Maui CRC office is staffed by Thelma Shimooka and Roy Newton. - Photo: Blaine Fergerstrom

CRC offices: OHA's front line
in the Hawaiian community

By T. Ilihia Gionson / Ka Wai Ola

Community Resource Coordinators, or CRCs, are the face of OHA in communities across Hawai'i. And the six CRC offices across Hawai'i are assets in the communities they serve, places that beneficiaries can go to access the many services that OHA offers, and sources for more information about services and programs available from other agencies.

Beneficiaries can visit the local CRC office to register for OHA's Hawaiian Registry or Kau Inoa, make payments for an OHA loan, pick up the latest issue of Ka Wai Ola, or just to talk story.

On Maui, CRC Thelma Shimooka and clerk Roy Newton are happy to help beneficiaries. Lynn Paranada, who lives in Wasilla, Alaska, brought two of her keiki, Ke'ilani Moana and Koa, in to the Maui CRC office to renew their Hawaiian Registry cards. Paranada's sister also came to register herself and her newborn grandchild, who at just a little more than 1 month old wasn't brought along but was represented with a photo and a birth certificate.

Visiting from Wasilla, Alaska, siblings Koa and Ke'ilani Moana Paranada, renewed their Hawaiian Registry cards on a recent visit to the Maui CRC. - Photo: Blaine Fergerstrom

“I registered several infants before, but this might be the youngest,” said Newton, between taking the family's photos for the registry cards and sharing OHA scholarship information with Paranada. Newton referred her to Hawai'i Community Foundation's web site, hawaiicommunityfoundation.org.* “They offer scholarship applications from January to March,” he said. “HCF also offers other scholarships so it will be good to look at all they have to offer.”

With Kau Inoa registry applications in hand, Paranada said: “I am going to fill this out because I'm a very proud Hawaiian. I want to get into everything I can. We need to get our Hawaiian nation growing.”

Kaliko Santos is the CRC on Kaua'i. She finds helping beneficiaries to be the most rewarding part of her job. “The front line is where I live, and it's where I work. I think the CRCs have the best jobs in OHA,” Santos said.

Beneficiaries will come in because “they heard something about OHA or something about Hawaiian issues and want to check it out with a real person. We will go and find the answers if we don't know so we all learn together,” Santos said.

Many beneficiaries stop by the local CRC office with no particular business in mind, just to talk story with the friendly CRCs and clerks.

“Many of our beneficiaries just want to vent their frustrations with a particular community or personal situation, and we're here to listen and explore solutions. They feel we are a good sounding board,” Santos said.

“The most fulfilling part of the job for me is seeing beneficiaries leave our office happy with their concerns taken care of,” said Gladys Brigham, clerk of the East Hawai'i CRC office. “Many of them visit often to take advantage of the programs we have available to help.”

For contact information for the CRC office near you, see page 25.

Lisa Asato contributed to this report.

*Correction: The web site of the Hawaiʻi Community Foundation is at www.hawaiicommunityfoundation.org. An incorrect url was published in the January 2009 print edition. It has been corrected here.