OHA’s Community Grants Program is the agency’s major grants program. For fiscal years 2020 and 2021, the OHA Board of Trustees approved $6 million for Community Grants to 24 programs that will provide critical services to Native Hawaiians in the key areas of housing, income, health, education and culture.
The 2020-2021 OHA Community Grants awardees are:
Housing – $1,000,000
The purpose of this project is to establish the Hawaiʻi Affordable Housing Fund, which will serve Native Hawaiians with financial counseling, individual development accounts, and loans to rent or own homes, and provide Native Hawaiian communities/nonprofits with technical assistance and loans to build or preserve 1,500 units of affordable housing by 2026.
The purpose of the Native Hawaiian Housing Stability Project is to support the delivery of the HCDC Financial Literacy Program and Micro Enterprise Assistance Program on Kauaʻi to assist Native Hawaiians to achieve homeownership or rental housing on Kauaʻi, through knowledge and training necessary for housing stability.
Income – $1,000,000
The purpose of this project is to provide vocational development training and support to Native Hawaiian families in West Oʻahu through a small incubator and post-secondary supports for teacher preparation to strengthen the economic self-sufficiency of families and the economic base of the community.
The Native Hawaiian Trades Academy is a middle-skill career institute for Native Hawaiians with low to moderate income. This program would provide successful participants with starting wages that are more than the single adult Household Survival Budget and that can exceed the statewide median family income of $79,187 within five years.
Health (Substance Abuse) – $500,000
The project aims to improve the health of Native Hawaiian women recovering from substance use disorders by integrating cultural practices into the treatment curriculum and by providing substance abuse treatment, education, relapse prevention, and skills to live a healthy lifestyle in response to cessation of tobacco, methamphetamine and other drugs.
The purpose of this project is to reduce the rate of alcohol, tobacco, and illicit drug use among Native Hawaiians through prevention services that include education, outreach and advocacy to youth ages 9 through 20 and their families on Molokaʻi to proactively prevent substance use.
The purpose of this project is to support Maui’s Native Hawaiian community by providing a combination of comprehensive women-specific substance abuse treatment services with activities that strengthen mother-child bonding and increase attentive parenting practices to improve and strengthen the entire family’s well-being.
Health (Kūpuna Care) – $500,000
The purpose of this project is to provide youth-led services, including home modifications, produce and poi deliveries, and meaningful engagement in community-based activities to Hāna’s kūpuna and their caregivers to meet their physical, emotional, and spiritual needs, while ultimately elevating their health, well-being and longevity.
I Ola Lāhui in collaboration with Lunalilo Home will provide behavioral health and cultural nutrition supports to Native Hawaiian kūpuna and caregivers in Honolulu and Waimānalo to improve their health conditions and well-being, enhance day-to-day living, and increase opportunities for cultural and physical activities and social interaction.
Education – $1,000,000
This project utilizes culture-based pedagogy to provide comprehensive differentiated instruction along with a variety of educationally-enriching activities, designed to increase the number of Native Hawaiian students in foster, kith and kinship care, to meet and exceed reading and math standards to achieve yearly grade promotion and graduation.
The purpose of this project is to provide culturally-relevant learning experiences for Nānākuli Intermediate and High School students to increase academic and social growth. Students will engage in authentic projects that are connected to their community and to their own lives, and support their kuleana of community stewardship.
Hoʻomana Hou School’s purpose is to graduate students who can think critically, who actively support their community, and who are academically, environmentally, ethically and culturally competent. The school’s philosophy is that students learn best from hands-on instruction that is place-based and grounded in culture.
The purpose of this project, Power Hour – Papa Hana Haʻawina, is to provide homework assistance to all members of Boys & Girls Clubs of Maui, including Native Hawaiian members who attend Hawaiian language immersion schools, to improve their grades in school and in standardized testing.
Culture – $1,000,000
The Waimānalo Health Center is proposing to expand its cultural healing program to increase the number of patients and community members who practice lomilomi (traditional massage) and lāʻau lapaʻau (traditional medicine) by providing individualized instruction through its primary care setting and cultural healing classes to the community.
The Ulu Aʻe Project is an afterschool/intersession program that will provide cultural, place-based learning to at least 361 Native Hawaiian keiki in schools within ʻEwa. In these sessions, learners receive lessons in cultural practices, such as hana hei (string figures), oli, hula, ulana lauhala (weaving), kuku kapa (kapa making), kālai ohe (bamboo carving), kanu (planting), kuʻi kalo (poi pounding), kui lei (lei making), moʻolelo (traditional stories), kākāʻōlelo (oration), haku mele (poetry), paʻani makahiki (makahiki games)and more.
The Papahana Kālai Papa Me Pōhaku Kuʻi ʻAi project is a workshop series that teaches participants to carve their own board and stone for pounding poi. Through the series at least 50 Native Hawaiians will create their own board and stone, connect with their culture, learn traditional skills, and strengthen the bonds between ʻohana and community.
The purpose of this project is to perpetuate Hawaiian cultural practice of ʻōpelu (mackerel scad) fishing as handed down to fishers in Hoʻokena and South Kona. The project will build on current OHA support to revitalize seasonal closures, train a new generation ofʻōpelu fishers and increase demand for traditionally-harvested ʻōpelu so these cultural practices continue.
The purpose of Hui Mālama Ola Nā ʻŌiwi is to uplift the health of the Hawaiian nation. Hui Mālama’s indigenous knowledge programming aims to create a deeper understanding and practice of cultural methods by Native Hawaiians for their health and wellness via ho‘oponopono, lā‘au lapa‘au, lomilomi, and healthy hāpai (pregnancy).
The purpose of the Keanahala: A Place for Hala project is to perpetuate the Native Hawaiian practice of ulana lauhala (weaving) and help bring Hawaiian lauhala mats back to the home. Keanahala honors the process from ‘āina to moena (bedding), including harvesting, proper preparation of the leaves, weaving, and repairing moena. The project brings community together to weave, share stories and heal.
Land – $1,000,000
The purpose of the Hoʻonohopapa Koholālele Project is to engage Native Hawaiian stewards of the ahupuaʻa of Koholālele in ʻāina restoration, Native Hawaiian research, and cultural regeneration to cultivate abundance, renew ancestral responsibilities, and empower ‘ohana with the capacity to live and thrive in Hāmākua for generations.
The purpose of this project is to restore and effectively manage ecologically- and geographically-linked kīpuka within Heʻeia uli, increasing the capacity and resilience of ecological and food-producing systems in our ahupuaʻa for the benefit of Hawaiians and other community members on Oʻahu.
This project will re-establish native forest and stabilize two riparian restoration corridors in the ahupua‘a of Kawaihae. Our watershed restoration efforts with DHHL’s Kailapa Community will increase access to fresh water, provide habitat for native flora and fauna species and build Native Hawaiian stewardship capacity as aloha ‘āina practitioners.
The purpose of this project is to mālama the waters of Keaukaha surrounding the only remaining loko iʻa kuapā (fishpond) on the east side of Hawaiʻi Island through community engagement, education, research, social media and community events. This is a collaboration between Haleolono fishpond and Kaiaulu Hanakahi to mālama its coastal areas and to revive and sustain the local ecosystem.
The purpose of this project is to provide direct support and education to Native Hawaiians of Molokaʻi to grow significant native crops (of both land and sea) to further economic sustainability, while requiring ahupuaʻa stewardship through restoration efforts and service learning.
