Puna Rising was founded in May 2021 with the support of a grant from the Hawaii Community Foundation. Our mission is to connect, inform, and inspire the people of Puna to work together collaboratively, identify markets for their goods and services, explore new opportunities, and build a stronger and more robust community ethos. We see ourselves as the 21st century commons that engages and uplifts all members of the community.

Since our inception, Puna Rising has accomplished several milestones, including incorporating the Puna Happenings Facebook group (currently 14K followers) and weekly email newsletter (1.4K subscribers), launching our Talk Story program thanks to a grant from Vibrant Hawaii, launching our Entrepreneur Hub thanks to an anonymous donor, and expanding Villages.io, our community currency program, thanks to a Waiwai grant.

On March 10th, 2023, we strengthened our outreach by creating a new website, PunaHappenings.org, that showcases all of the local events and businesses in our district. Additionally, we launched a more robust website for Villages.io, enabling greater ease of use and security for our community currency program.

We invite you to partner with us in building a robust network that allows us to grow together, leveraging the abundant gifts and talents of our community. You can get involved in expanding our common aspirations in the following ways:

• Join our Talk Story program as a writer or videographer.
• Serve as a coach for the Entrepreneur Hub.
  
• Help expand our community currency program.
• Make a tax deductible contribution to build our infrastructure.
  If you are interested in making any of these contributions click here

We believe that without your support, we are nothing. Therefore, we urge you to help us imua, go forward, and provide you with the resources you can consistently count on.