History


sharethis icon

History of the Center

The Native Hawaiian Center was established in 2001 after Honolulu Community College obtained a U.S. DOE Title III Native Hawaiian Serving Institutions Grant. It officially opened its doors for business in August 2002.


Prior to the Center's opening, students of Hawaiian ancestry enrolled at HCC in Career Technical majors were serviced through Po'ina Nalu (HCC's implementation of what was formerly known as the Native Hawaiian Vocational Education Project, now Native Hawaiian Career Technical Education Program) which opened its doors to the campus in 1994.


The beginnings of the Native Hawaiian Center can be traced to the 1986 Ka'u Report which asssessed the status of Native Hawaiian students enrolled in the UH system at that time. A direct result of the initial Ka'u Report was the establishment of the Gladys Ainoa Brandt Kamakakuokalani Native Hawaiian Center at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. In 1988, UHCC Chancellor Joyce Tsunoda convened a Native Hawaiian Advisory Council to assess and provide recommendations of issues relating to Native Hawaiian higher education. This comittee produced a report calling for the establishment of a Native Hawaiian presence on each campus to promote the retention and graduation of Native Hawaiian students on each campus.


Combined, these two reports paved the way to the eventual establishments of the NHVEP (now NHCTEP) Po 'ina Nalu program in 1994 and the Title III program in 2001.

Visit our Sister Sites...

This site best viewed using Mozilla Firefox | Page last revised: July 31, 2009

© 2008 NHC-HCC | Site by desidesign.net