Growing a Strong Organization
New Learning Pathways...
(February 2026) – HIR continues to invest in building the next generation of leaders in finance, planning, and systems strategy through their practicum learning pathways. Rooted in a hālau model of leadership, where teaching and practice are inseparable, these pathways are structured, rigorous opportunities for emerging practitioners to engage in real-world finance modeling, community-based planning, and collaborative systems work. This is a long-term strategy to resource the field and cultivate leaders who can bridge community priorities with capital tools and carry this capacity back into the broader social impact ecosystem. This reflects HIR’s belief that shifting power and transitioning to a just economy requires new leadership grounded in ʻike Hawaiʻi, relational accountability, and practical financial fluency that reflects and understands the realities of the communities we serve.
Kinohi Fukumitsu began her journey with HIR in 2025 as a learner within this pathway and has since stepped into the role of Director of Organizational Learning & Systems Practice, where she will lead this year’s Accelerator program.
A kilo of her hometown of Waimānalo for the past 40+ years and a mother of six, she embodies the term noho papa. With over a decade of leadership experience as Internship Coordinator and Restoration Manager at Paepae o Heʻeia, Kinohi has mentored, learned alongside, and built lasting friendships with over a hundred youth and young adults, many of whom have become leaders in their own communities.
Before HIR, Kinohi was a Lohe Pono (radical listener) with Kuaʻāina Ulu ʻAuamo for 5 years. She continues to lead efforts to mālama Pāhonu Pond and empower keiki through pono research with Ke Kula Nui o Waimānalo, fostering succession, stewardship, and resilience in her community and focuses her teaching on cultivating strong work ethics while advocating for kūpuna–in human, pōhaku, fish, tree & limu forms.
Introducing New Learners:
- Kamalani Chock brings expertise in bioinformatics and large dataset analysis, to weave rigorous quantitative skills with collective understandings of place. Through his work with HIR, Kama helps community partners realize waiwai—holistic abundance—through financial analysis that supports not just economic stability but sustainability across ecological, cultural, and social dimensions. His work recognizes that Hawaiian businesses measure success beyond profit margins, balancing financial viability with kuleana to ʻāina, ʻohana, and future generations.
- Camille Wong brings experience in illustration, graphic design, and marketing for Hawaiʻi-based businesses, primarily in the food, beverage, and retail sectors. As a practicum learner, Camille helps HIR’s networks, key partners, and funders stay connected and informed through supporting workflows for external communications and assisting in narrative change and qualitative analysis studies. With HIR, her work centers the needs and lived experiences of community partners and contributes to building a body of evidence for their work.
Read their full bios HERE along with quotes from other practicum learners below:
“I was at the table. I felt very included in the decision-making…Knowing that they are these heavy hitters and that they still want to hear what you have to say and want you there feels really empowering and really good.”
“Bringing the ceremony into organizational planning and strategic planning was really something that impacted me.”
“Food was never a focus for me in Hawaiʻi growing up; it wasn’t on the forefront. So that was an interesting way HIR influenced me to be interested in food…I guess it’s made me think that it’s more important to have a farm than stocks.”
Interested in learning more about our growth over the last decade? We invite you to read our 10-Year Retrospective Report, A Decade of Catalyzing Social Enterprise in Hawaiʻi
Want to support HIR’s vision of a just, abundant, place-based island economy in which all people, families and communities of Hawai’i thrive? We’d love to talk story!
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