Sustain and Stimulate
Kalihi is special because it has never lost touch with its roots. It’s true that the community has grown and changed over the decades, but the people who call Kalihi home are a special kind of kamaʻāina.
Kalihi’s future depends on our ability to sustain what’s special and stimulate new growth that uplifts everyone. Sustainability means protecting the values, people, and places that define Kalihi — its working families, cultural roots, and sense of belonging. Stimulation means creating the conditions for progress — new opportunities, modern infrastructure, and a stronger local economy that benefits those who live here.
To achieve this balance, my platform focuses on five key areas:
Quality Affordable Housing
Neighborhood Safety and Infrastructure
Quality Health Care and Access
Quality Educational Investment
Economic Stability and Opportunity
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The Issues: What’s important
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Sustain: Keep Kalihi’s working families housed and prevent displacement by strengthening access to affordable rentals, public housing, and community-driven development.
Stimulate: Support new housing models, mixed-use projects, and pathways for homeownership that prioritize residents.
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Sustain: Repair and maintain our aging roads, lighting, drainage, and public spaces. Protect small businesses affected by the rail construction on Dillingham Blvd and ensure their survival during disruption.
Stimulate: Plan Kalihi’s next chapter with foresight — turning rail-adjacent areas into hubs of local commerce, housing, and culture while making our neighborhoods safer and more walkable.
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Sustain: Strengthen Kalihi’s two federally qualified health centers (FQHCs) and their four clinics that serve our families, ensuring stable funding and community partnership.
Stimulate: Expand outreach for immigrant and working-class families facing barriers to care, and coordinate social services to address root causes of poor health such as poverty, housing insecurity, and environmental stressors.
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Sustain: Reinforce public education with better support for teachers, stronger safety measures in and around schools, and improved school infrastructure.
Stimulate: Expand educational opportunity by investing in universal, nutritious school lunches and creating pathways that connect Kalihi students to careers in trades, technology, and higher education.
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Sustain: Protect and empower small businesses while ensuring that development benefits existing residents and not just outside investors.
Stimulate: Foster job creation through partnerships with industry, improved workforce training, and targeted investments in communities that have historically been left behind.
Cross-Cutting Priorities
The five key areas of focus in my platform intersect with many other challenges faced in our community, and they deserve special attention.
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Kalihi is no stranger to these challenges — we see them every day in our neighborhoods. We must expand access to social support programs, strengthen coordination among community organizations, and invest in real, lasting solutions to address homelessness.
Everyone deserves a place to call home. Together, we can create pathways that move people from the streets to stability — with compassion, coordination, and community-driven action.
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As a candidate whose ʻŌiwi roots are central to my identity, I carry this priority into everything I do. Native Hawaiian issues must be considered across all areas of policy, from housing and education to economic opportunity. These challenges are deeply connected to the broader needs of our entire community, and addressing them strengthens Kalihi as a whole.
Honoring our ʻŌiwi heritage isn’t just about one community — it’s about preserving the values, resilience, and knowledge that make Kalihi strong for everyone.
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Kalihi’s strength comes from its people — a vibrant community representing many nations, languages, and backgrounds. Our immigrant communities, in particular, have unique needs and fewer opportunities to have their voices heard. As your representative, I’ll make sure that every community — including those who cannot vote — has a seat at the table. We move forward only when all of Kalihi’s voices are part of the conversation.
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Federal funding is no longer a reliable source of program sustainability. How will we maintain the programs that keep our communities afloat? How will we adapt to shifting federal priorities? We must create a consulting process to help state agencies identify new funding opportunities that directly serve our district, and we must bring all stakeholders together to address these challenges collaboratively.
By doing this, we can sustain the programs that our families rely on while stimulating new opportunities that strengthen Kalihi’s future.
