Stories of Hard Work and Possibility

Executive Director Kelsey Amos reflects on 2025's challenges—federal cuts, AI disruption, attacks on Native Hawaiian institutions, and a government shutdown—while celebrating Purple Maiʻa's persistent work in AI education, youth tech employment, Indigenous data tools, soil testing, storytelling, business support, policy work, and community building. The post announces regular blogging to share stories of persistence and leadership, emphasizing the theme "He pūkoʻa kani ʻāina" (A coral reef hardens into land).

Gung hay fat choy! 

As we welcome the Chinese lunar new year, I’m restarting the Purple Maiʻa blog! Who blogs in 2026? This millennial does.

2025 was a lot. In the spring I watched as people and programs doing good work with federal funding got DOGE’d. It felt as if a seismic shift in semantics happened overnight, as websites got scrubbed DEI terminology was cast aside.

At the same time, AI advancements suddenly hit home for the everyday person. GTP-4 made me realize just how much AI is going to change work and education. We held our first “vibe coding” sessions and I saw the tables turn, as our less technical staff were suddenly able to prototype entire applications without much help from a tech-savvy human.

Throughout the rest of the year I felt like I was unwilling audience to an endless doomscroll of instability in the world and real impacts here in Hawaiʻi, including cuts to SNAP and Medicaid that worsened food insecurity, and emboldened attacks on Native Hawaiians like the lawsuit against KS and the Army’s push for military lease renewals. And then the government shut down for over a month. This was all before the events of January 2026. 

But through it all, we at Purple Maiʻa have been working–like, really hard.

As we finalize our annual report for 2025, the theme of which is “He pūkoʻa kani ʻāina” (A coral reef hardens into land), I want to show you a little bit of what’s been happening under the surface.

I want to fill your feed with positive stories of persistence and everyday leaders who are meeting the moment. Like our team members who are…

  • Helping public school educators take a critical and empowered stance toward AI

  • Creating internships and entry-level positions in software development for Hawaiʻi’s young people, even as AI is adding to Gen Z’s un/underemployment crisis

  • Developing tools that take kilo into a future of edge computing, user-in-the-loop, junkyard computing, data sovereignty, and intermittent renewable energy 

  • Opening a local soil lab that understands Hawaiʻi farming

  • Connecting kids to their piko, passion and purpose

  • Helping Kānaka ʻŌiwi creatives show up as digital storytellers online

  • Walking alongside wāhine small business owners who are powering our economy

  • Letting our students know how much they are valued

  • Showing young people how to go from policy idea to introduced bill

  • Feeding people

  • Building a community space we hope to welcome you into in 2026!

And, for those who want to know, somehow in 2025 we completed a 3-year strategic plan, with shiny new Goals and KPIs. It lays out a vision for an Indigenous innovation sector in Hawaiʻi and strategizes ways we as Purple Maiʻa can help lead us there. We are holding fast to that bigger picture, even as this dance with reality means most days I just focus on doing the next right thing.  

So stay tuned for a weekly blog post about our work, and follow us on IG @purple_maia. 

E mālama pono,
Kelsey