A University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa extension agent and the teen disaster program she leads have garnered national recognition. Nancy Ooki, from the College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resilience (CTAHR), was honored by the Association of Public Land Grant Universities for the Preparing Our Neighbors and Ohana (PONO) disaster preparedness program in Maui Nui (Maui County).
PONO has trained more than 530 teenage students from across the state with most of the teens based on Maui, Molokaʻi and Lānaʻi.
“To have the national team recognize me was thrilling! I was not expecting that,” Ooki said.
Ooki was also named the winner of the 2025 Western Region Extension Directors Association Excellence in Extension Programming Award for an Individual.
PONO delivers the complete FEMA Community Emergency Response Team curriculum to keiki 13 to 19 years old through 30 hours of hands-on training. By incorporating youth development and leadership activities, Ooki ensures students learn how to become a team leader and have a voice in disaster situations.
She adapted FEMA’s courses for Hawaiʻi, addressing unique local challenges, such as the difficulty of buying 14-day emergency kits amid Hawaiʻi’s high food price and storing the kits in small homes.
“This training is timely everywhere,” said Ooki. “Wildfires are becoming a daily, weekly or monthly event in many areas of the country. Flooding is always a problem in the Midwest, and this is a set of skills that youth will need. I think the national leaders appreciate that PONO is mirroring FEMA with youth development activities.”
Ooki is now working to roll out PONO training programs on Oʻahu, Hawaiʻi Island and Kauaʻi.
