Five years ago, we started Kanu Hawaii with this belief: The key to building a better future for Hawaii lies in the wisdom of our people and our culture. It was a belief that the people of Hawaii have knowledge, experience and values - borne from living on islands together - that could shape more...

In June of this year, Kanu Hawaii set out to test the idea that a small group of volunteers could get large numbers of people re-engaged in politics using new technology and old-fashioned conversation. We put some old campaign tools like door-knocking to new use, and introduced new tools like...

The Board and Staff of Kanu Hawaii were shocked and saddened to hear today of the sudden passing of our friend and colleague, Guy Toyama. Guy served on the Kanu Hawaii board for the past two years, and had been a member and friend of Kanu almost since it's founding. He was a reknowned champion of...

A little more than a month ago, Kanu Hawaii launched a pilot project to gather community voices, expand the vote, and give people information about candidates in their district. The goal is to create conditions where people are better equipped to hold elected leaders accountable. We started this...

In the four years since we launched Kanu Hawaii, we have been working toward a more sustainable, compassionate, resilient Hawaii, rooted in personal commitments to change. We've asked people to "be the change" by committing to live as environmental stewards, compassionate neighbors, and productive...

Over the Memorial Day weekend, Kanu Hawaii board and staff members went door-to-door and stood outside supermarkets in Kailua, asking people "What are the important issues to you this election year?" We talked story with folks, tested some questions for a candidate questionnaire, and tried to...

One year ago, three Kanu volunteers - Annie Koh, Brent Kakesako, and Cherilyn Inouye - launched Live Aloha In Your Neighborhood, a campaign asking all of us to reach "3 doors down" in either direction from our homes, and build the hyper-local relationships that make for solid communities.The...

This recap is already overdue, so I'll keep it brief. Normally, our DUI sessions have guest speakers, but for the March meetup, Nikki Love of Common Cause, Carmille Lim of League of Women Voters, and I teamed up to make our own presentation. We tried to lay out a DIY guide to mapping the influence...

The February DUI session featured guest speaker Gary Hooser, former State Senator.  Gary shared his inside perspective on how influence, relationships, and factions within the legislature affect public policy-making. Here are some things I learned and the video (in 2 parts, sorry, we had an...

This story was originally published by Civil Beat, January, 23 2012. The whole post and discussion can be viewed at that link.This session I’ll be watching bills that illustrate how money and connections shape policy. There’s no shortage of such bills – virtually any bill where...