Alex Connelly has been with KUA since 2012, where she is the E Alu Pū Coordinator. Alex organizes network gatherings, governance meetings and facilitates network and community strategy sessions and workshops and all the miscellaneous stuff in between to help keep a network movement fresh, focused and generative.
Alex Connelly grew up in Koʻolaupoko, Oʻahu, is a mother of two and student of Hālau Mōhala ʻIlima. She serves on the Kaulunani Urban & Community Forestry Council, has a degree in Natural Resources & Environmental Management and is an alumni of the Hawaii Agricultural Leadership Program.
Kane'ohe, HI
In a world facing increasing environmental challenges, communities in Hawaiʻi are turning to Indigenous wisdom to restore balance and sustainability. Kua‘āina Ulu ‘Auamo means “grassroots growing through shared responsibility” and KUA means backbone. This organization was called into creation by one of their kūpuna (elder), in a gathering of fishing communities to share knowledge and reclaim traditional cultural practices to pass on to future generations. By supporting and facilitating statewide networks to revive traditional practices in loko iʻa (fishponds; indigenous aquaculture), subsistence fishing and farming, and limu (seaweed) cultivation, KUA lifts up the work of rural and Native Hawaiian communities that demonstrate how these ancient systems can provide sustainable, abundant resources for modern populations. This grassroots movement offers a model for global resource management that goes beyond extraction and towards harmony with nature.
Learn more: https://kuahawaii.org/