Latest cohort graduates from HITOP

A program that aims to help newly relocated or returning kama‘āina leaders acclimate to living and working in Hawai‘i has just graduated its eighth cohort, a group made up of 22 professionals from across the state and across sectors.

Movers and Shakas is a nonprofit that runs place-based, community orientation programs. HITOP is its six-week acculturation program that introduces business leaders and executives who have recently relocated or returned to the Islands to Hawai‘i's culture, history and community.

It aims to help new transplants and returning kama‘āina live and work successfully here, and to help local employers retain and empower the leaders they've recruited.

"HITOP accelerates integration of newcomers into Hawai‘i by fostering deeper understanding of the historical and local context and business culture and building camaraderie with our peers," Amy Nguyen-Chyung, dean of Hawai‘i Pacific University's College of Business and a member of Cohort 8, says.

"It’s hands-on and community-driven, connecting us with each other as well as the community in meaningful ways," she told Aloha State Daily in an email. "I enjoyed doing an assortment of community service projects alongside an amazing cohort of leaders in similar and different fields."

Nguyen-Chyung says she's even brought some of the HITOP activities to the university campus, having teams of first-year students at HPU identify and vote on a nonprofit to support, "engaging the students with their new community and with each other."

“HITOP goes beyond a traditional onboarding program and bridges both professional leadership and cultural responsibility,” Nicole Lim, executive director of Movers and Shakas said an announcement Tuesday. “We’re proud to support organizations that recognize the value of cultural fluency in building effective, respectful workplaces and communities.”

"HITOP’s selling points for local companies are increasing job effectiveness and retention," Nguyen-Chyung says. "Lessons on the local business nuances and helping transplants be more sensitive and effective in their work helps with effectiveness. With regards to retention, I’ve heard from one company that their retention rates of managers brought from the continental U.S. are as low as 17%. Hiring is expensive for companies, so investing in sending a new hire to a program like HITOP makes good economic sense."

Since its start in 2022, 197 leaders have participated in HITOP across eight cohorts, Movers and Shakas noted.

Cohort 8 included participants from Booz Allen Hamilton, Catholic Charities Hawai‘i, the City and County of Honolulu, Hawai‘i Pacific Health, Hawaii Dental Services, Hawai‘i Pacific University, HMSA, Kāhala Nui, Marien Corps Base Hawai‘i, Outrigger Hospitality Group, Southwest Airlines, Teach for America, Temple Emanu-El, the University of Hawai‘i system, Young Brothers and Zippy's Restaurants.

The program included three community work days with Ka‘ala Farm, Hale Kipa and The Pantry by Feeding Hawai‘i Together, leadership development workshops and cultural sessions, as well as talk story engagements.

Movers and Shakas launched in 2020, started by a group of local business and community leaders as a way to help the local economy when travel and tourism came to a standstill during the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Lim told ASD this summer that at that time, the idea was to bring remote workers from the Mainland to help with local nonprofits. It was a controversial idea, but popular — there were 90,000 applicants for 50 cohort spots.

The nonprofit offered two cohorts of the remote worker program before pivoting to offer a new community orientation program to help employers retain new leaders — an initiative that eventually became HITOP.