Navigating the Currents of Native Hawaiian Health in Oregon

Executive Summary

Native Hawaiians are one of the fastest-growing Indigenous populations on the continental United States, and Oregon is now home to more than 15,446 Native Hawaiians. These three attached reports, developed by the team at Ka ʻAha Lāhui O ʻOlekona (KALO), the sole Native Hawaiian-serving organization in Oregon, come together to describe the community, the status of Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander health across the state of Oregon, and how community members experience the preventive healthcare system firsthand. This work is grounded in community-based participatory research (CBPR). The community shapes all reports and products from this work. All data were reviewed by KALO’s Community Advisory Board, Kūpuna (Elder) Council, and the community before reports were shared broadly. These processes reinforce the importance of community voice in sharing its needs, priorities, and strengths, rather than relying on voices or interpretations from outside the community. When the reports are combined, they tell a story of wayfinding among a growing, displaced community that is chronically undercounted, underfunded, and underserved by systems that were not built with their people in mind.