Building on its longstanding legacy of supporting University of Hawaiʻi programs and students, the Cooke Foundation recently awarded a trifecta of grants to help advance initiatives at UH Mānoa. One project looks to restore coral reefs. Another examines the experience of being Black in Hawai‘i. And a third wants to broaden the narrative and spectrum of local journalism.
Reef restoration
The “Fish Pono: Save Our Reefs” program aims to stem the tide of coral degradation caused by coastal pollution and ocean warming by saving fishes that save corals. Founded by ocean lovers, scientists, water enthusiasts and fishermen, Fish Pono is a public education campaign with the vision of bringing awareness to the importance of replenishing herbivore fish populations to foster healthy coral reefs.
Parrotfishes (uhu), surgeonfishes (kala) and other herbivorous fish remove seaweeds on reefs that would otherwise smother corals. Unfortunately, these living lawnmowers are overfished in many locations around Hawai‘i, according to Mark Hixon, Professor & Hsiao Endowed Chair of Marine Biology with the UH Mānoa School of Life Sciences.
The mixed-media messaging campaign includes the fishpono.org website, television and radio public service announcements, and a presence at public meetings with the Hawai‘i Division of Aquatic Resources (DAR) as it concerns these ecologically important fishes.
According to Fish Pono ambassador and UH Mānoa alumnus Randy Kosaki of the NOAA Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument, scientists have found that parrotfishes and surgeonfishes are particularly overfished and are at less than five percent of their original herbivore fish population, especially around O‘ahu.
Fish Pono founders say these herbivores not only clean our reefs, allowing corals to flourish, but uhu also produce the sand that replenishes our beaches.
“Herbivores are literally the saviors of our reefs,” Hixon says.
Blackness and belonging
Blackness | Belonging | HI is an education campaign that explores the experience of the Black population through public interviews, workshops, a future performance featuring Black artists and a community reaction event where organizers question what it means to be Black in Hawai‘i.
Led by Department of Ethnic Studies faculty, Roderick Labrador and Ethan Caldwell, along with Student Support Specialist in Advising, Civic and Community Engagement in the Social Sciences (ACCESS) Ruben Campos, this pilot project’s primary objective is to increase awareness and understanding of African American issues, history and culture while engaging and connecting with topics surrounding Blackness in Hawaiʻi.
“When I started in the department eight years ago, I wanted to bridge the university and the community through the works of artists,” said Caldwell, associate professor of Ethnic Studies, which is housed in the College of Social Sciences at UH Mānoa. “So, I started working with local businesses and artists who would be willing to give their space and talent for free.”
Thanks to a Cooke Foundation grant, Caldwell will have funding that will allow him and his colleagues to pursue this meaningful project.
“We want to highlight the artists’ creative processes,” Caldwell said. “This is another way for our students to learn and engage with the Black community.”
As part of the relatively new Creative Audio Visual Ethnic Studies (CAVES) initiative, Blackness | Belonging | HI helps bring visibility to this population, and also underscores identity and place-making through artistry and song. The principal investigators write that “this project helps us understand how Black artists continue to use identity and culture to cultivate belonging to build and connect with one another. “
Caldwell said the project creates spaces to help artists cope with and imagine the possibilities of connection between Black diasporic people in Hawaiʻi and other racial and ethnic groups on campus and beyond.
In real time
The Mānoa Mirror, an online newsroom of student journalists, strives to connect with local communities. Established in 2023 within the Journalism Program in the School of Communication and Information, The Mirror is a response to the dearth of local news and a shrinking media ecosystem. Thanks to grants from the Cooke Foundation and Press Forward, students hope to fill the void and give voice to a new generation of readers.
"To be well-prepared, Journalism students need to practice over and over again the process of making Journalism in real contexts, with real sources, and real audiences," said Journalism Director Brett Oppegaard. "This project also greatly benefits our community, with about 100 Journalism majors now roaming around Honolulu and looking for our best stories to tell but also having a venue through which to publish those stories.
An alternative voice to the student analog newspaper, Ka Leo, The Mirror covers legislative and breaking news, as well as delves into in-depth investigative journalism, uncovering stories that might otherwise not be told.
Free, online and mobile-accessible, The Mirror aspires to be the voice of its generation in Hawai‘i. Its primary target demographics are 18-24 year olds who seek stories that are written for and by their contemporaries.
The School of Communication and Information is housed in the College of Social Sciences at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa.
FOR UH • FOR HAWAIʻI, The Campaign for the University of Hawaiʻi, is focused on raising $1 billion to support UH priorities on all 10 campuses across the state, including student success; research that matters; kuleana to Native Hawaiians and Hawaiʻi; sustainability, resilience and conservation; innovation and entrepreneurship; building Hawaiʻi’s workforce; and engaging our community. Learn more at uhfoundation.org/4UH4HI
Questions? / More Information
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The University of Hawai‘i Foundation, a nonprofit organization, raises private funds to support the University of Hawai‘i System. The mission of the University of Hawai‘i Foundation is to unite donors’ passions with the University of Hawai‘i’s aspirations by raising philanthropic support and managing private investments to benefit UH, the people of Hawai‘i and our future generations. uhfoundation.org
The Cooke Foundation supports worthy endeavors in the community that the family feels will make a significant difference in the betterment and welfare of the people of Hawaii. cookefoundationlimited.org
