Community

General news which affects the Molokai community in one way or another.

Printmaking Classes

Thursday, February 26th, 2026

Printmaking Classes

Paʻa Printmakers News Release

Paʻa Printmakers is offering two new classes at the Molokai Center, located next to American Savings Bank. Below are the course details:

Mokuhanga Woodblock Workshop

– Instructor: Faith Stone

– Technique: Traditional Japanese water-based woodblock printing (no press required).

– Schedule: Saturday, March 14 (9 a.m.- 4 p.m.) and Sunday, March 15 (9 a.m.-1p.m.).

Link: honoluluprintmakers.org/classes/japanese-mokuhanga-with-faith-stone

Make a Flag Book

– Instructor: Tamara Moan

– Technique: Constructing an accordion-spine flag book using stencil prints.

– Schedule: Saturday, March 21st (10:00 am – 4:00 pm). Please bring your own lunch and snacks.

Link: honoluluprintmakers.org/classes/on-molokai-flag-book-with-stencil-imagery-with-tamara-moan…

Aligning our Piko: Kamākou to Mauna Kea

Thursday, February 26th, 2026

Aligning our Piko: Kamākou to Mauna Kea

By The Molokai Dispatch Staff

The Molokai Public Library recently became more than a place for books. For evening, it served as a gathering space for remembrance, reflection and renewed commitment to ʻāina through Aligning Our Piko: Kamākou to Mauna Kea, which brought together the 26th installation of the Kūkulu Exhibit and the Kū ʻAʻahu Wearable Arts Show.

The Kūkulu Exhibit, envisioned by Pua Case as part of ongoing Mauna Kea education and awareness efforts, is community-driven and has traveled across islands and beyond. Supported in part by the Molokai Public Library, Hoʻakā Mana and dedicated community volunteers, the exhibit reflects years of commitment to protecting Mauna Kea from the proposed Thirty Meter Telescope.…

Head Start Preschool Accepting Applications for Next School Year

Thursday, February 26th, 2026

Head Start Preschool Accepting Applications for Next School Year

MEO News Release

Maui Economic Opportunity’s Head Start preschool program will be accepting applications beginning February for the 2026-2027 school year.  

Head Start is a federally funded program that provides comprehensive early childhood education services at no cost to families that meet the federal poverty income guidelines and selection criteria. All families with age-eligible children are welcome to apply.

Eligible participants are children, who are or will be 3- or 4-years-old by July 31, 2026. Parents or Legal Guardians are required to provide the child’s birth certificate and income verification (preferably 2025 income tax returns or 2025 W-2 forms). When applicable, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), Supplemental Security Income (SSI) or Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefit history printouts will be required. …

Homesteader Is First Molokai Driver to Complete New MEO CDL Program

Thursday, February 19th, 2026

Homesteader Is First Molokai Driver to Complete New MEO CDL Program

MEO News Release

A Hawaiian Homes homesteader who recently returned to Molokai is the first resident to obtain a Commercial Driver’s License (CDL) in Maui Economic Opportunity’s new CDL training program on the island.

Kayla Luuloa passed her CDL exam on Feb. 5 and will be training to drive MEO buses that provide the island’s only mass transit option through a Human Services transportation contract with the County of Maui.

With no other CDL training opportunities on Molokai and a demand for bus drivers, MEO created the in-house program. Driver Supervisor Amy Makaiwi runs the training program for the CDL, a required qualification for an MEO bus driver on Molokai.…

P. Denise La Costa Announces Bid for Maui Mayor

Thursday, February 19th, 2026

P. Denise La Costa Announces Bid for Maui Mayor

MLC 2026 News Release

P. Denise La Costa, a Maui community leader and business owner, announced last week that she is running for Maui County Mayor. 

P. Denise La Costa is a longtime Maui resident and former Maui planning commissioner who has spent decades working directly on housing, land use, public safety and community recovery.

She has led major organizations, managed budgets, built businesses, and served Maui across nonprofit, regulatory and community roles for more than 30 years. 

Visit MayorLacosta2026.com for more information.…

Pūlama Ka Heke Launching ERMAT Program to Improve Medical Access

Thursday, February 19th, 2026

Pūlama Ka Heke News Release

Pūlama Ka Heke is proud to announce the launch of the Essential Rural Medical Air Transport (ERMAT) program which will be called Kaulele a Ola (meaning to take flight to heal and regain health), a groundbreaking initiative designed to expand equitable access to specialty healthcare for residents of Molokai and Lānai. 

ERMAT will provide coordinated, reliable medical air transportation to Oahu and Maui, addressing long-standing barriers that have limited timely access to specialty care for rural communities.

Funded by the Hawaiʻi Department of Health, ERMAT will offer 12 round trip flights between Molokai and Oahu and four round trip flights between Molokai and Maui per month for Molokai residents.…

Hui to Host Visiting Veterinarians for Free Vaccination, Low-Cost Visits 

Thursday, February 19th, 2026

MCVH News Release

Molokai Community Veterinary Hui (MCVH) is pleased to announce that it will be hosting a licensed veterinarian from Hawaii Island for a special weekend of veterinary services on Feb. 28 and March 1. MCVH is collaborating with Big Island Pet Care Center to bring affordable care to our island. 

On Saturday, Feb. 28, there will be a free community vaccine clinic from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Appointments will be scheduled in 15-minute intervals to ensure efficient and timely service for pet owners. This clinic is designed to help protect the health of Molokai’s pets while reducing barriers to essential preventative care. …

E Hoʻomanaʻo Honors 5 Hawaiian Leaders

Thursday, February 19th, 2026

E Hoʻomanaʻo Honors 5 Hawaiian Leaders

By Léo Azambuja

The monthly E Hoʻomanaʻo at Molokai Public Library usually highlights the life of an aliʻi or prominent leader who helped to shape the course of Hawaiian history. The first E Hoʻomanaʻo of 2026 celebrated the life of five leaders, featuring musical performances and tributes to their legacies.

“We have quite a lineup today,” Awaiulu head researcher Kalei Roberts said, listing the five Hawaiians honored at the Jan. 27 event: Queen Emma Rooke, King William Charles Lunalilo, Prince William Pitt Leleiohoku II, Princess Miriam Likelike and Joseph Kahoʻoluhi Nāwahī, newspaper publisher and Minister of Foreign Affairs for the Hawaiian Kingdom.…

Go Slow, Whales Below

Thursday, February 19th, 2026

Go Slow, Whales Below

By The Molokai Dispatch staff

Each winter, more than 10,000 humpback whales migrate from the frigid Alaskan waters to the warmer, tropical waters surrounding the Hawaiian Islands. Once here, they breed, nurse their calves and raise their young before returning to the North Pacific. 

“As koholā, or humpback whale, season reaches its peak in Hawaiʻi, the Go Slow – Whales Below initiative urges mariners to be mindful and exercise caution when out on the ocean, for the safety of the whales and everyone on the water,” the state Department of Land and Natural Resources states in a recent news release.

Most of the koholā migrations are between December and April, but there are whale sightings as early as October.…

Proposed Kalaupapa Memorial Still Faces Hurdles

Thursday, February 19th, 2026

Proposed Kalaupapa Memorial Still Faces Hurdles

By Léo Azambuja

A memorial honoring thousands of late Hansen’s disease patients sent on a one-way ticket to Kalaupapa has yet to be built more than two decades after its initial idea and nearly 17 years after President Barack Obama signed a federal bill paving the way for the monument.

“There’s this big hairball of bureaucracy that just keeps getting bigger and bigger,” Ka ʻOhana O Kalaupapa executive director Valerie Monson said at a Maui Council’s Aloha ‘Āina Committee meeting at Mitchell Pauole Center Jan. 29. “We just hope we can get through it.”

Committee chair Keani Rawlins-Fernandez scheduled the meeting to discuss the proposed Kalaupapa Memorial Monument, which has been in the works for at least 23 years.…