Ka Haka 'Ula O Ke'elikolani College of Hawaiian Language at the University of Hawai'i-Hilo has been awarded a $50,000 grant from the Office of Hawaiian Affairs to promote language proficiency in elementary school children.

The 'Olelo Ola Oral Language Proficiency Project is designed to create a comprehensive system of services for the foundational grades K-3 to foster highly literate and orally proficient students in Hawaiian language immersion schools.

The project is primarily funded through a U.S. Department of Education Native Hawaiian Education Act Grant. The OHA funding is a supplemental grant to finance a research trip to New Zealand for the project team, which will include five master's and doctoral candidates in Hawaiian language and education.