OHA Awards Nearly $600,000 in Grants to Support the Native Hawaiian Community

The Office of Hawaiian Affairs released $594,079 through three grant programs that will support Native Hawaiian communities. 

“The new Homestead and Iwi Kupuna grants are in direct response to our new strategic plan, Mana i Mauli Ola, which provides specific emphasis on the implementation of the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act and on broadening the definition of health to include spiritual health and the care of our iwi kūpuna,” said OHA Board Chair Carmen “Hulu” Lindsey.  

OHA’s newly created Homestead Community Grant awards $278,095 to address community needs and improve the quality of life of homesteaders. Funded projects include building a Hale Waʻa in Makuʻu Homesteads on Hawaiʻi Island, installing watering systems on seven acres for Anahola Homesteaders to grow food on Kauaʻi and building a playground for keiki in Papakōlea, Oʻahu. 

OHA’s new Iwi Kupuna Repatriation and Reinterment Grant is providing $167,298 to four community organizations. Nearly $33,000 will go toward facilitating the reburial of 700 to 900 iwi kūpuna and moepū (funerary possessions) disturbed at Kawaiahaʻo Church grounds. The remaining iwi kupuna grants will provide education in communities throughout the state to empower Native Hawaiians to protect and care for iwi and provide training on the proper treatment of iwi. 

OHA will also sponsor 20 community events statewide that will receive a total of $148,686 from OHA’s ‘Ahahui Grants program. In its 10th year, the ʻAhahui Grants program supports community events that serve as enrichment opportunities on Hawaiian culture, ‘āina stewardship, economic opportunity, food sustainability and strengthening ʻohana. 

“We are proud to partner with these community organizations that are providing educational opportunities in areas that align with the strategic foundations of our new plan,” Chair Lindsey said. “All of these grant awards help us to strengthen our ʻohana, perpetuate our moʻomeheu or culture and help care for the stewardship of our ʻāina.” 

For more information on OHA’s Grants Programs, see here.

The Homestead Community Grant awardees are: 

Organization: Papakōlea Community Development Corporation
Project: Papakōlea Community Playground Project
Amount: $75,000
Island: O‘ahu
Purpose: To provide the keiki of the Papakōlea, Kalāwahine and Kewalo Hawaiian homestead communities a safe place to play within their close-knit family homestead community. 

Organization: Kukulu Kumuhana O Anahola
Project: Ulupono Anahola
Amount: $75,000
Island: Kaua‘i / Hawaiian Homestead Community of Anahola
Purpose: To provide water systems on 7 acres of land to the Native Hawaiian beneficiaries in Anahola so they can participate in an ʻāina-based curriculum that will restore health, culture, and food systems. 

Organization: ʻO Makuʻu ke Kahua Community Center
Project: Kūkulu Pono Hale Waʻa
Amount: $75,000
Island: Hawai‘i
Purpose: The project will focus primarily on the development of a community-serving structure that will build collective resilience and provide traditional educational opportunities to participants via the construction process of a hale waʻa, fulfilling a critical need within Makuʻu Homesteads as well as in Puna. 

Organization: Homestead Community Development Corporation
Project: Homestead Advocacy Education Project
Amount: $53,095
Island: O‘ahu / Homestead communities of Kaupea, Kanehili, Kauluokahai, Nānākuli, Waiʻanae, Waiʻanae Valley, Papakolea, Kalawahine Streamside, Waimānalo, and Waiʻahole 
Purpose: To provide training that empowers homestead associations and homestead residents/waitlist to effectively advocate and produce a priority list impacting the wellbeing of families and business on homesteads. 

The Iwi Kupuna Repatriation and Reinterment Grant awardees are:  

Organization: The Hawaiian Church of Hawaiʻi Nei
Amount: $50,000
Project: E Hoʻomau O Na Malama I Na Iwi Kūpuna
Islands: Hawai‘i, Maui, Lāna‘i, O‘ahu, Kaua‘i
Purpose: A project designed to address the needs of nā iwi kūpuna by providing the necessary education and knowledge to gather and prepare the materials needed for the care of nā iwi kūpuna.  

Organization: Hawaiian Islands Land Trust
Project: Waiheʻe Iwi Kūpuna Protection
Amount: $50,000
Island: Maui
Purpose: To protect iwi kupuna disinterment, to empower Native Hawaiians to care for iwi, to train our staff in the treatment and re-interment of iwi, and that the temporary holding space for iwi remains secure.  

Organization: Ke Ao Haliʻi
Project: Na Kia’i Iwi Kupuna o Hāna
Amount: $34,300
Island: Maui
Purpose: To provide long-term preservation measures, reinterment and repatriation in the protection of Iwi Kupuna in the Hāna community, Maui County, and to stop future desecration of Iwi Kupuna o Hāna.  

Organization: Hui Hoʻoniho
Amount: $32,998
Project: Iwi Kūpuna Reburial at Kawaiaha‘o
Island: O‘ahu
Purpose: To purchase the items needed to facilitate reburial of 700-900 iwi kūpuna and moepū disturbed at Kawaiaha’o Church grounds.  

The ‘Ahahui Grants program awardees are: 

MAUI

Organization: Maui Nui Botanical Gardens
Amount: $10,000
Project: Lā ‘ulu – Breadfruit Day
Purpose: To provide outreach about the use of ‘ulu to Maui residents and the Native Hawaiian community. 

Organization: Ke Ao Hali‘i
Amount: $10,000
Project: Pule ‘Āina o Maka‘alae me Mokaenui
Purpose: To bless and celebrate the return of this newly protected land to the community. 

Organization: Hāna Arts
Amount: $8,500
Project: Uniting East Maui ‘Ohana
Purpose: Bringing together ‘ohana of East Maui through the holiday season, these events bring together families, engage creativity, and stimulate economic activity in East Maui, especially youth, through arts and culture. 

HAWAIʻI ISLAND 

Organization: Laiopua 2020
Amount:  $9,733
Project: Hoʻokahua – Under The Kona Moon
Purpose: To educate and connect Native Hawaiians to their culture through the sharing of stories, mele and memories by Hawai`i Island kupuna, artisans and experts. Sharing will be videotaped, televised and shared on social media. 

Organization: Pōhāhā I Ka Lani
Amount: $7,700
Project: Kaʻelehua
Purpose: To connect 150 community members (min. 100 Native Hawaiians) with ʻāina stewardship and cultural education by hosting a multi-day public event at Lalakea, Mahiki and Waipi‘o Valley. 

Organization: Na Maka Onaona (Fiscal Sponsor for Na Waʻa Mauo)
Amount: $7,250
Project: Ka Moʻolelo Honuaiākea
Purpose: To provide the Honuaiākea Voyaging program students the opportunity to share their journey with their community and a global audience.  

OʻAHU 

Organization: Bishop Museum
Amount: $10,000
Project: POW! WOW!: Arts Night at Bishop Museum
Purpose: To provide an evening of engaging art experiences and free access to Bishop Museum exhibits in conjunction with the “POW! WOW!: From Hawaiʻi to the World” exhibition to the Native Hawaiian ʻohana and the larger museum community.  

Organization: Aloha Week Hawaiʻi
Amount: $10,000
Project: Aloha Festivals
Purpose: To provide an ongoing opportunity for Native Hawaiians to share their history and culture and to participate in activities that honor, preserve and maintain the knowledge and traditions of our physical and spiritual domain.  

Organization: Wai‘anae Economic Development Council
Amount: $7,300
Project: Best of the Westside – New Products Show
Purpose: To identify and develop businesses on the Wai‘anae Coast by providing an event for entrepreneurs to exhibit their products and services to the community.  

Organization: Protect & Preserve Hawai‘i
Amount: $6,200
Project: Mālama Niu Valley
Purpose: To host 12 weekend volunteer workdays in the community of Niu Valley in order to restore native Hawaiian forest on 330 acres of Protect & Preserve Hawaiʻi’s land.  

Organization: Kaikeha, INC.
Project: 13th Annual Hubb Keiki Fest on Oʻahu
Amount: $2,024
Purpose: Event will provide an Amateur Boogie Board Contest for Hawaiʻi’s keiki as an outlet generating ocean awareness along with a beach cleanup. 

Organization: Huliauapaa
Amount:  $1,655
Project: Kaliuokapaakai Building Capacity in Stewarding Wahi Kupuna Speaker Series 
Purpose: To provide subject-area expertise to the Native Hawaiian community to build community capacity to steward wahi kupuna (ancestral places). 

KAUAʻI 

Organization: Na Maka Onaona (Fiscal Sponsor for Kanuikapono Public Charter School)  

Amount: $10,000
Project: Food Security through Aquaponics
Purpose: To introduce an aquaponic food growing option to the Native Hawaiian community of Anahola, Kauaʻi. 

Organization: Kukulu Kumuhana O Anahola
Amount: $10,000
Project:  ʻĀina to ʻŌpū
Purpose: For cultural practitioners to provide education demonstrations to restore proficiency of kalo, as a heritage plant and homestead food resource. 

Organization: Na Maka Onaona (Fiscal Sponsor for Waimea High School Teacher Cohort) 

Amount: $9,000
Project: Project Kuleana Partnership
Purpose: To provide Waimea High School and the larger Waimea community a contemporary digital archive platform grounded in Hawaiʻi. 

Organization: Homestead Community Development Corporation (Fiscal Sponsor for Anahola Hawaiian Homestead Association)
Amount: $3,450
Project: Anahola Stables Community Visioning Session
Purpose: One-day event to provide the community of Anahola and the larger Kauai community of Native Hawaiians a dedicated event to produce a strategic plan to open and operate an Anahola Stables to create jobs in the field of equestrian practices. 

Organization: Kaikeha, INC.
Project: Third Annual Garden Island Boogie Board Classic on Kaua‘i,  
Amount: $2,024
Purpose: Event will provide a community-based Pro-Am Boogie Board Contest to teach competitors of the Native Hawaiian community the long-term value that water sports can bring to their lives.  

Organization: Homestead Community Development Corporation
Amount: $1,450
Project: Kumu Camp Mauka Community Visioning
Purpose: To bring the west Kauaʻi community together to complete a visioning process to finalize a strategic plan for a low footprint campground on Hawaiian Home Lands for youth and family campers.  

STATEWIDE EVENTS 

Organization: Papahana Aloha ʻĀina Hawaiʻi
Amount:  $8,745
Project: Ola i ka ʻĀina – Kī
Purpose: To provide education, information, materials, and Hawaiian cultural practices to the Native Hawaiian community and the broader community at large, on aloha ʻāina and how to Ola i ka ʻĀina, find Life in our Land, particularly around the topic of the kī or the tī plant. 

Organization: Ho‘oulu Lāhui
Amount: $3,655
Project: XPLORE MOKUOLA
Purpose: To enhance Native Hawaiian wellbeing by providing Native Hawaiian individuals and ʻohana with basic foundations in Hawaiian ʻohana education, family values, ʻohana health and food sustainability, Hawaiian language, moʻolelo and protocol. 

Organization: Moanalua Gardens Foundation
Amount: $10,000
Project: Virtual 44th Annual Prince Lot Hula Festival
Purpose: A two-hour celebration of non-competitive hula and Hawaiian culture to be broadcast in the fall on KHON2.