Nalani Galariada grew up in Nanakuli on Hakimo Road. Back then, life was all about riding bike, roller skating (on 4-wheels), playing in the quarry (now Sea Country), marbles, skyheenee (sky inning), and chase master with her sister and neighborhood friends. She remembers a different kind of childhood, one not concerned with things like crime, drugs, and human trafficking. 

The Indigenous Early Learning Collaborative (IELC) is a community-based inquiry project created by Dr. Tarajean Yazzie-Mintz, Founder and Principal Consultant of the First Light Education Project, in collaboration with the Brazelton Touchpoints Center (BTC). The W.K. Kellogg Foundation has generously committed $1.5 million to this 2-year project to support these indigenous community projects. INPEACE’s Keiki Steps program has the honor of being one of four selected Indigenous communities in the IELC, representing Hawai‘i and our lāhui kānaka ‘ōiwi. INPEACE joins three other indigenous community serving organizations as part of the IELC: the Wiikwedong ECD Collaborative of Keweenaw, Michigan; Wicoie Nandagikendan, an immersion program in urban Minneapolis; and Daybreak Star of Seattle, Washington. 

What began as a desire to uplift the brilliance of our kūpuna as a means to engage Hawai‘i’s youth in science, has evolved into INPEACE’s new Kaulele Project.  Designed to be a traveling pop-up indigenous science center, Kaulele is working to create exhibits that provide hands-on interactive learning opportunities, presented through an indigenous lens and focused on Hawaiian cultural practices. 

Starting a business is one of the most exciting and rewarding experiences in the journey of any entrepreneur. It is often accompanied by fears and failures. A lot of work, time, and money is invested into a dream that is fueled by a passion to share one’s gifts and talents with friends and family, the community, and possibly the world through the power of e-commerce. 

INPEACE’s Ka Lama, the seed of hope the founders planted all those years ago, has germinated, matured and flowered, nurturing up and coming educators and helping to sustain the passion and commitment of veteran teachers.

Yolanda Rivers is one of many fruits from this tree. She earned her Associate of Science in Teaching through Leeward Community College, and Bachelor of Education through University of Hawaiʻi at West O‘ahu. What institutions could not teach her, that which was innate, is her love for home and commitment to her community. Enduring through a disempowering education process, it was her love and commitment to community that drove her persistence.