Champions help to heal communities — Part 4

by Sharon Higa | Feb. 3, 2025

The HEI Charitable Foundation annually recognizes six outstanding employee volunteers with a $1,000 donation awarded to a nonprofit organization of their choice. The 2024 Kokua Community Service Champions are all leaders with a desire to serve and through giving back are helping bridge the gap so communities can heal and thrive. I’m pleased to introduce this year’s honorees and their selected nonprofits through a series of blogs dedicated to each individual champion.

Jamila Jarmon, Manager, Growth Strategy for Electrification of Transportation

From modest beginnings to an astonishing record of achievements that include her recent selection to the Obama Foundation Leaders Program, Jamila Jarmon is a force to be reckoned with and she’s just getting started.

“Growing up in Hawaiʻi, I was blessed to have a tremendously supportive community,” said Jamila. “However, what was missing was a connection to Black community rooted in Hawaiʻi.”

To fill the gap, Jamila joined with like-minded individuals to launch The Pōpolo Project, a non-profit organization that is working to redefine what it means to be Black in Hawaiʻi. “While I’m privileged to have the opportunity to work with several non-profit community organizations, I chose to support The Pōpolo Project with the HEI award donation,” said Jamila.

As a founding Board member of The Pōpolo Project, Jamila has been an integral part of its growth over the past seven years.

“The Pōpolo Project is a community organization building Black community to bring together generations of Black folks who call Hawaiʻi home,” explained Jamila. “In addition, it’s an organization that has discussed the Black community’s contribution to Hawaiʻi, and also talks about Blackness throughout the Pacific.”

Above left: Jamila prepares paʻiʻai or hand-pounded taro using traditional implements during the Kuʻi for a Cause fundraising event. As a Hawaiʻi People’s Fund Grant recipient, The Pōpolo Project had the opportunity to raise awareness of Hui Aloha ʻĀina Momona’s workshops on food, farming and sustainable lifestyles. Above right: Jamila with other volunteers from The Pōpolo Project lend their hands to weeding a patch of local produce to support the Kōkua Learning Farm, a project of Kōkua Hawaiʻi Foundation. The effort helps to bring families out for community workdays at the farm located in Haleʻiwa.

Pōpolo, from the Hawaiian word for a small nightshade plant that produces black berries, also has been commonly used in Hawaiʻi to reference Black people. Is it appropriate to use? For Jamila, the answer is simple. “Just ask,” she said to a group of Hawaiian Electric employees during a webinar earlier this year. Understanding the context, who is saying it and how they’re saying it will differentiate how a Black person will perceive the term.

Through The Pōpolo Project, Jamila has helped create a sense of community for Black people in Hawaiʻi and is passionate about helping her community thrive. “It's been a catalyst to truly see Black people as a part of the fabric of Hawaiʻi's community. And it’s something I would have been grateful to have growing up in Hawaiʻi.”

Above: Jamila, far right, during a community group discussion in Montgomery, Alabama. In 2023, The Pōpolo Project took a group of community members on a trip to Montgomery to visit the Legacy Museum. “The group of community members was intergenerational, and one of our elders grew up in Tuskegee, Alabama,” said Jamila. “We had the opportunity to tour Tuskegee and learn about the Tuskegee Airmen, visit Tuskegee University, and meet with Tuskegee Community Groups to learn more about their work.”

A graduate of George Washington University and the William S. Richardson School of Law at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, Jamila also serves on the boards of Aloha Harvest and Ceeds of Peace and is a member of the Hawaii State Bar Association’s Committee on Diversity and Equality in the Law.

Prior to joining Hawaiian Electric, Jamila was In-House counsel at Hawaiʻi-based Elemental Impact (formerly Elemental Excelerator), a clean tech investor in climate technologies. She was named one of the 40 Under 40 influential leaders by Pacific Business News and is an alumnus of the Pacific Century Fellows leadership training program, Class of 2022.

Sharon Higa is a senior communications consultant at Hawaiian Electric.