The Kūpuna Collective

ABOUT US

In Hawaiʻi, kūpuna (older adults) are among the most valued members of our society. Even the word kūpuna, by definition, denotes someone who is wise and highly respected, a keeper of knowledge and a living treasure of our community.

VISION
We envision all generations in Hawaiʻi thriving in a vibrant, age-empowered society that maximizes health, independence, and engagement of kūpuna.

MISSION
The Kūpuna Collective brings together a collaborative network of partners who elevate critical issues, mobilize community assets, and drive innovative solutions that support and empower kūpuna.

The Kūpuna Collective is co-coordinated by HIPHI and the UH Center on Aging.

The Kūpuna Collective aims to:

Encourage innovation by magnifying community-level knowledge and expertise;
Build partnerships and foster cross-sector collaboration;
Leverage funds to scale innovation;
Provide technical assistance and backbone infrastructure, including applying for and managing grants, fiscal management, and administrative support;
Gather data to demonstrate collective impact;
Amplify the voice of kūpuna and highlight critical aging issues; and
Build sustainable change that lasts.

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DASHBOARD

HISTORY

Kūpuna Collective
A coalition of nonprofits and foundations sprang into action to help elders in Hawaii

The devastating impact of COVID-19 on older adults in Hawaiʻi mirrors the situation in the rest of the nation. “During this virus, I ran out of money for food. The Salvation Army came to my rescue. They gave me a food box that tasted so good. They called and followed up with me to see how I am doing and if I needed food…Their follow-through was wonderful,” said one older adult who had been helped by the Salvation Army in Honolulu, a valuable service provider in the state’s Kūpuna Food Security Coalition.

Risks to older adults during the pandemic were compounded due to comorbidities and led to the closure of congregate meal sites, increased social isolation, limited support networks and prompted a fear of shopping at the grocery store.

In combination, these changes resulted in immediate and urgent food needs for older adults. The response, however, was uncommon. Hawaiʻi, with its large Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander populations, has a strong cultural and historic tradition of caring for kūpuna (elders). The call to action was clear and the response from service providers and other community-based organizations was quick, given the common cultural respect that our communities have been built upon.

The Elderly Affairs Division (EAD, Honolulu’s Area Agency on Aging) in March 2020 brought together a core team, including AARP Hawaiʻi, the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation, Age-Friendly Honolulu and University of Hawaiʻi Center on Aging (UHCOA). The Kūpuna Food Security Coalition, or KFSC, as it became known, quickly expanded to more than 40 nonprofit, government, private and community organizations, and had a substantial impact on reducing food insecurity among older adults in Honolulu County.

Across the first nine months of its existence, the KFSC delivered 1.2 million meals to kūpuna in need, while providing 30,000 units of wraparound services. This was possible because KFSC members maximized community assets by mobilizing existing resources and leveraging a collective impact approach.

Impacting Lives

Early on, the KFSC placed a priority on qualitative and quantitative data collection and evaluation to assess its impact. While the University of Hawaiʻi Center on Aging tracked metrics, opportunities and successes at a geographic level, the qualitative impact was also prioritized as stories are critical in growing and sustaining efforts.

The service to kūpuna also created lasting friendships. Our Kūpuna, a nonprofit organization, partnered low-income and vulnerable kūpuna with a volunteer who was screened, vetted, and authorized to shop for groceries using the older adult’s SNAP/EBT account.

For one older adult with chronic illness, who was paired with a family that volunteered to shop for her, an invaluable friendship was formed: “They brought me flowers on Mother’s Day. Since I lost my daughter 12 years ago, that meant a lot. The [volunteers] are wonderful angels,” she said.

Creating a Strong Network of Providers

The KFSC leveraged diverse varied funding sources totaling more than $3 million raised through private foundation support (particularly by the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation and Stupski Foundation), hundreds of private donations and federal CARES Act funding. This funding allowed service providers to collaborate and expand their service capacity and strategy as they never had previously.

KFSC helped one long-time meal provider, Hawaiʻi Meals on Wheels (HMOW), adapt to the challenges of the pandemic. KFSC’s network of providers worked together to handle the increased demand for meals, which allowed HMOW to maintain continuity of services for existing clients, while expanding services to accommodate hundreds of additional requests. Also, HMOW and St. Francis Healthcare System, another KFSC member, formed a partnership to provide complex clients with an assessment and ongoing wellness checks by a social worker.

The Hawaiʻi Public Health Institute (HIPHI), a nonprofit with more than 20 years’ experience in cultivating programs and leading coalitions, served as a highly effective backbone organization. It provided fiscal intermediary services and convened weekly meetings on a virtual conferencing platform to allow members to share best practices, discuss key initiatives, and determine how to best work together.

These strategies and successes have been shared throughout the aging network in Hawaiʻi. In particular, the Kūpuna Vaccination Outreach Group (KVOG) was modeled on the KFSC approach, which saw a huge success in contributing to 100.0% of older adults being fully vaccinated in Hawaiʻi. These efforts evolved and expanded to form the Kūpuna Collective.

Creating a Stronger Future: The Kūpuna Collective

The Kūpuna Collective envisions a permanent shift in the way the aging network comes together through cross-sector partnerships to leverage funds and respond nimbly to critical issues and needs facing our kūpuna. It applies and sustains the key features from KFSC that enabled widespread collective impact: a strong backbone organization, working across service silos, leveraging varied funding sources, and using program analytics. The Collective expanded beyond food security to address intersecting social drivers of health, in recognition that many issues of aging are inherently linked and impact older adults’ overall ability to remain healthy and live independently.

A three-legged stool of key players in the aging network continue to co-coordinate this large and varied network of aging service providers, advocates, government agencies, academia and other community-based organizations. Backbone infrastructure is provided by HIPHI; the EAD, with counterparts in all counties statewide, brings expertise in delivering home- and community-based services; and finally, the UHCOA brings subject matter expertise and program analytics to support initiatives.

These co-coordinators provide support to member organizations so that the Collective can respond to crises and become a force in driving innovative solutions that support and empower kūpuna in Hawai‘i.

MEMBERS

OUR TEAM

Our Team

Lindsey Ilagan, MS (she/her)
Co-Coordinator
Lindsey is the Healthy Aging & Community Living Program Manager at HIPHI. Working in service of the Collective provides Lindsey the opportunity to combine her interest in working alongside community partners to address social drivers of health disparities with her life experience as a caregiver for her grandparents.

Christy Nishita, PhD (she/her)
Co-Coordinator
Christy is a Gerontologist at the Center on Aging at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa.

Jenny Lee, PhD (she/her)
Head of Program Analytics
Jenny is an Assistant Researcher at the Center on Aging at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. Her work focuses on addressing barriers in access to health for older adults.

Derrick Ariyoshi (he/him)
Advisor
Derrick is the County Executive at the City & County of Honolulu Elderly Affairs Division. He is responsible for planning, coordination, advocacy, and program development for older adults and those with disabilities.

RESOURCES

Resources

Demonstrating Value for Kūpuna Support Navigators: A guide for conducting a return on investment analysis of your kūpuna-focused Community Health Worker program.

Click here for GIS Story Maps created by the UH Center on Aging. These maps provide a demographic profile of older adults in Honolulu.

An updated 2023 Kūpuna Digital Resource Directory, released by AARP Hawaiʻi, is available for download here.

This After Action Report (2022) documents the Kūpuna Vaccination Outreach Group’s collective efforts to overcome barriers to vaccination under the leadership of the City & County of Honolulu Elderly Affairs Division, Executive Office on Aging, and AARP Hawaiʻi. Click here for an abbreviated version.

Also available is the Hawaiʻi’s Kūpuna COVID-19 Vaccination Effort evaluation report conducted by the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa Thompson School of Social Work and Public Health (2022). Click here to see the report.

AARP Hawaiʻi’s 2021 Digital Inclusion Roadmap identifies gaps and opportunities in our state and proposes next steps and recommendations for improving and expanding kupuna connectivity and use of digital technology.

The Kūpuna Food Security Coalition After Action Report (2021) documents the collaborative efforts made to address the immediate and urgent hunger needs of Oʻahu’s kūpuna during the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, over 1.2 million meals were distributed, serving up to 8,000 unique kūpuna each week. Click here for an abbreviated version.