Hawaii Wire

Hawaii tech fund Earthshot Ventures launched

Wed, 08 Sep 2021 10:56:42 -1000

The first climate technology fund raised from Hawaii launched today with its first $60 million close.

Earthshot Ventures from the Elemental Excelerator aims to scale global, equitable climate solutions by bringing together new and existing networks in the climate tech space.

The spin-out is backed by Emerson Collective, the Employees’ Retirement System of Hawaii, Microsoft, Stafford Capital Partners, Impact Engine, McKinley Alaska, Kleiner Perkins chairman John Doerr, NextGen America founder Tom Steyer, and Facebook Chief Product Officer Chris Cox.

Elemental Excelerator is a global climate tech organization that pioneered the use of the accelerator model for climate technologies. Since 2012, Elemental has evaluated over 5,000 companies, invested alongside 2,000 co-investors, and built an inclusive community to advance climate investing.

“Earthshot raises the bar for equitable climate tech investment,” said Laurene Powell Jobs, Elemental Excelerator board chair and president of the Emerson Collective. “Our deeply aligned group of investors is seeking the most audacious entrepreneurs to rapidly address the climate crisis.”

Three of Elemental’s team members will lead the fund: Dawn Lippert, Elemental founder and CEO, Mike Jackson, who has served as Elemental’s investor-in-residence since 2017, and Ramsay Siegal, former head of Elemental’s portfolio.

Elemental Excelerator’s Interactive annual investor event was held May 15, 2019 at Fort Mason in San Francisco, CA. Photo: Kevin de Leon

“We built Earthshot Ventures to increase catalytic funding for bold and diverse founders who are transforming markets,” said Lippert. “Earthshot gives us a new tool to help founders tackle enormous challenges, while providing investors access to the world’s biggest growth opportunity: combating climate change.”

“Microsoft is investing in Earthshot because of their ability to deliver impactful and equitable climate solutions, two top priorities for our Climate Innovation Fund,” said Brandon Middaugh, director of the Microsoft Climate Innovation Fund. “We look forward to supporting the new technologies made possible by this investment, which are key to a net zero carbon future.”

About Earthshot Ventures

Earthshot Ventures is a $60 million early-stage venture fund investing in entrepreneurs solving the toughest climate challenges. The fund invests in both hardware and software companies from Seed through Series B, and helps companies scale by plugging them into our global network of customers, investors, and policymakers. In 2021, Earthshot was spun out of Elemental Excelerator, a global climate tech organization that pioneered the use of the accelerator model for climate technologies. The fund is led by Dawn Lippert, Elemental founder and CEO; Mike Jackson, who served as Elemental’s investor-in-residence since 2017; and Matt Logan, who previously evaluated startups and led corporate partnerships for Elemental. For more information, please visit earthshot.vc.

About Elemental Excelerator

Elemental Excelerator is on a mission to redesign the systems at the root of climate change. In 2009, the non-profit launched a new model for funding climate tech deployment. Breaking down barriers to innovation alongside entrepreneurs provides Elemental unique insight into the policy, market, and technology innovation needed to build systems to uplift people and communities around the world. Elemental has invested in over 115 growth-stage companies and celebrated more than 20 exits, funded more than 70 technology projects, and built a platform for scaling equitable, market-driven solutions to climate change. For more information, please visit elementalexcelerator.com.

Source: Hawaii Tech.

Tech Tip: Fix Blotter for Mac

Fri, 03 Sep 2021 14:37:47 -1000

One of my favorite small utilities for my Mac is Blotter, by Delaware-based Wireload. It’s delightfully simple and elegant, putting your calendar and reminders on your Desktop.

Unfortunately, it also stopped working a few MacOS versions ago, and the app hasn’t been updated since October 2019.

Not surprisingly, the Apple App Store reviews have become universally bad as a result.

Wireload’s support forum is pretty much full of complaints from others who are disappointed Blotter stopped working for them.

The last time I went looking for an update, however, I noticed that someone had found a fix to get Blotter working again. It’s not an official fix, and involves messing with Terminal commands, but it works.

Even though I’m running the next version of MacOS — MacOS 12 Monterey in beta — Blotter is happily humming away on my MacBook Pro 16″ desktop. I’m elated.

Here’s the fix:

Launch Terminal (in /Applications/Utilities).

2. Copy the following and paste it into Terminal, and press Enter:

defaults write net.wireload.blotter.mac NSGraphicsContextAllowOverRestore -bool YES

3. Then, copy the following and press Enter:

defaults write net.wireload.blotter.mac NSViewAllowsRootLayerBacking -bool NO

And that’s it. You may have to restart your Mac and re-launch Blotter.

Thanks to Gfidias in the Wireload forums and GerryWilliamson in the App Store!

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/blotter/id406580224?mt=12

Spam Musubi Day set for August 8

Fri, 06 Aug 2021 14:05:31 -1000

Sunday has been declared “Spam Musubi Day” by L&L Hawaiian Barbecue, a popular Hawaiian-style comfort-food restaurant franchise with 210 locations across the U.S.

To celebrate this iconic dish from Hawaii, the public can enter to win a free trip for two to Hawaii. In addition, select L&L restaurants across the U.S. will give away a total of 100,000 free Spam Musubis to the public. Finally, select cities will host special events and social media giveaways with new exclusive limited run L&L merchandise and special prize packs.

“Our signature Spam Musubi is certainly the most unique menu item and one of the most popular, “says L&L CEO and President Elisia Flores. “We’re grateful that it has grown in popularity in America, and it is time for us to celebrate its success on the national stage.”

During World War II, the U.S. military brought the canned luncheon meat to Hawaii as an important ration for deployed troops. As the war in the Pacific continued the military surplus of SPAM® was made available to local civilians who incorporated the food into their diets since fresh meat was in short supply.

The word “musubi” comes from the Japanese verb “musubu” which means to tie, bind, or link together. The Musubi is an off shoot of the Japanese rice snack called “onigiri” which is rice shaped in a ball or triangle wrapped securely in nori (seaweed) and some sort of filling in the center, such as meat or salted vegetables. This hand-held lunch staple was introduced to Hawaii in the late 19th century by Japanese immigrant farmers. Today about 14 percent of Hawaii’s population has Japanese ancestry.

100,000 Free Spam Musubi

Anyone who downloads the L&L Hawaiian Barbecue App on their mobile phone by Saturday, August 7, will receive a digital coupon to redeem in person one free Spam Musubi on August 8 from a select L&L Hawaiian Barbecue restaurant in his/her area. The first 100,000 downloads will be eligible.

Win a Trip to Hawaii

L&L fans can also enter online at HawaiianBarbecue.com for a chance to win a roundtrip holiday for two to Hawaii which includes 160,000 HawaiianMiles good for roundtrip travel for two from any U.S. mainland Hawaiian Airlines gateway city to or from Hawaii and a four-night stay at the Outrigger Malia Hotel in Waikiki. The grand prize winner will be notified on August 9, 2021.

What is a Spam Musubi?

It is a simple hand-held snack from Hawaii that is like a hotdog or a burrito. It consists of a crispy slice of Spam on top of warm rice with soy sauce or other sauce, all wrapped together in nori (seaweed).

L&L Hawaiian Barbecue Facts:

L&L restaurants sell approximately 20,000 SPAM® Musubis daily. If you were to stack them one on top of another that would be taller than three Empire State Buildings.
L&L restaurants cooked over 2.8 million cups of rice a month. That would be enough rice to overflow an Olympic-sized swimming pool.
L&L restaurants make over 488,000 pounds of Macaroni Salad each year, which equals the weight of 559 average sized elephants.
L&L Hawaiian Barbecue was voted by Franchise Magazine as the #1 Asian franchise in the nation five years in a row, 2016-2021.
A recent Yelp survey on take-out trends revealed that SPAM® Musubi was the number one pandemic take-out food in Nevada.

About L&L Hawaii

Founded in Honolulu as L&L Dairy in 1952, L&L became a popular eatery in Hawaii. The iconic L&L Hawai‘i brand was founded in 1976 by Eddie Flores, Jr. and Johnson Kam, who have grown the company into the most popular restaurant franchise specializing in Hawaii cuisine throughout the world. Today L&L Hawaii offers Hawaiian-style comfort food and hospitality at its nearly 200 locations throughout 14 states and Japan. For more, visit hawaiianbarbecue.com.

AlohaSafe COVID notification app hits milestone

Wed, 28 Jul 2021 08:18:11 -1000

AlohaSafe Alert, the State of Hawaii’s official COVID-19 exposure notification app, has reached one million activations.

The free app launched statewide in January as a way to bolster the state’s contact tracing program using digital tools. It is designed to provide anonymous notifications to people who have been exposed to COVID-19.

AlohaSafe Alert uses Bluetooth technology to estimate the distance between smartphones. If a user tests positive for COVID-19, they will receive a secure code from the Hawaii Department of Health. When the user uploads that code, the system will send an anonymous message to any close contacts – individuals within six feet for at least 15 minutes over the last 14 days – of the individual who tested positive for the virus.

Over 600 people have uploaded their code to anonymously report their COVID-19 infection and inform others in the community of their risk. This rate of code redemption is consistent with other states that have successfully implemented the technology.

While the privacy-preserving design of the app limits the amount of data that can be collected from users, preliminary analysis indicates that the technology is effective in notifying people who may have otherwise never been alerted about their exposure, thus preventing infections and saving lives.

Officials attribute Hawaii’s high adoption rate of one million activations in part to strong uptake among residents and visitors. However, due to privacy protections, the ratio of permanent residents to temporary visitors cannot be determined.

“Getting vaccinated is more important than ever, but to slow the recent increase in COVID-19 cases we should use all the tools at our disposal,” said Dr. Libby Char, director of the Hawaii State Department of Health. “Wearing masks, avoiding large gatherings and utilizing AlohaSafe Alert exposure notification will help protect all of us from the spread of COVID-19.”

Besides getting vaccinated and wearing masks, Chris Pan, executive director of the First Presbyterian Church of Honolulu, has encouraged everyone in his congregation to enable exposure notifications on their phone as an extra layer of protection against the virus.

“Being able to gather in-person means the world to us and AlohaSafe Alert give us the peace of mind knowing that if someone tests positive, we will be immediately notified through our phones,” he said.

Besides Hawaii, 22 states and the District of Columbia have also deployed the exposure notification technology. Hawaii was among the first to adopt EN Express, which allowed iPhone users to opt-in to the service without downloading an app. The app continues to be enhanced over time and has been made available in Tagalog, Ilocano, Samoan, Marshallese, Chuukese, and Korean as well as compatibility with older phones to promote greater access across the community.

AlohaSafe Alert was developed through a public-private partnership with DOH, aio Digital, and the Hawaii Executive Collaborative. It is funded by DOH and donations from the private sector.

For more information visit alohasafealert.org.

Source: Hawaii Tech.

Cybersecurity training provided to Native Hawaiian students

Tue, 20 Jul 2021 09:56:11 -1000

Windward Community College and Hawaiian Telcom joined forces to support the growing demand for local cybersecurity professionals with a unique internship program for Native Hawaiian students.

Cybersecurity jobs are among the fastest-growing career areas in the nation. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ (BLS) Information Security Analyst’s Outlook predicts cybersecurity jobs will grow 31 percent through 2029, more than seven times faster than the national average job growth of 4 percent.

To help meet this growing demand in Hawaii, the ‘Ao Kahi Internship Program was established at Windward Community College, a Native Hawaiian Career and Technical Education project sponsored by ALU LIKE, Inc. and funded by a grant from the U.S. Department of Education.

Through a six-week paid internship, eight students of Native Hawaiian ancestry experienced hands-on learning of “red team” (offensive) and “blue team” (defensive) information security tactics and explored aspects of network engineering, information security engineering, systems engineering and data center management, project management and human management.

The students were mentored by Hawaiian Telcom’s Managed Services team.

The internship’s primary goal was to broaden students’ understanding of information security and outline how expansive the work opportunities are, especially for entry-level positions.

“It was important to us that our students come away with well-rounded insights about different aspects of cybersecurity and pathways to success as they think about potential careers,” said Jodie Yim, coordinator for the ‘Ao Kahi program. “Working with Hawaiian Telcom was invaluable for our students because they engaged regularly with local cybersecurity professionals who are committed to passing on their career and industry knowledge.”

“Connecting with students through ‘Ao Kahi gave us the opportunity to be more than a service provider,” said Jordan Silva, senior manager of service delivery for Hawaiian Telcom. “It gave us the chance to leverage our expertise and passion for our careers in service to our local community.

“A career in cybersecurity can be highly satisfying as it’s fast-paced and constantly evolving, and there are many routes you can take,” Silva added. “As an employer, we see the growing need for qualified professionals and have a vested interest in helping to develop them right here in Hawaii.”

“The internship with Hawaiian Telcom was an amazing opportunity,” said Kainoa Jimenez, who completed his internship in June. “I’m in the process of earning my global Security+ certification and the internship showed me exactly what to pay attention to when I’m ready to pursue a cybersecurity position.”

In addition to the ‘Ao Kahi internship program, Hawaiian Telcom’s Managed Services team supports local cybersecurity education by volunteering to work with students through CyberPatriot, the National Youth Cyber Education Program offered by the Hawaii chapter of the Air Force Association, and hosting free, educational Hawaiian Telcom University events with topics ranging from technology trends to solutions for complex business issues.

The next ‘Ao Kahi Internship cybersecurity cohort starts in January for spring 2022. Applications will be available in November. For questions about the ‘Ao Kahi Internship Program, contact Jodie Yim at wccCyber@hawaii.edu.

About Windward Community College

Windward Community College offers innovative programs in the arts and sciences and opportunities to gain knowledge and understanding of Hawai‘i and its unique heritage. With a special commitment to support the access and educational needs of Native Hawaiians, we provide the Ko‘olau region of O‘ahu and beyond with liberal arts, career and lifelong learning in a supportive and challenging environment — inspiring students to excellence.

About Hawaiian Telcom

Hawaiian Telcom, established and headquartered in Honolulu since 1883, offers a full range of services to business and residential customers including Internet, video, voice, wireless, data network solutions and security, colocation, and managed and cloud services – all supported by the reach and reliability of its next generation fiber network and 24/7 state-of-the-art network operations center. For more information, visit hawaiiantel.com.

Source: Hawaii Tech.

UH researchers forecast ‘worst case’ COVID Delta variant spread

Thu, 15 Jul 2021 15:20:57 -1000

There is still potential for COVID-19 case growth in Hawaii, and unvaccinated residents will be the primary driver of its spread and resulting hospitalizations.

Those are the key takeaways identified by a University of Hawaii research team, funded by the National Science Foundation, as it revisits COVID-19 case numbers in Hawaii, taking into account the more contagious Delta variant and the return of pre-pandemic visitor numbers.

The team is lead by UH mathematics professor Monique Chyba, working in partnership with the Hawaii Pandemic Applied Modeling Work Group (HiPAM).

Among their observations:

Mutations are a cause for concern, especially the Delta variant, currently dominating in the U.S. Daily cases have been increasing in Hawaii, and doubling in the U.S. as of July 13, 2021 compared to June 23, 2021.
Cases had been trending downwards since late May, despite a lower vaccination rate, the end of the mask mandate for outdoors, and an influx of tourists. The numbers started to climb back up around July 7.
Cases have gone up despite a decrease in testing in July, which is cause for concern.
Among the four main identified variants of COVID-19, the Alpha variant was dominant in May but prevalence has fallen consistently since. The Delta variant is the only variant with increasing numbers today.

“Reopening and lifting mitigations measures such as mask mandate must be done cautiously,” the group reported. “While daily cases and hospitalizations are under control currently, a surge cannot be excluded, especially if restrictions are lifted too early.”

Just today, Los Angeles County announced that it would again require masks to be worn when indoors due to a surge in COVID cases there. This a month after a long-awaited and celebrated reopening.

“It can be clearly observed that the majority of hospitalizations are due to unvaccinated individuals,” they added. “Vaccination is key to controlling the spread of the virus!”

Chyba and her team also prepared a worst case scenario for Honolulu County, assuming vaccination rates stop at 65 percent of the population, and assuming that all new cases are the more contagious Delta variant.

The forecast shows daily new cases exceeding 150 and daily hospitalizations nearing 90 by November 2021.

Source: Hawaii Tech.

Ancient Hawaiian petroglyphs damaged

Wed, 07 Jul 2021 13:56:21 -1000

From a distance, it appears a flock of birds left their collective droppings all over a cliff face that holds some of the finest examples of Hawaiian petroglyphs. Also known as Pu’u Kilea, there are about 100 petroglyphs spread across the face of the basalt cliff in the Olowalu Valley.

The DLNR Division of Conservation and Resources Enforcement (DOCARE) was notified of serious vandalism last Tuesday, after someone with a paintball gun fired shot after shot onto the dark cliff. Now, officers are asking for help to try and identify the person or persons who damaged this important cultural site.

“I would guess several hundred paintballs were shot at this historical site,” said DOCARE Lt. John Yamamoto. He said the “attack” appeared random and the paintball gun was likely fired from down on the road. “White and yellow splotches of paint are spread across nearly the entire cliff face from the top to the base and from one side to the other. A great battle happened in this Ahupuaʻa and it’s hurtful to see this kind of disrespect for our culture,” he added.

Images courtesy DLNR.

According to online accounts, in 1790, an American ship opened fire on Hawaiian canoes. More than 100 men were killed and another 200 were hurt. The massacre led to retribution when the next western ship arrived and its entire crew was attacked and killed, except for one man, who later became an advisor to King Kamehameha the Great.

The Pu‘u Kilea rock art includes human and animal figures, canoes and sails. The site has been vandalized in the past with graffiti and unfortunately the paintballs landed on some of the petroglyphs. The images, or ki’i pohaku, chiseled into the rock are estimated to be more than 300-years-old. The petroglyphs are believed to represent legends or stories of the early Hawaiians.

The vandal(s) could face charges of criminal property damage, in addition to civil penalties, and Lt. Yamamoto hopes anyone with any information will come forward. “This is so sad to see. Like many others, I visited this place when I was a young boy. Anyone with information can call DLNR here on Maui at 873- 3990. We do work seven days a week, holidays included.”

Anonymous tips can also be called in to the 24-hour DOCARE hotline at 643-DLNR(3567) or via the DLNRTip app, downloadable for free on Android and Apple devices.

Source: Hawaii Star.

State connects with outdoor recreation app

Thu, 01 Jul 2021 09:29:06 -1000

A free application that provides official information on Hawaii hiking trails and hunting areas statewide debuted today.

The state of Hawaii is adopting the OuterSpatial platform to provide current and official information about trails and other outdoor recreation spots and hunting seasons, rules, and areas.

The app is available on the Apple App Store and the Google Play store. More information can be found on the state Department of Land and Natural Resources website here, or on OuterSpatial’s website here.

Department of Fish and Wildlife (DOFAW) biologist Jason Omick said the genesis of the app was to have a more proficient way to collect hunter harvest data.

“We found a lot of people wanted to be able to check-in electronically,” he said. “With this mobile app they can do that and more.”

Users can download their trail or route prior to taking off and even if your phone drops cell service, the app will continue to provide your location via the phone’s GPS. This will give people a sense of security when they’re in the field.

“Even when you are off-line, you will be able to navigate State Forest Reserves and trails in the Na Ala Hele Trails and Access system with confidence,” Omick added.

Earlier this week, on east Oahu’s Kuliʻouʻou Trail, a team from DOFAW demonstrated the OuterSpatial app and some of its functions. Omick stops along the trail and showed some of the features.

“Our Hawai‘i home screen has weather advisories, COVID updates, special trails, masterpiece trails, and places to go for epic views,” he explained. “You can just touch on any area, read about it, and find different hunting areas and checkstations, natural area reserves, and even state parks.”

The application is ever expandable and Omick expects to provide additional information and updates based on user needs. One potential tool is that hikers can “check in” to a trail when hiking, which could be used to provide information in the event that a hiker goes missing.

The app has social media integration and users can take and share photos and report trail hazards and problems to DOFAW or other state agencies.

Nicholas Vargas, a DOFAW wildlife biologist, is a hunter. He is excited about the utility of the OuterSpatial App. “Being able to actually monitor how far you go on a trail and the amount of game you take is a cool thing. You can look back and see how you progress through your hunting career.”

For land and resource managers the application is expected to provide metrics which will better inform management decisions, such as when to open and close trails.

Omick added: “We’ll be monitoring each trail and area, making sure they’re open when they’re supposed to be and closed when they’re supposed to be. So rather than going to unofficial websites that may not have current and up-to-date information, OuterSpatial will have information on all our assets that are open to the public. It is the official DLNR outdoor recreation app, and we encourage everyone who enjoys being out on the trails, in the forest, or in the parks to download it for free.”

DOFAW managers say the app’s applications are limitless and they plan to make it more robust over time.

“The sky is the limit,” Omick concluded.

App development cost an estimated $140,000 and there is a $10,000 annual charge from OuterSpatial.

Source: Hawaii Tech.

Hawaii travel tech companies ride resurgence of tourism

Wed, 30 Jun 2021 15:09:59 -1000

The global tourism economy and any businesses associated with it took a huge hit in 2020. In Hawaii, hundreds of them shut down, and those that survived did so at great cost and sacrifice.

Now, with vaccination rates rising, the Hawaii tourist economy has roared back to life, nearing the record numbers seen two years ago. The crush of visitors has many questioning the sustainability of the current system, but it also brings some good news: local tourism-centric businesses like Shaka Guide, Activiter, and TurnoverBnB — all alumni of the Hawaii-based technology accelerator Blue Startups — have seen extreme growth since the start of the year.

Shaka Guide

After a dismal 2020 and having to furlough most of its team, Shaka Guide went from 0-100mph starting in April. Offering over 20 audio tours encompassing our culture’s art of storytelling, Shaka Guide covers Maui, Kauai, Oahu, and the Big Island. Since it functions as a self-guided tour, this service is primed for a post-covid world in which people are still very hesitant to participate in group activities.

According to Co-Founder Andrew Fowers, Shaka Guide has been able to double its pre-covid revenue as well as its internal staff and beat its recovery forecasting by 6 months. For more information on their open positions, please check out their indeed page.

Activiter

Activiter, a real-time digital inventory marketplace for tours and activities here in Hawai’i, found itself at zero customers all 2020. As March of 2021 rolled around, forecasts for tourism looked promising and Expedia pulled its activity desks from Hawaii hotels. Filling the gap left by Expedia, Activiter signed a pivotal deal allowing them to 10x their distribution.

Originating as a golf-specific platform, Activiter expanded to a wide range of vacation activities. Their turnkey technology platform enables companies to sell tours and activities to their existing customer base under their own brand.

TurnoverBnB

As a tech platform that streamlines the scheduling, paying, and finding vacation rental cleaners and cleaning services for Airbnbs across the globe, business started picking up for TurnoverBnB in February. While Europe is proving to have a slower rebound, the reopening of the United States and other English speaking countries has caused business to grow exponentially. As we exit the pandemic, TurnoverBnB has made sure to provide extensive resources and heightened protocols to their cleaning vendors.

Marketing Director, Nicolette Masiya, says they are expanding internally as they look to fill multiple roles in their marketing department. They are specifically looking for an in-house content marketer to work out of their Honolulu office. If you are qualified and interested in this position, please email Nicolette at nicolette@turnoverbnb.com.

Chenoa Farnsworth is the managing director of Blue Startups, Hawaii’s only venture accelerator. She has been helping startup entrepreneurs to grow their companies for the past 15 years.

Source: Hawaii Tech.

Applications open for second Hawaii remote work program

Mon, 21 Jun 2021 13:56:31 -1000

Applications opened today for the second cohort of “Movers and Shakas,” an initiative by local business leaders to foster remote work and community contributions in Hawaii.

The competitive program, which garnered nearly 90,000 applications for the first cohort’s 50 spots, provides selected participants with the opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of Hawaii, build strong personal relationships and actively contribute to the community while continuing their full-time remote job.

The online application will remain open until July 12, 2021.

Those selected for the fall cohort will be welcomed with a free roundtrip ticket to and from Honolulu and are required to remain in Hawaii for the month of October. Cohort members will also be assigned a volunteer project with a local nonprofit or startup based on their skills and experience and will be provided with cultural orientation and group community-building activities.

Participants in the first cohort volunteered with partner organizations including the PAʻI Foundation, Native Hawaiian Hospitality Association, Native Hawaiian Chambers of Commerce, and Girl Scouts of Hawaii, among others.

“Our pilot program and inaugural cohort fellows exceeded our expectations,” said Nicole Lim, director of Movers and Shakas. “What started as a passionate initiative by Hawaii business leaders has transformed into a multidimensional program centered on building strong relationships and creating a more sustainable and resilient Hawaii.

“We are excited to take our learnings from our first cohort and build on those successes to create more meaningful experiences and greater community impact for our second cohort,” she added.

“Movers and Shakas was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for me to contribute my professional skills and learn about Hawaii’s unique culture, history and community,” said Nicole Chiu-Wang, a member of the first who works at Google in the Bay Area. “The program was so much more than I could have hoped for, and I left Hawaii more educated, inspired, and deeply connected to the land and people.”

Funding for Movers and Shakas was provided through donations from founding organizations including CPB Foundation, FCH Enterprises (parent company of Zippy’s), Hawaii Agricultural Foundation, Hawaii Executive Collaborative, Inkinen Executive Search, iQ 360, Island Holdings, and kWh Analytics, with support from United Airlines and the Department of Business Economic Development and Tourism (DBEDT). This program is not funded by the CARES Act or any government funding dedicated to COVID-19 recovery.

Participants must have current legal authorization to work in the United States, a full-time job that is 100 percent remote (unless an Oahu resident) and are committed to the program requirements. Hawaii residents are also encouraged to apply. Interested applicants are encouraged to watch the online information session to hear experiences from past participants.

Program Commitment

This immersive program requires selected participants to commit 8-10 hours/week of volunteering, cultural orientation, and group activities in addition to existing personal and professional commitments. Requirements include:

Stay the entire 30 days (minimum) on Oahu from Oct. 2 to Oct. 31
Attend required events during the month of October
Actively participate in skill-based team volunteer projects with local organizations for 15 hours a month for two months (the second month can be remote).

About Movers and Shakas

Movers and Shakas aims to bring together purpose-driven remote workers, especially returning kamaʻāina, to come to Hawaii and actively contribute to the community. The program is rooted in three pillars: people, economy and caring for Hawaii. Its mission is to create a more innovative, resilient, and sustainable Hawaii by enabling personal relationships, professional collaborations, and contributions to the community. For more information visit www.moversandshakas.org.

Source: Hawaii Tech.