a statewide model of 21 cohorts of 10–15 students each and delivered a “learn–connect–build” approach that combines a 65-hour fundamentals course, meet-and-greet opportunities with trade professionals, and an expanded pool of community-based trainers—explicitly aimed at helping more youth become pre-qualified for apprenticeship entry. And through BIA Hawaii’s Pre-Apprenticeship Construction Training (PACT), participants gained training aligned with apprenticeships and access to stackable credentials (including OSHA and First Aid/CPR), alongside the kind of personal transformation you can’t capture in a spreadsheet—like one young woman who went from “curious and eager” to owning her own handywoman LLC and returning to teach shop in PACT classes!
We are seeing concrete momentum and practical lessons in electrical and clean-energy trades, too. The Hawaiʻi Electricians Training Fund’s Interim Credential Program trained 21 Waipahu and Farrington students with 16 students entering apprenticeship —supported by hands-on lab work that prepared students for real field conditions and an 80-hour bootcamp prior to entrance. Meanwhile, Mākaha Learning Center’s STRIVE initiative has offered 100 hours of Solar PV training for 40 students, with a focus on industry-recognized certifications and job placement support on the Waiʻanae Coast.
We close this portfolio with humility and clarity about what comes next. With planning support, Pearl Harbor Aviation Museum launched a new Aviation Pathways for high school juniors to test for their FAA A&P license that could ultimately lead to employment as an Airframe Technician, Powerplant Technician or Air Transportation Technician.
Many students benefitted from personal coaching and site visits led by Voyage2Vocation, which reminded us of a key insight: students experience this as one journey. When we operate as a connected system, they move with confidence instead of confusion. That’s the charge we’re taking forward: sustain what works, connect what’s fragmented, and keep building on-ramps that help Hawaiʻi’s young people move from interest, to skills, to careers.
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