Sovereign Council of Hawaiian Homestead Associations Policy Summit Scheduled July 23

A coalition focused on serving the Native Hawaiian community will convene later this month to discuss plans for funds recently appropriated to the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands for waitlist beneficiaries.

Gov. David Ige recently signed legislation funding $600 million to DHHL to deliver services to the Hawaiian Home Lands waitlist, now at 28,500 families.

“With this milestone, members of the Sovereign Council of Hawaiian Homestead Associations will continue its work to produce a $600M Beneficiary Strategic Plan to present to the next governor and Legislature in December of this year,” Kipukai Kualii, Sovereign Council of Hawaiian Homestead Associations policy chairperson, said in a press release.

The next planning session is scheduled July 23. The Sovereign Council of Hawaiian Homestead Associations Policy Summit is set for 9 a.m.-5 p.m. on O‘ahu. Fifty homestead, allies and waitlist leaders will take up an agenda encompassing a policy framework surrounding five core impact components.

Since the enactment of House Bill 2511 by the state Legislature, the Sovereign Council of Hawaiian Homestead Associations coalition and the Association of Hawaiians for Homestead Lands have laid out plans for the funds, taking an inventory of priorities and solutions from local and national leaders.

“This is a significant funding allocation to the next administration of DHHL,” Mike Kahikina, Association of Hawaiians for Homestead Lands chairman, said in the press release. “As the most experienced community on our lands act, we have seen resources come and go through the hands of the state, we have seen solutions simply not understood, over and over. Producing a beneficiary plan directly expresses how the $600 million should be spent to maximize the intent of the appropriation, with a positive impact to the overall Hawai‘i economy. It’s our citizen voice, it’s good old-fashioned democracy and civic engagement. We hope it is well-received.”

Two more summits are scheduled for Sept. 15 and Oct. 8. The final draft of the Beneficiary Strategic Plan is scheduled for delivery Dec. 10 to the state Legislature. The Sovereign Council of Hawaiian Homestead Associations plan is in addition to the legislative mandated plan required to be issued by DHHL to lawmakers on the same date.

Anyone interested in contributing to the work of the Sovereign Council of Hawaiian Homestead Associations and its members on this policy project or applying to attend the upcoming policy summit can contact the organization via email at policy@hawaiianhomesteads.org.