Cohort I

Kalaʻi Anderson

Office of Representative Jill Tokuda (HI)
Home State: Maui, Hawaiʻi
School: Yale University
Degree: Ethnicity, Race, and Migration with a concentration on Indigenous Studies (BA ‘25)
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Kalaʻi Anderson is from Maui, Hawaiʻi and a recent graduate of Yale University, receiving a bachelor’s of art in Ethnicity, Race, and Migration with a concentration on Indigenous Studies.  During his time at Yale, he was mission driven and strived to uplift Native Hawaiian voices on campus. Kalaʻi worked as a peer liaison for Yale’s Native American Cultural Center for three years, mentoring incoming Pacific Islander students throughout their first year in college. He also held a leadership position as fundraising chair for Yale’s first Pacific Islander student group-Indigenous Peoples of Oceania—raising over $8,000 for disaster relief following the 2023 Maui wildfires.

Kalaʻi has taken his talents to the hill and served as a legislative intern to Senator Mazie Hirono, supporting her efforts on the Senate Committee of Energy and Natural Resources. He also served as an education intern at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian, working in partnership with the New York Department of Education to revise public school history curricula.

In the future, Kalaʻi hopes to pursue a masters in public policy overseas, then return home to Hawaiʻi as a law student at The William S. Richardson School of Law. Kalaʻi is passionate about creating more equitable solutions to criminal justice advocacy for Native Hawaiians, especially those residing in remote and rural areas where civil services are limited

"My office allowed me to cover issue areas that I am genuinely passionate about, including rural health and housing affordability, both of which acutely affect Hawaiʻi's communities due to our high cost of living. The ability to intimately learn about these issues and the ways our federal government can be used to help solve them has been one of the most meaningful aspects of my time in the office.
Outside of work, an especially meaningful part of the Kūhiō Fellowship experience has been the opportunity to live with other fellows from Hawaiʻi.
That environment has offered daily support and shared reflection, making the challenges of living in Washington, D.C. feel manageable and enjoyable."