Ten years ago the leaders of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs determined that having an inspiring, cohesive vision, a solid plan for the future, and greater organizational stability would together be critical to successfully navigating the agency through the 21st century. To this end, leadership established a Strategic Plan Steering Committee and gathered information from a broad cross-section of the Native Hawaiian community, both in Hawaiʻi and on the continent, regarding emerging issues and trends facing the lāhui. These conversations resulted in the development an eight-year Strategic Plan (2010-2018) which outlined OHA’s strategic priorities, priority statements, baseline targets and indicator targets used to measure success.
The six core issue areas (strategic priorities) they identified were: education, health, land/water, economic self-sufficiency, governance and culture. Of these, culture was viewed as the “tip” of the ʻihe (spear), as this empowered OHA to better conditions for Native Hawaiians by fist valuing our ancestral history, beliefs and practices. Strategies identified to effect systemic change include legislative and policy advocacy, community engagement, providing resources (grants, sponsorships, loans), facilitating collaboration with other agencies, effectively managing OHA’s land assets, and research.
In 2019, OHA issued a Lāhui Impact Report of the 2010-2018 Strategic Plan. See below.
This high level summary of the Lāhui Impact Report highlights and affirms the social, cultural, environmental and economic impact of investing in Native Hawaiian-serving programs and community-based projects in Hawai‘i. Although key results are presented here, this is by no means an exhaustive list of outcomes. It represents just a fraction of the hard work performed by dedicated staff, the meaningful relationships cultivated with community partners, and the impacts felt by beneficiaries across the paeʻāina. One of our most important findings was recognizing the tremendous value and impact of direct investment into local programs.
The following tables provide a snapshot of each Strategic Priority and the resources invested in each area.
| Community Award Impact | Number of Awards** | Dollars Awarded** | Native Hawaiians Served* | Persons Served* |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| OHA Strategic Plan Mid-Point Assessment (2010-2013) | 588 | $33,866,421 | 69,361 | 143,812 |
| OHA Strategic Plan Final Assessment (2010-2018) | 1,445 | $122,208,226 | 134,761 | 502,326 |
Notes:
* Of the reported numbers by award (1,445), 477 (33%) awards reported total persons served and 340 (24%) reported Native Hawaiians served. OHA believes this number is significantly higher.
** These include: Ahahui sponsorships, community events, community grants, and Board Initiatives. These do not include loans, contracts, and other expenditures.
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[accordion-item title=”+ MAULI OLA | HEALTH” class=”health-button my-custom-spoiler”]
Priority Statement: To improve the quality and longevity of life, Native Hawaiians will enjoy healthy lifestyles and experience reduced onset of chronic diseases.
We believe that Native Hawaiians deserve a high quality of life and want to help our lāhui develop lifestyles which support optimal health. Our focus on health is part of our larger effort to improve the conditions of Native Hawaiians. OHA understands that there are significant health disparities and social inequities which result in decreased longevity for Native Hawaiians, particularly in rural areas that lack access to health services.
A top priority is to reduce obesity among Native Hawaiians which leads to myriad related health conditions. Our research shows that 75 percent of Native Hawaiians are at risk of being overweight. Other priorities include decreasing the number of Native Hawaiians needing substance abuse treatment and increasing the number of the Native Hawaiian mothers receiving prenatal care.
To this end, OHA has worked with health care systems and the government. We have also taken special care to attend to culture-based health services that mālama people holistically through our advocacy, research and grant programs.
23,062| 10,600 | Native Hawaiian enrolled in 48 chronic disease prevention programs |
| 1,273 | Native Hawaiians reduced their BMI in 28 programs |
| 1,106 | Native Hawaiian women enrolled in 6 prenatal care coordination / services programs |
| 613 | Native Hawaiian women who begin/receive prenatal care in their 1st trimester in 6 programs |
| $4.6 million |
was awarded to Improve Family Lifestyle Choices (prenatal care and substance abuse treatment) |
| $7 million |
awarded toward Decreasing Chronic Diseases through decreasing obesity. |
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[accordion-item title=”+ HO‘ONA‘AUAO | EDUCATION ” class=”education-button my-custom-spoiler”]
Priority Statement: To maximize choices of life and work, Native Hawaiians will gain knowledge and excel in educational opportunities at all levels.
Education is a critical foundation to building ʻōiwi leaders and to allowing our lāhui to thrive for generations to come. There is a direct link between education outcomes and well-paying jobs, which, in turn, affect quality of life. Raising the next generation and those that follow to assume leadership roles in a variety of fields, both here in Hawaiʻi and elsewhere in the world, is part of the vision for a thriving, active, contributing lāhui.
Top priorities in this area for OHA include increasing the percentage of Native Hawaiian students who meet or exceed reading and math standards in middle and high school, and boosting the post-high (e.g., college degrees and certification programs) graduation rate of Native Hawaiians.
For these reasons, through grants, scholarships, research and advocacy, OHA has invested in improving Hawaiʻi State Assessment proficiency rates and boosting Native Hawaiian access to post-high educational opportunities.
58,028| 1,107 | Native Hawaiian students tested proficient in reading in 14 programs |
| 779 | Native Hawaiian students tested proficient in math in 14 programs |
| 14,890 | Standards-based testing readiness activities facilitated in 17 programs |
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[accordion-item title=”+ HO‘OKAHUA WAIWAI | ECONOMIC SELF-SUFFICIENCY” class=”economic-button my-custom-spoiler”]
Priority Statement: To have choices and a sustainable future, Native Hawaiians will advance towards greater economic self-sufficiency.
Economic pathways provide essential tools to help families generate income that goes beyond living paycheck-to-paycheck, as well as to obtain stable, safe long-term housing. We also know that there is a link between the availability of affordable housing, individual financial literacy, and earning potential sufficient to purchase a home. All Native Hawaiians deserve the opportunity to live with dignity and security.
Our focus on improving Economic Self-Sufficiency centers on two critical goals: increasing Native Hawaiian homeownership and achieving housing stability among Native Hawaiian renters, increasing Native Hawaiian family income and supporting Native Hawaiian entrepreneurs.
Efforts in this area focus on workshops and training to achieve financial literacy, homeownership, to start business and to write grants. Additionally, OHA has a variety of funding awards that has served more than 15,000 Native Hawaiians over the past eight years.
15,598| 3,165 | Native Hawaiians enrolled in 14 housing programs |
| 1,789 | Native Hawaiians completed financial literacy education in 12 housing programs |
| 90 | Native Hawaiians achieved home ownership in 7 housing programs |
| 220 | Native Hawaiian families obtained stable rental housing in 6 housing programs |
| $7.9 million |
Towards initiatives to increase family income |
OHA Consumer Micro Loans are small loans intended to assist Native Hawaiians with unexpected or emergency expenses (e.g., emergency health situations, funeral expenses, unanticipated auto or home repairs, etc.). Loan amounts range from $500 – $7,500 and offer a simple fixed interest rate of 5% for up to a 5 year term.
OHA offers 4 types of Mālama Loans to Native Hawaiians: Debt consolidation, home improvement, education and business. Loan amounts range from $2,500 – $100,000 depending on the type of loan and offer a 4% APR for up to a 7 year term. Mālama Loans are OHA’s most popular loan option and is one way OHA is committed to ensuring Native Hawaiians have access to the resources they need to pursue their financial, education or business goals.
APPLICATIONS
4,076
APPROVE
1,971
DISBURSED
1,926
TOTAL DISBURSED
$34,746,611
The Hua Kanu Business Loan Program is available to Native Hawaiians who own established businesses. These low-cost loans are intended to help small-businesses expand, providing access to credit and capital that allow them to grow and remain financially viable. Hua Kanu business loans range from $200,000 – $1,000,000 and also offer a 4% APR for up to a 7-year term.
APPLICATIONS
19
APPROVE
8
DISBURSED
8
TOTAL DISBURSED
$2,236,000
The Josue ‘ohana is one of many inspirational success stories resulting from Hawaiian Community Assets’ housing programs funded by the Office of Hawaiian Affairs. With the help of HCA, Doug and Anuhea Josue and their four keiki went from homelessness to homeownership in five years.
Business is booming at Mo ʻOno Hawaiʻi, a Maui-based food truck that serves up delicious acai bowls. This wahine-owned business is run by Toni Matsuda and Kuʻulei Hanohano. These young Hawaiian entrepreneurs were able to purchase their new, larger food truck with the help of a Mālama Loan from OHA. The larger work space has helped them to serve up more acai bowls, increase sales and satisfy the cravings of their hungry and happy customers.
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[accordion-item title=”+ ‘ĀINA | LAND & WATER ” class=”aina-button my-custom-spoiler”]
Priority Statement: To maintain the connection to the past and a viable land base, Native Hawaiians will participate in and benefit from responsible stewardship of Ka Pae ‘Āina O Hawai‘i.
OHA is committed in every way to protecting the ancestral homeland of Native Hawaiians with a focus of maintaining a connection to the past and ensuring a viable land base for our people now and in the future. Native Hawaiians are the original stewards of this land and so OHA has pushed for laws that protect both our lands and waters, and that preserve traditional and customary rights to access the ʻāina for subsistence and cultural purposes.
Protecting the ‘āina is part of a larger effort to honor the past while preparing for the future. As the state’s 13th-largest landowner, OHA manages more than 27,000 acres of lands set aside largely for cultural and agricultural endeavors.
Initiatives have included acquiring additional land parcels to improve pae ʻāina sustainability, becoming co-Trustee of Papahānaumokuākea, and being an outspoken advocate for protecting water rights above corporate interests. All this and more is involved in the effort to ensure responsible stewardship of Ka Pae ‘Āina O Hawaiʻi.
18,181| 1,318 | Community workdays in 13 programs |
| 8,691 | Community volunteers in 8 programs |
| 255,773 | Pounds of crops produced/distributed/consumed in 11 programs |
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[accordion-item title=”+ MO‘OMEHEU | CULTURE” class=”culture-button my-custom-spoiler”]
Priority Statement: To strengthen identity, Native Hawaiians will preserve, practice, and perpetuate their culture.
Hawaiian cultural vibrancy is OHA’s top priority and has established system-wide policies to build a culturally rich foundation that effects what we do and how we do it. One goal is to increase the number of Native Hawaiians actively engaged in cultural activities as a way to build capacity for preservation, perpetuation, and transmission of traditional ʻike (knowledge), as well as a way to generate new cultural knowledge and practices ensuring that our culture continues to grow and evolve while remaining rooted.
OHA has been actively identifying opportunities to highlight aspects of our culture to increase appreciation among Hawaiʻi residents for our history, culture and language, as well as for increasing Native Hawaiian participation in cultural activities.
Efforts have included advocating for a law establishing each February as ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi month, addressing long-standing issues that inhibit the island burial councils, and awarding grants and sponsorships to support events that share, teach or promote Hawaiian culture, history or language.
16,790| 331 | Cultural Practices perpetuated in 14 programs |
| 10,658 | Individuals Participated in 16 programs |
| 7,116 | Native Hawaiians Participated in 15 programs |
| 43,451 | Attendees of 2 MAMo events |
| 15,200 | Historic records/images digitized in 1 program |
| 2,499 | Pounds of poi produced and distributed in the community by 2 programs |
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[accordion-item title=”+ EA | GOVERNANCE” class=”governance-button my-custom-spoiler”]
Priority Statement: To restore pono and ea, Native Hawaiians will achieve self-governance, after which the assets of OHA will be transferred to the new governing entity.
Empowering and supporting Native Hawaiians’ pursuit of self-governance is key to OHA’s efforts to improve conditions for our lāhui. Strategies included facilitating processes that gave Native Hawaiians the opportunity to pursue formal self-governance, and the support of self-governance in action.
A key goal is to give Hawaiians the opportunity to create a governing entity that would define Native Hawaiians as a political rather than a racial group. The benefit of such a Governing Entity would be its ability to provide Native Hawaiians with greater control over their destiny as they move toward self-determination and self-sufficiency.
With this vision in mind, OHA facilitated a symposium series, Kāmau A Ea, bringing together Native Hawaiians who support a variety of self-governance models. OHA’s Board of Trustees also adopted an International Engagement Policy which opens the door to OHA’s participation in international forums and relationship-building with other indigenous people groups. And OHA has invested in the exercise of Native Hawaiian self-determination by providing monetary awards to community partners.
3,102