The internationally known Aha Punana Leo, Inc. is a non-profit organization which was established in 1983 to revitalize the nearly extinct Hawaiian language and establish schools taught entirely through that language. The following year, the organization founded the first Punana Leo school which was also the first Native American language immersion school in the United States. After the Punana Leo families changed an 1896 law banning Hawaiian language schools, the Punana Leo method of education, along with the first graduates of the program, were taken into the public schools. With strong support from the Aha Punana Leo, that state government program has expanded to the twelfth grade. Presently there are eleven Punana Leo preschools that graduate students and provide growth for such government Hawaiian language schools. The Aha Punana Leo has also initiated two Hawaiian language medium laboratory schools which it runs in cooperation with the Hawaii State Department of Education and the Ka Haka Ula O Keelikolani College of Hawaiian Language of the University of Hawaii at Hilo. Additional operations include production and distribution...

O Wakea, o ia hoi ka makuakane o na mokupuni o Hawaii nei, o ia ke kane. O Hoohokukalani ka wahine. Hapai o Hoohokukalani a nui aela kona opu. O kana pepe mua ana keia, o ia hoi kana hiapo. Hanau o Hoohokukalani. He pepe eepa kana; he keiki alualu. Olelo ia o ia e kanu i ia pepe ma ka aoao hikina o ka hale, o ia hoi ma ka aoao e pii mai ai ka la i ke kakahiaka....