In 2024, IGE, in partnership with Anaina Hou and Kauai Planning and Action Alliance produced Lokahi, our second annual youth concert series to address teen mental health, bullying and suicide. In 2024, we shifted our model from holding the event at a stand alone venue, to bringing artists, speakers and resources into the schools.
Lokahi pairs premier speakers with noteworthy Hawaiian musicians to present a free concert experience focussed on mental health. In 2024, we featured The Vitals 808, a top tier Hawaiian reggae band from Oahu and produced two concert experiences. Each concert program was opened by Olympic surfer and Kaua’i local, Brianna Cope, who shared her personal experiences with bullying with the students while taking questions.
Lokahi is tabled by local groups which provide essential information on community mental health resources to the high school students. IGE, an educational nonprofit, is developing curriculum for the program, as well as benchmarks, metrics and assessment criteria through which to measure programmatic success.
In 2023, Lokahi reached approximately 400 students. In 2024, Lokahi reached over 2,000 students. In 2025, we intend to double the number of students served by the program by increasing the number of concerts from two to four, each performed in Kaua’i high schools.
We also hope to bring the program to Oahu in 2025 for one or two concerts, as we expand Lokahi statewide by 2030.
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