Hawaiian Electric Award Grant

The Partners in Development Foundation received a $10,000 grant from Hawaiian Electric to continue the Resilience Hub in Kohala, a project under the Pili a Paʻa program that provides a safe space for keiki who are doing distance learning due to the Covid-19 pandemic and whose caregivers are unable to supervise them. The project launched in September of 2020 and successfully allowed for both children to participate in distance learning and parents to reenter the workforce. 

The Resilience Hub prioritized assisting Kohala School Complex teachers who do not have access to affordable or reliable child care for their children who have to continue distance or hybrid learning. The project supported teachers and other parents, largely in the service industry, to work instead of taking a leave of absence to care for their children. 

“Kohala does not have a large pool of teacher candidates or substitute teachers, so the schools would have been short-handed and may not have been able to provide quality education to the students,” said Ross Pagat, Pili A Paʻa Community School Manager. 

When online schooling is done for the day, Resilience Hub staff coordinate extracurricular activities like archery, gardening, cooking, and 3D printing. The project promotes more than just emotional and physical health; the hub allows for keiki in the community to socialize, problem solve, follow instructions, and learn ways to give back to their families. 

Not only that, but the Resilience Hub served as a center for adults who needed help getting connected with services that dealt with alcohol and drug recovery. The grant enabled the project to continue this work of connecting and assisting Kohala community members with critical services.

For additional information or to learn more about Partners in Development Foundation and the Resilience Hub, go to pidf.org.