OHA Offering $7 Million in Community Grants

On Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2018, The Office of Hawaiian Affairs (OHA) announced the opening of the application period for its Community Grants Program, which will make available $7 million to projects that contribute to the Native Hawaiian community through seven strategic focus areas.

OHA’s Community Grants Program is the agency’s primary grants program used to distribute larger funding awards to nonprofit organizations providing critical services to the Native Hawaiian community. Solicitations are held every two years in alignment with OHA’s biennium budget. Applicants may request two years of grant funding, provided they have a minimum of 20% matching funds.

The current solicitations seek applications for funding for Fiscal Year 2020 (July 1, 2019 to June 30, 2020) and Fiscal Year 2021 (July 1, 2020 to June 30, 2021) in the following strategic focus areas:

• Culture: ($500,000 for FY2020/$500,000 for FY2021) to support the perpetuation of traditional cultural practices and to strengthen Native Hawaiian identity, ʻohana and lāhui;
• Education: ($500,000/$500,000) to improve Native Hawaiian conditions of learning such that Native Hawaiian students achieve academic success, cultural connection and strengthened sense of well-being;
• Health for Kūpuna Care: ($250,000/$250,000) to improve health conditions among Native Hawaiians by implementing wrap-around services for kūpuna and their caregivers;
• Health for Substance Abuse: ($250,000/$250,000) to improve health and wellness among Native Hawaiians by improving availability and access to culturally sensitive substance abuse programs;
• Housing: ($1 million/$1 million) to increase economic self-sufficiency of Native Hawaiians by increasing their capacity to own or rent a home;
• Income: ($500,000/$500,000) to increase economic self-sufficiency of Native Hawaiians through vocational training, GED preparation and employment programs; and
• Land: ($500,000/$500,000) to support sustainable resource management and responsible stewardship of kīpuka, or parcels of land and adjoining resource areas within an ahupuaʻa and/or to promote the development and production of crops of significant value to Native Hawaiians.

It is recommended that applicants attend one of ten orientation sessions that will be held statewide beginning Nov. 28 through Dec. 14. Applications are only available online and are due Friday, Jan. 4, 2019.

Community Grants are subject to approval by OHA’s Board of Trustees and to the availability of funding.

For more information about the Community Grants Program, including the solicitations, online application and orientation schedule, go online.