WAHIAW\u0100 \u2013 State and local leaders gathered to break ground on a new education and community facility in Wahiaw\u0101 that will serve as the future home of the Wahiaw\u0101 Public Library, University of Hawai\u02bbi Community College (UHCC) satellite classrooms, and Hawai\u02bbi State Department of Education (HIDOE) offices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The $42.5 million, 43,000-square-foot facility \u2014 known as the Wahiaw\u0101 Center for Workforce Excellence \u2014 will bring together educational services, workforce development and community spaces under one roof. Construction is expected to take two years and includes a multi-level parking structure.
\u201cThe goal is clear \u2014 a space that is central that brings together education and public service,\u201d said Gov. Josh Green, M.D., who was on hand for the groundbreaking ceremony along with Senate Ways and Means Chair Donovan Dela Cruz, Senate Vice President and Education Chair Michelle Kidani, area lawmakers including Rep. Amy Perruso and Honolulu City Councilmember Matt Weyer, HIDOE Superintendent Keith Hayashi, UH President Wendy Hensel and Hawai\u02bbi State Librarian Stacey Aldrich.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Green thanked Sen. Dela Cruz, who championed the project, as well as Sen. Kidani for her support. \u201cThis becomes our hub \u2014 it\u2019s our innovation center, it\u2019s where people will gain skills and it\u2019s not even just for the students\u2026 it\u2019s where our families can come together in a community.\u201d
The new three-story building will include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Life-long education is at the heart of this vital addition to our Central O\u02bbahu community and the Hawai\u02bbi Department of Education is proud to partner with the University of Hawai\u02bbi and our Hawai\u02bbi Public Libraries,\u201d Hayashi said. “This facility will inspire and empower learners of all ages \u2014 from curious kindergarteners to K-12 and university students to adults \u2014 in one central, dynamic education hub that will provide resources to spark imagination and create new career possibilities close to home.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
UH President Hensel highlighted the power of partnership.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201c[The building] reflects what the University of Hawai\u02bbi is about \u2014 and that\u2019s about partnership and integration and intersections in our community,\u201d Hensel said. \u201cThis center for workforce excellence is a shining example of what\u2019s possible when we work together\u2026 The closer we are, the better we synergize, the more impactful our efforts become\u2026 Here\u2019s to committing to our communities through education and partnership and building a more prosperous future for all of us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In addition to serving students and families directly, the project also links key workforce and economic development efforts in Central O\u02bbahu \u2014 including Leeward Community College\u2019s Wahiaw\u0101 Value-Added Product Development Center, the Central O\u02bbahu Agriculture & Food Hub in Whitmore Village, and Leilehua High School. HIDOE\u2019s vacated district office space will be repurposed to give the HIDOE High Core Program a permanent home for students from Central O\u02bbahu and the North Shore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis is where seeds of excellence hopefully will be born,\u201d Sen. Dela Cruz said. \u201cKnowledge is important but what you do with that knowledge is even more important\u2026 and hopefully this will be a center where people can take risks, learn to take action, fail so that they can learn and try again, make a difference in society.\u201d
“This place will allow children to have a truly special experience where they can see learning in action, from reading books and attending story times at the library to seeing their siblings and parents taking classes upstairs to the college level,\u201d State Librarian Stacey Aldrich said. \u201cThis reimagined and unified space for learning will become an educational pillar for the entire community.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Construction costs are estimated at approximately $42.5 million and the project is anticipated to take two years to complete.\u00a0<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
WAHIAW\u0100 \u2013 State and local leaders gathered to break ground on a new education and community facility in Wahiaw\u0101 that will serve as the future home of the Wahiaw\u0101 Public Library, University of Hawai\u02bbi Community College (UHCC) satellite classrooms, and Hawai\u02bbi State Department of Education (HIDOE) offices. The $42.5 million, 43,000-square-foot facility \u2014 known as […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":14192,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"9887,11248,11298,9285,8715,16870","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","_sitemap_exclude":false,"_sitemap_priority":"","_sitemap_frequency":"","_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","wp_popup_display_lightbox":0,"wp_popup_suppress":"","wp_popup_trigger":"","wp_popup_trigger_amount":0,"wp_popup_disable_on_mobile":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14190","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":21,"label":"News"}]},"featured_image_src_large":["https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/WCWE-Rendering-1024x576.jpg",1024,576,true],"author_info":{"display_name":"Derek Inoshita","author_link":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/es\/author\/derek-inoshitak12-hi-us\/"},"comment_info":0,"category_info":[{"term_id":21,"name":"News","slug":"news","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":21,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":305,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":21,"category_count":305,"category_description":"","cat_name":"News","category_nicename":"news","category_parent":0}],"tag_info":false,"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-11 03:46:21","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"post_status","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14190","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14190"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14190\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14192"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14190"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14190"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14190"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}