Awards issued prior to january 20, 2025, were funded under previous administrations and may not reflect the priorities and policies of the current administration.** the UH meat & poultry workforce…

Awards issued prior to january 20, 2025, were funded under previous administrations and may not reflect the priorities and policies of the current administration.** the UH meat & poultry workforce consortium brings together hawai?i community college, college of agriculture, forestry, & natural resource management at UH-hilo, and the collegeof tropical agriculture & human resources at UH-m?NOA. The project goals are to improvetransfer pathways, develop a skilled meat and poultry production and processing workforce, andfoster a sense of belonging for native hawaiian and underserved students. The target objectives are: (1) improved animal science pathways from 2- to 4-year institutionsfor community college students as evidenced by a change in transfer rate from zero to 1-2 peryear and conferring of 4 bachelor's degrees; (2) improved skilled labor force for meat andpoultry production and processing as evidenced by an increase in students completing butcheringcourse and hazard analysis critical control point certification from zero to 10 per year andconferring of 25 certificates or associate's degrees with animal science coursework; (3) improvedsense of belonging for native hawaiian and underserved students as evidenced by studentsurveys; and (4) improved connections between the consortium and industry partners asevidenced by an increase in formal partnerships from 1 to 5.the project interventions draw from the four-component model of university persistencedescribed by secwepemc elder, mike arnouse that emphasizes cultural, social, physical, andcognitive factors essential to indigenous student success. This project will engage in curricularredesign and the creation of transfer pathways, development of culturally connected experientiallearning opportunities, and the creation of a small cohort learning community to improve studentretention.