Kulaniakea

Kulaniakea is a Native Hawaiian tax-exempt corporate entity based in Honolulu, Hawaii, registered with SAM.gov since January 2016. As a Native Hawaiian organization and educational institution, Kulaniakea provides federal grant funding support focused on strengthening Hawaiian language, culture, and educational capacity within Native Hawaiian communities. The organization leverages federal grants to develop programs and initiatives that preserve and transmit Hawaiian cultural knowledge while building sustainable economic opportunities for cultural practitioners.

Kulaniakea has received three prime federal grant awards from the Administration for Native Americans and the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, demonstrating a sustained commitment to Native Hawaiian education and cultural preservation. The most recent award, the No Na Hanauna Project, is a three-year, $898,985 initiative from the Administration for Native Americans (CFDA 93.612) that began in September 2025 and runs through September 2028. This project enhances the capacity of 30 Native Hawaiian cultural practitioners annually through cohort-based training in educational product development, technical skills, and business fundamentals, while simultaneously developing Kumu Pay Kumu, a digital platform modeled after Teachers Pay Teachers that enables practitioners to monetize and distribute Hawaiian educational content. Prior to this, Kulaniakea completed two grant awards from the Administration for Native Americans and the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education: He Pukoa Kani Aina: A Coral Reef That Grows Into an Island, a project grant that ran from September 2021 through June 2026, and Hiilei: Comprehensive Native Hawaiian Early Childhood Education Program, funded by the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education from September 2021 through August 2023. These awards collectively reflect Kulaniakea's expertise in designing and implementing culturally-grounded educational initiatives that address early childhood education, cultural preservation, practitioner capacity-building, and the creation of sustainable platforms for Hawaiian language and cultural knowledge dissemination.