• Workforce Development Program for Native Hawaiians

    June 27, 2025
    “Ao – Passport to a Brighter Future”
     
    Kailua-Kona, HI - Looking for a fresh career start or wanting to get some new trade skills under your belt?  Apply now to participate in a workforce development program being offered by La`i`ōpua 2020 which will help individuals to qualify for jobs in the light industrial and construction sectors of West Hawai`i’s workforce.
     
    “Ao – Passport to a Brighter Future” will offer trade skills training certification to Native Hawaiian adults through a program focusing on:
    ●       CPR, First Aid, and AED
    ●       Fire Extinguisher Safety
    ●       Confined/Enclosed Space Awareness
    ●       Lockout/Tagout Procedures
    ●       Job Hazard Analysis
    ●       Heat Illness Awareness
    ●       Fall Protection
    ●       Forklift Operation
    ●       Scissor Lift, Aerial Boom & Telehandler Operation
    ●       OSHA 10
    ●       Scaffold Training
     
    Participants must be of Native Hawaiian descent, 18 years of age or older, and possess a valid driver’s license.

    Participants who successfully complete the Passport Training program and are 21 years or older will be eligible for a Commercial Driver’s License (CDL) training class.

    An initial cohort of the program starts in July 2025 and will be held at La`i`ōpua 2020 in Kealakehe, North Kona.

    Experienced trainers from the Friends of Waimanalo, a non-profit organization which promotes workforce development, will lead the five weekends of skill certification trainings.

    “We hope this program, offering more than 120 hours of free skills training, will open employment doors for Native Hawaiian adults in West Hawai`i,” says Rebecca “Kawehi” Inaba, executive director of La`i`ōpua 2020. “Our research, both data based and through conversation with our lāhui, has revealed a stark need for new opportunities and skills training in the community.

    “Part of La`i`ōpua 2020ʻs mission is to identify community needs and coordinate programs for Native Hawaiian homesteaders and those residing in the greater Kona community. Workforce development is one of those needs and we are responding with this program with the goal being to raise up and support `ohana looking to expand their skill set and job reach,” Inaba said. “I want to mahalo the Office of Hawaiian Affairs and the Department of Hawaiian Homelands for recognizing the need for this training and funding this program.”

    Those interested in applying can visit https://www.laiopua.org/ao.
     
    ABOUT LA`I`ŌPUA 2020
    La`i`ōpua 2020 is a non-profit organization whose mission is to provide social, recreational, vocational, economic, educational, and cultural opportunities and infrastructure to Native Hawaiians to include the communities of the Kealakehe ahupua`a. It is a place for pilina (building and supporting one another through relationships) and pu`uhonua (a place of comfort, peace, and safety). For more information about La`i`ōpua 2020, visit its website, Laiopua.org, or call 808.365.3005

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    Suggested Radio PSA
    Looking for a fresh career or wanting to get some new trade skills under your belt?  Apply now to participate in a workforce development program being offered by La`i`ōpua 2020 which will increase opportunities for jobs in the light industrial and construction sectors of West Hawai`i’s workforce. For more information, https://www.laiopua.org/ao