Capital Campaign
Building a Home
for Namahana
A Decades-Long Dream
Namahana is a public charter school created by and for the North Shore community.
In 2025, we opened our doors in temporary facilities to an initial cohort of 7th- and 8th-graders, advancing a community dream that spanned generations: to have a tuition-free middle and high school on the North Shore of Kauaʻi.
“Namahana School has an innovative educational model based on community driven values, with a curriculum tailored to the individual interests, passions and needs of each student. Dr. Kapua Chandler leads a high capacity team with the expertise to make this school a success and empower its students to contribute to a resilient future on Kauaʻi.”
—Mayor Derek Kawakami
Educating for Kauaʻi’s Future
Because we aspire to be much more than just an accessible school for North Shore families.
Our local socioeconomic and environmental landscape is shifting dramatically. At a time when the pace of change is accelerating, we can’t afford to keep exporting our greatest asset out of the community—our youth.
At Namahana, we are grounding our students in Kauaʻi’s unique culture while equipping them with the intellectual and personal qualities to be leaders and problem-solvers for an increasingly complex future.
Our task now is to build a permanent campus where our students can experience the full potential of a Namahana education.
Our Pedagogy—
Traditional Wisdom
Meets Innovation
A Namahana education is anchored in our unique culture and inspired by a global model for student-driven learning.
Drawing on our profound relationships with the people and places of Koʻolau and Haleleʻa, Namahana students drive their own learning through real interests, authentic problem-solving, and personal discovery.
"Namahana is not simply implementing the Big Picture Learning model—it is advancing it. By integrating local culture, Dr. Chandler is creating something truly groundbreaking. I am confident it will elevate education across Hawaiʻi for years to come.”
—Ed Noh, Executive Director, State of Hawaiʻi Charter School Commission
Rooted in Place
—First tuition-free, public charter middle and high school located in Kīluaea, Koʻolau, Kauaʻi
—School mission, vision, and values defined with extensive community input, rooting school in our community
—60 students per grade; 1:15-20 teacher to student ratio
—360 students at full capacity (7-12 grades)
Advancing a Proven Design
—Big Picture Learning curricular foundation, founded in 1995 with 200+ schools globally, renowned for pioneering learning that bridges the classroom and the real world
—“A heavyweight team that has revolutionized schooling through intrinsic motivation” —Clayton Christensen, Harvard Business School
—97% college admittance (from 4-year ivy to 2-year trades)
Systemic & Replicable
—Place-based pedagogy rooted in personalized learning plans, student-centered interests, culturally relevant field studies, and high school community internships
—Blueprint for rural educational design; cultural intelligence combines with global innovation
—Recognized by BPL as an exemplar model, currently informing the development of related schools in rural Canada with indigenous leadership
Vetted by NewSchools
Venture Fund
Namahana received consecutive funding rounds from NewSchools Venture Fund (NSVF), founded by Kim Smith, Brook Byers, and John Doerr (Kleiner Perkins, early VC Amazon and Google).
Initial selection followed NSVF’s gold-standard audit. NSVF are one of the most rigorous risk-mitigators in the sector that launch scalable education solutions designed to integrate academics with the specific mindsets, habits, and skills required for the modern workforce.
Beyond operational capital, NSVF supports Namahana with rigorous management assistance to ensure long-term systemic impact.
Fellow NSVF alumni that have redefined education: Khan Academy, KIPP, Newsela.
“Namahana is a beacon for the rural school movement, proving that a community can reclaim its future and restore local lifeblood through culture and innovation, better than ever before."
— Elliot Washor, Co-Founder, Big Picture Learning
A Promise to Fulfill
Most Hawai‘i charter schools operate in provisional or borrowed facilities for decades. We are committed to providing a permanent home for our school community that reflects our educational aspirations.
Our temporary facility cannot hold the pipeline of families arriving for the 2028–29 school year. After purchasing 11.3 acres of land in the heart of Kīlauea with overwhelming community support in 2023, we’ve worked hard to develop a design and construction plan that will lay the foundation for the next 100 years—starting with a promise to the Class of 2030: they will graduate on their own campus home.
To fulfill that promise, we must complete our first 12 classroom buildings with admin spaces by August 2028.
Impact Opportunities—Transform Land Into a Living Campus
Phase 1 Capital Structure: $15M Total
(12 classrooms with admin spaces)
Tranche 1: $5M (already secured)
Tranche 2: $5M (in progress; due 12/31/26 to break ground)
Tranche 3: $5M (philanthropy, personal loan guarantee, or construction loan facility)
Phase I Timeline
Namahana will serve 360 students at full capacity. Phase 1 of our campus construction will provide classroom buildings with admin spaces to accommodate 180 students.
2023
Purchase of permanent 11.3-acre site in Kīlauea
2024 - 2025
Special Use Permit, Class IV Zoning & Water Rights secured
2026
AEC Team and Design Plan consolidated
Jan 2027
Break ground
2027- 2028
Construction of first 12 classroom buildings with admin spaces
Aug 2028
Inauguration of Phase 1
AEC Team—Community Roots, Global Expertise
Our architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) team is “from and of the community,” ensuring:
Economic recirculation. Dollars raised remain within the local community.
Partners aren't just contractors—they are neighbors and parents with a personal stake in this school’s generational legacy.
On-the-ground problem solving by people who have the history and resources to move quickly when the unique challenges of building on Kaua‘i.
Business Model—Private & Public Synergy
Private support to build essential academic buildings now will help to catalyze millions in annual, recurring state funding to flow into the North Shore.
You Can Help
Namahana is no longer just a vision. It’s a living, breathing school uplifting North Shore families—and it is growing fast. Our progress is outpacing our walls.
Essential classrooms will do more than put roofs over students’ heads. They will provide the enduring infrastructure that ends a decades-long educational desert and sets a precedent for the future of our community.
Join us in turning a page in the history of Kauaʻi’s North Shore—for the Class of 2030 and the generations of classes that follow.
We need your philanthropic leadership to build the campus where our future generations will learn and thrive.
“For better or worse, we’re passing a lot of serious challenges to the next generation. So the question is: How do we prepare that generation in the very best way to address them? It’s really exciting to us that this will truly be a school for the community of Kauaʻi’s North Shore, which we think is going to be transformational.”
— Walter and Marcia Kortschak, Namahana donors
The Power of Your Commitment
We are seeking visionary partners for six- and seven-figure commitments toward our Phase 1 goal.
Reaching our milestones will not only raise essential classrooms and admin spaces for 180 students beginning in August 2028, it will also deliver the proof of concept to accelerate future phases of campus construction.
Waiwai Giving Tiers & Recognition
Waiwai is the Hawaiian word for wealth. It comes from wai, meaning water, and it shapes how we think about giving as the lifespring of a community. Your founding commitment will be permanently honored on our Kīlauea campus—a legacy woven into North Shore history.
