Maui Huliau Foundation (ELP)

Maui Huliau Foundation was founded in 2010, with the mission to promote environmental literacy and leadership among youth ages 12-18 throughout Maui Nui. Through their unique hands-on programs, they seek to educate and empower youth to become future stewards of our natural environment. They accomplish this by engaging youth in real-life projects alongside community members, which help them realize the power they have in creating positive change for our islands. They also facilitate the passing on of intergenerational ʻāina-based knowledge, and empower diverse youth voices in community conversations about environmental issues.

Their five main programs include the Huliau Environmental Filmmaking Club, where students make environmental films, the Huliau Climate Literacy Project, which works with teachers to increase climate literacy, the Huliau Leadership Council, where students plan service and leadership projects, the Huliau Eco-Adventure, our alumni-led ʻāina-based summer program, and Huliau Green Events, which helps events and schools divert waste from the landfill.

During the 2020-21 school year, Maui Huliau Foundation adapted their filmmaking program to new COVID-realities by working with their students and community partners to create a series of 12 virtual huakaʻi (field trip) films and accompanying curriculum to be used by teachers for virtual learning. Here is one example of a film made by students about the Waiheʻe Coastal Dunes and Wetlands Refuge.