We're upstream of you. Let's talk.

We aren't a training program. We aren't a placement agency. We're the readiness bridge between Hawaiʻi's young people and the apprenticeship programs and contractors who need them.

Hawaiʻi's apprenticeship programs are excellent. Hawaiʻi's contractors are world-class. Yet the state was short 2,400 skilled trade positions as of 2024 — with electricians, plumbers, and HVAC technicians representing 60% of the unfilled roles.

Industry-wide, only about 41% of apprentices complete their programs, and only about 30% of starters land in long-term trade employment.

 

The training isn't the problem. The ʻōpio who reach your portal under-prepared, under-informed, or missing the basic paperwork to even apply — that's the problem. And it's the one we exist to solve.

 We work in the window before a young person reaches your apprenticeship intake — building math readiness for your aptitude test, navigating the paperwork most ʻōpio don't know they need, coaching for the interview, preparing for the hands-on screening.

And we stay with apprentices through their first year on the job, when most washouts happen.

What we do:

- Awareness in communities your recruitment isn't reaching today — neighborhoods, schools, and families that don't have a direct line into the trades.
- Math and aptitude prep aligned to your test — not generic tutoring.
- Paperwork and basics — diploma copies, ID, transportation plans, drug-test readiness.
- Interview and soft-skills coaching — what to wear, how to talk about expectations, how to follow through.
- Warm handoff to the right program — one HLYF contact per candidate, not a flood of cold applications.
- Year-one mentorship — staying with the apprentice through the highest-washout window.

We help ʻōpio navigate every major skilled-trade pathway in the islands:

- Carpentry, drywall, and millwright — through Hawaiʻi's largest single-trade apprenticeship program.
- Electrical — through Hawaiʻi's inside wireperson and telecommunications apprenticeship tracks.
- Plumbing, pipefitting, and pipe welding— through Hawaiʻi's nationally recognized pipefitter/steamfitter welder program.
- Welding — structural, shipyard, pressure vessel, and HVAC — across five distinct pathway organizations.
- Heavy equipment and diesel mechanics — through Hawaiʻi's operating engineers training and community college diesel programs.
- Federal civilian trades at Pearl Harbor — including welder, vehicle mechanic, and additional specialties through a tuition-free four-year program partnership with Honolulu Community College.
- Auto technology — through dealership intern-to-tech programs and community college pathways.

If you are a Hawaiʻi apprenticeship program, training trust, contractor, or trade-industry partner, we'd like 60 minutes of your time. Our only goal: understand, in your words, where your pipeline is leaking and what upstream readiness would change for your program.

We are not asking for funding from your training trust. We are not asking for placement guarantees. We are not proposing to replace anything you do.

We are asking the simplest possible question: Where are you losing people, and what do you wish someone fixed before they reached you?

After that conversation, if you see a fit, we'll propose one small pilot. Not before.

If you'd like a 60-minute meeting — in person on Hawaiʻi Island or Oʻahu, or by video — please reach out.

Mark Spencer
Founder, Hana Lima Youth Foundation
partners@hlyfoundation.org

→ Book a 30-minute discovery call 808-318-2090 and we will set it up.

→ Or send a meeting request to partners@hlyfoundation.org with two or three time windows that work for you.

Mark Spencer founded Hana Lima Youth Foundation in 2025 after watching too many Hawaiʻi ʻōpio drift past skilled-trade opportunities that would have built lifelong careers. Hana Lima is the bridge between those young people and the apprenticeship programs and employers who need them.

Hana Lima Youth Foundation is a Hawaiʻi 501(c)(3) nonprofit. Donations are processed through https://www.every.org/hana-lima-youth-foundation.

We do not solicit funding from apprenticeship programs, training trusts, or industry partners. We raise from individuals and grant-making organizations only. Industry conversations are for understanding and alignment — never for fundraising.

In Hawaiian, keiki means children — the warm word every parent and ʻohana uses for the young ones in their care. ʻŌpio means youth and young adults — the 14-to-25 window where Hana Lima actually works.

Every parent sees their ʻōpio as their keiki. Both words are true at once. On this page we use ʻōpio when we describe the young people walking through your front door, and keiki when we mean the wider family they belong to.