All our investments, whether they’re in financial assets across the globe, whether they’re in commercial real estate in Hawaii, they’re all for the purpose of supporting education for Native Hawaiians
Kamehameha Schools’ endowment exists to support its educational mission and values into perpetuity. With approximately 1,500 acres, or less than one percent of its landholdings actively being used for commercial purposes, it is imperative that Kamehameha invests to improve its properties to sustain its educational reach to the people of Hawai‘i.
We are first and foremost an educational organization. As a developer though, obviously we’ve been here for a very, very long time, and we will always be here in Hawaii, as will the people we serve. These lands in Kaka’ako are special to us. So when we think about these lands, we need to think about our responsibility to the lahui, to the community, and to create a thriving Hawaii. We’re trying to build a very special kind of neighborhood, a thriving urban neighborhood that will help Hawaii, help Hawaii thrive, help the lāhui thrive. It will be a neighborhood that supports entrepreneurial and creativity as it has for many generations, and it will be one that there’s culture, there’s art – all of which we need to have that holistic life experience.
Kamehameha Schools’ decades-long efforts and investments to improve its properties in Kakaako, underscores its values and the importance of creating a community that will support the Schools’ educational missionand Hawai‘i’s economic wellbeing for generations to come.
What we’re trying to do in Kakaako is about more than money, it’s about building a community, building a neighborhood.
Using returns from its commercial properties and financial investments, Kamehameha Schools in 2013, funded educational opportunities for approximately 47,000 learners and caregivers through its campuses, preschools and scholarships, and through collaborations with more than 50 community organizations including the Aha Pūnana Leo, Department of Education, Hawaiian-focused charter schools, and other educational entities throughout Hawai‘i.
In Kakaako we are trying to earn money as we do with all our investment. We’retrying to spend it impactfully and sustainably over the generations so that 50 years, 100 years, 500 years from now, Pauahi’s children will still be getting an education.