Big Island nonprofits among Office of Hawaiian Affairs grant recipients

Several Big Island groups have received $100,000 grant awards recently approved by Office of Hawaiian Affairs trustees.

An Economic Stability grant of $500,000 was awarded to the Homestead Community Development Corporation for its statewide Residential Employment Living Improvement Project, which would provide experiential employment opportunities and training including job placement services for an estimated 95 Native Hawaiians.

A $400,000 grant was also awarded to the Hoʻākeolapono Trades Academy and Institute on Kauaʻi, for its Building Through Innovation Program which would offer workforce development services in the building and construction industry for an estimated 32 community members.

The Office of Hawaiian Affairs Grants Program supports Hawaiʻi-based nonprofit organizations that have projects, programs and initiatives that serve the lāhui (Hawaiian community) in alignment with the Office of Hawaiian Affairs’ strategic plan, which targets economic, health, housing, and education strategic directions. More than $1.8 million was awarded yesterday to a total of 16 community nonprofits.

Six $100,000 ‘Āina Grants were awarded to:

• Hui Mālama i ke Ala ʻŪlili, to restore and steward 20 acres of of regenerative ʻulu agroforesty in Ka Maha ʻUlu o Koholālele on Hawaiʻi Island;
• Aloha Kuamoʻo ʻĀina, for its Mālama Kuamoʻo Community Stewardship Program which will help restore a 3-acre portion of Kuamoʻo on Hawaiʻi Island;
• ʻĀina Alliance, for preservation, stewardship and restoration activities along the Anahola coastal area on Kauaʻi;
• The Men of PAʻA, for its Imu Mea ʻAi project, an ʻāina-based recovery and community service program promoting the healing and reintegration of Native Hawaiian men transitioning from the justice system and at risk youth in Puna on Hawaiʻi Island;
• Papakōlea Community Development Corporation, for its Pūowaina Research and Education Project which will increase educational programming in the Papakōlea community on Oʻahu; and
• Keaukaha Panaʻewa Community Alliance for its Mahiʻai Project which will provide agricultural educational workshops on Hawaiʻi Island.

Additionally, Ka Ipu Makani Cultural Heritage Center was awarded a $100,000 Moʻomeheu grant for its Moaʻe Molokaʻi Digitization Project, which will assist with the preservation of content unique and specific to the Native Hawaiian Molokaʻi Community.