Hawai’i Youth Exchange
Dear Supporter,
Thank you for making the 2026 Loco Bloco Youth Cultural Exchange happen! Your generosity helped bring 13 youth on a life changing trip to the Big Island of Hawai’i to learn and share with our comrades at HŌʻĀ Hawai’i—a community organization dedicated to the preservation of Hawaiian lands and traditional Indigenous culture through hula.
Our trip was intentionally rooted in exchange, community building, cultural-historical understanding, and mutual respect. Throughout the week on the island, we met in the mornings, to learn the oral histories of Hawaiian akua and study the chants and hulas belonging to them, with kumu Lanakila Mangauil. In the evenings, our youth gained real leadership experience by supporting Loco Bloco-led workshops and helping teach Hawaiian community members how to play batería instruments and dance with Mayela Carrasco and Will Martins.
We took various excursions around the island including to the Kīlauea volcano, the traditional Kīlauea heiau, HŌʻĀ farm in Honoka’a, the Waimea farmers markets. Culminating the exchange, we hosted a joint Ho’ike ohana style sharing performance and potluck at the beach. It was beautiful witnessing our community growing from San Francisco to Hawai’i with the sun setting behind us over the ocean.
On the last day, Loco Bloco partook in a large ceremony at the sacred Mauna Kea on the seventh anniversary of the 2019 occupation where we danced the hulas we learned and shared our Mission District rhythms with the community.
We are deeply grateful to our community supporters for believing in this exchange. Your contributions are invested in our young people as they grow and become the leaders and knowledge bearers of the next generation.
Learn more about the Protect Mauna Kea movement here: Protect Mauna Kea — Mauna Kea Education and Awareness.
With gratitude,
Loco Bloco Youth Exchange Coordination Team
