Gov Releases Hilo Adult Day Center Funds

The governor’s office has released $385,000 in capital improvement grant funds for the new Hilo Adult Day Center, to be operated by the Hawaii Island Adult Care, Inc. and developed by the Hawaii Island Community Development Corporation.

The new facility on Mohouli Street, located next to the Mohouli Heights Senior Neighborhood, will replace the old day-care facility on Rainbow Drive.

Gov. Neil Abercrombie said in a written statement that the new Hilo Adult Day Center “will continue to provide support for adults, primarily kupuna, with physical or mental challenges, offering social, recreational and educational activities.”

“It allows our older adults the opportunity to continue living at home for as long as possible, have dignity and independence and be part of their communities,” Abercrombie said in a release.

The project is a collaborative effort of two 501(c)(3) non-profit organizations with long histories of serving the Big Island community, the release said.

In April 2013 the state Legislature announced that $1 million in funding had been released for the project.

The new adult day-care center will have 8,000 square feet of space to accommodate up to 80 clients, about the same capacity as the existing center, according to a final environmental assessment issued in October 20012.

According to plans, the new facility will be located next to the Mohouli Heights Senior Neighborhood, a 160-unit rental housing project being built for low-income seniors.

The HICDC is looking to secure a variety of private, state and federal funding sources for the $7 million the new facility is expected to cost.