Tiara Na’puti, UCI global and international studies assistant professor, has received a $20,000 grant from the Office of Inclusive Excellence’s Confronting Extremism through Compelling Work for Community Needs program. Her project, “Talking Story with Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islanders of Orange County - Mapping Communities & Resilience Against Extremism,” addresses the missing narrative of NHPI communities in current data collection and reporting methods.

As other studies have shown, “Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander exclusion in data collection and reporting perpetuates forms of structural racism and exacerbates underlying inequities in NHPI communities disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic,” she says.

Her project will focus on Orange and L.A. Counties and establish a collaborative NHPI research initiative with community partners to provide and communicate high-quality Indigenous-led research and evaluation of NHPI needs and practices.

"By gathering stories, implementing creative interventions, and conducting a needs-assessment report, this initiative seeks to generate community-driven knowledge that can help combat extremism and promote resilience in NHPI communities,” she says.

Funding for this work runs through April 2024. Additional team members include UCI affiliates Ashley Cheri, Melenaite Fifita, and Cevadne Lee.