Next Gen Hawai'i: Collaborative COVID-19 Social Media Initiative to Engage Native Hawaiian, Other Pacific Islander, and Filipino Youth.

ABSTRACT

The Next Gen Hawai'i social media project was initiated in the fall of 2020 to address ongoing public health concerns and the need for accessible and reliable information across Hawai'i's diverse communities by strategically amplifying the voices of Hawai'i's youth in their Native languages. The collaborative effort arose from conversations within the Hawai'i's Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander COVID-19 Response, Recovery, and Resilience Team, composed of diverse public and private organizations involved in statewide COVID-19 response efforts for Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander communities. Next Gen Hawai'i's focus was on Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander, Filipino, and other populations disproportionately suffering from COVID-19. Five social media platforms were developed to spread messaging to youth and young adults about COVID-19. Public Health Ambassadors (from high school to young adults) were recruited and engaged to create culturally and linguistically rooted messaging to promote public health and prevention-based social norms. This strength-based approach recognized youth as important community leaders and ambassadors for change and empowered them to create content for dissemination on platforms with national and global reach. Messaging was designed to build individual, community, and digital health literacy while integrating core cultural values and strengths of Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander, and Filipino communities. Over 250 messages have been delivered across Next Gen Hawai'i social media channels on topics including vaccine information, mask-wearing, staying together over distances, mental health, and in-languages resources in Chuukese, Chamorro, Marshallese, Samoan, Hawaiian, Ilocano, Tagalog, and other Pacific-basin languages. Reach has included more than 75 000 views from various social media channels, media features, successful webinars, and relevant conference presentations. This Public Health Insights article provides an overview of Next Gen Hawai'i's activities and achievements as well as lessons learned for other youth-focused public health social media campaigns and organizations.