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Pacific Islanders for Progress

@pacificislandersforprogress

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California 501(c)3 evidence-based advocacy coalition advancing educational and economic opportunity for Pacific Islanders across the state.

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📢 Last month we released a new brief | Pacific Islander Students in California’s TK-12 Schools

Pacific Islander students remain among the most overlooked student populations in California’s education system.

@pacificislandersforprogress’s new policy brief examines the educational experiences and outcomes of Pacific Islander students across California’s TK-12 public schools, highlighting statewide data on enrollment, chronic absenteeism, academic achievement, graduation, college readiness, and more.

The findings reveal persistent opportunity gaps and underscore the need for greater visibility, targeted investments, and stronger accountability to improve educational outcomes for Pasifika students.

Our students deserve to be seen, counted, and supported. This brief is a step toward building the evidence and collective action needed to advance educational equity for Pacific Islander communities across California.

📖 Read the full brief: https://pacificislandersforprogress.org/PIP_CA-Pacific-Islander-TK12-Brief_2026.pdf

#PacificIslandersForProgress #PacificIslanderEducationEquity #Pasifika #EducationEquity by @pacificislandersforprogress

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4 days ago

Thank you to our PIP Coalition partners for leading a thoughtful talanoa on advancing Pacific Islander student success at @edtrustwest’s Education Equity Forum a few weeks ago! And to our partners who attended the Forum representing our Pasifika community.

The session spotlighted efforts across California, including the work underway at San Bernardino City Unified School District, El Camino College, and Mt. SAC to strengthen support and expand opportunities for Pasifika students across TK–12 and higher education. The conversation also highlighted the important contributions of @island.grad and @nhpiec in supporting Pacific Islander students and communities.

Thank you to everyone who attended and contributed to the conversation, and to our coalition partners for their continued leadership and commitment to advancing educational opportunities and outcomes for Pacific Islander students across California. We are out here!

#PacificIslanderEducationEquity #PacificIslandersForProgress by @pacificislandersforprogress

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4 days ago

🌊 AB 2374 is officially California law!

The Pacific Islanders for Progress Coalition is proud to celebrate Governor Gavin Newsom signing AB 2374 (Fong), establishing California’s new designation recognizing colleges and universities committed to serving Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander students.

Throughout the legislative process, our coalition advocated for stronger visibility of NHPI students. We are proud that the final law includes provisions for institutions to separately report Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander outcomes, to the extent possible, across specified student success measures in both initial and renewal applications.

This matters because our students cannot continue to disappear within aggregated data. If we want more Pacific Islanders to persist, transfer, and complete their college journeys, institutions must be able to see how our students are doing and demonstrate their commitment to supporting their success.

We thank Assemblymember Mike Fong, the California Commission on Asian and Pacific Islander American Affairs, and the many advocates and partners who helped move AB 2374 across the finish line.

Our students deserve to be seen. Our students deserve to be supported. And our students deserve every opportunity to succeed. #PacificIslanderEducationalEquity by @pacificislandersforprogress

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16 days ago

Next week! 🌊 Join us at the @edtrustwest Education Equity Forum for “Moving the Needle for Pacific Islanders: A Talanoa with Pasifika Leaders”

Excited to have coalition partners Roy Tongilava, Karel Lokeni, and Francine Blacksher talanoa about what it will take to meaningfully improve educational opportunities and outcomes for Pacific Islander students across California.

They’ll talanoa about the work already happening in our communities, the challenges our students continue to face, and how we can build stronger, more coordinated systems of support from TK-12 through higher education.

If you’ll be at the Forum, come join us for this important conversation. We’d love to see you there! by @pacificislandersforprogress

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a month ago

At Bolder Futures, we’re inspired by people who dare to dream bigger and bring their communities together to make those dreams possible.

We’re excited to introduce @pacificislandersforprogress (PIP) and its founder, @roytongi. PIP brings together Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (NHPI) leaders, advocates, educators, and community organizations to strengthen collective advocacy for educational equity and economic mobility for Pasifika communities across California.

By creating space for communities to connect, organize, and shape shared priorities, PIP embodies the spirit of Bolder Futures: turning collective imagination into action and building opportunities for generations to come.

Hear more from Roy at @mosaicaapi ‘s upcoming community briefing, “Advancing Pacific Islander Educational Equity in California.” Join community leaders, educators, and advocates to explore NHPI student experiences and how data, policy, and community leadership can help shape a more equitable future.

📅 Friday, September 18, 2026
🕛 Noon–1 p.m. PDT
💻 Via Zoom

RSVP: https://mosaic-ca.org/september2026

#BolderFutures #CollectiveImagination #BolderTogether #CommunityPoweredChange #PasifikaFutures by @pacificislandersforprogress

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a month ago

📊 Making communities visible starts with elevating their unique experiences.

Data disaggregation helps reveal the needs and disparities that broad categories can overlook. Join MOSAIC, @pacificislandersforprogress, and community leaders for a conversation on elevating Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (NHPI) communities, through better data and community advocacy.

🎤 Featured speakers:

• Assemblymember Darshana Patel (@asmdarshana )

• Sina Uipi, EPIC’s Director of National Policy and Advocacy (@empoweredpi )

• Roy Tongilava, Founder of Pacific Islanders for Progress

🎓 Our briefing, “Advancing Pacific Islander Educational Equity in California,” will explore the state of NHPI education and the community advocacy behind NHPI data-disaggregation amendments in AB 2374. Assemblymember Patel will also discuss her broader data disaggregation efforts, including AB 1878.

💬 Together, we’ll examine how community voices can shape the data and policies that affect their lives.

📅 Friday, September 18

🕛 Noon–1 p.m. PDT

💻 Via Zoom

🔗 RSVP: https://mosaic-ca.org/september2026

📣 Join the conversation and share this invitation with your community!

#MOSAICCA #MovementSolidarity #UnifyConnectMobilize #AANHPI #AAPI by @pacificislandersforprogress

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a month ago

🌊 AB 2374 is one step away from becoming law.

After passing the California Legislature, AB 2374 (Fong) is headed to Governor Newsom’s desk.

Huge thank you to every coalition partner who has joined our collective advocacy for disaggregated NHPI data, greater accountability, and stronger opportunities for Pasifika students. We also thank Assemblymember Mike Fong and state leaders who have championed this effort.

AB 2374 would establish a new California designation for colleges and universities that demonstrate a meaningful commitment to Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander student success. Institutions seeking the designation would be expected to set measurable equity goals, develop strategic plans, strengthen culturally responsive supports, and use disaggregated data to better understand and address disparities across our diverse communities.

For Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander students, this is especially important. The bill calls for NHPI outcomes to be reported separately, where possible, helping make our students more visible in data on graduation, degree and certificate completion, and transfer.

But our work isn’t finished. 📣

☎️ Call Governor Newsom and urge him to SIGN AB 2374.

Let’s get AB 2374 across the finish line and continue building a California higher education system where Pasifika students are seen, supported, and able to thrive.

#AB2374 #PacificIslandersForProgress #Pasifika #NHPI #HigherEducationEquity by @pacificislandersforprogress

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a month ago

🌊 Episode 2 of Be The Wave is officially live!

For our second talanoa, we’re joined by Dr. Christopher Nellum, Executive Director of EdTrust-West (@edtrustwest), to talk about what it will take to close persistent opportunity and achievement gaps in California’s education system.

We talk about educational equity, the role of advocacy in changing systems, and why addressing disparities requires us to move beyond identifying gaps toward advancing solutions that respond to what students actually need.

We also discuss a proposal to reform Proposition 209 to allow for evidence-based, targeted supports for students of color, including Pacific Islander students, and what that could mean for efforts to close longstanding disparities in educational opportunity and outcomes.

Be The Wave is about creating space for talanoa with leaders, advocates, educators, and partners who are doing the work and moving our communities forward.

🎙️ Episode 2: Closing the Student Opportunity and Achievement Gap

Now streaming on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and our website.

Listen. Share. Be the Wave. 🌊 by @pacificislandersforprogress

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2 months ago

In this moment from Be The Wave, Jimina reflects on our connection as Pasifika people to the ocean. The ocean is part of who we are. And together, we are the wave of Pasifika.

Jimina brings that spirit to her work with Empowering Pacific Islander Communities (EPIC), @empoweredpi, which works to advance social justice and build power within Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander communities through organizing, advocacy, research, and leadership development.

🎧 Hear more from Jimina in Episode 1 of Be The Wave, available now on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

#BeTheWave #Pasifika #PacificIslandersForProgress #NHPI #EPIC by @pacificislandersforprogress

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🌊 The first episode of Be The Wave is officially live!

For our first conversation, we’re joined by Jimina Afuola Sevudredre of Empowering Pacific Islander Communities (@empoweredpi) to talk about why Pacific Islander civic engagement matters and what it means for our communities to have a voice in the decisions that impact us.

We talk about showing up, building community power, and why civic engagement has to extend beyond election day.

Be The Wave is about creating space for talanoa with leaders, advocates, educators, and partners who are doing the work and moving our communities forward.

🎙️ Episode 1: Why Pacific Islander Civic Engagement Matters

Now streaming on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and our website.

Listen. Share. Be the Wave. 🌊 by @pacificislandersforprogress

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2 months ago

A big thank you to the @collegeopp for inviting PIP Founder and Chair Roy Tongilava to share his perspective on its new report, The State of Higher Education for Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Californians.

His comments highlight the need for disaggregated NHPI data that shows how individual communities are doing in college access, persistence, transfer, and degree completion. This also means finding better ways to protect student privacy without making entire communities disappear from public data because of small sample sizes.

The report brings much-needed attention to these challenges and offers real solutions for moving forward.

Read the press release at the link:

https://collegecampaign.org/news/the-state-of-higher-education-for-asian-american-native-hawaiian-and-pacific-islander-californians

#PacificIslandersForProgress #NHPIData #DataEquity #HigherEducation #BeTheWave by @pacificislandersforprogress

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2 months ago

Excited to launch Be The Wave, a new podcast from @pacificislandersforprogress hosted by Roy Tongilava.

Be The Wave highlights leaders, educators, advocates, and community partners creating change across education, policy, civic engagement, and beyond in California.

Through short and meaningful talanoa, we’ll share stories, learn from leaders’ work, and explore how we can build a stronger future for Pacific Islander communities.

Every wave begins somewhere. This is ours.

🎧 Listen to our first two episodes now available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and our website.

#BeTheWave #PIP #PacificIslander #PacificIslanderVoices #PacificIslandersForProgress by @pacificislandersforprogress

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