Opinions of Hawaiian Homesteaders Sought

The Pāʻupena Community Development Corporation is soliciting interest from more than 10,600 Maui Hawaiian Home Land participants to become “change agents.”

The Upcountry nonprofit invites the 1,405 Maui homesteaders and the 9,213 Valley Isle homeland waitlisters to give their manaʻo, or opinion.

A brief survey is available at the Pāʻupena website and further information is available during Zoom nightly sessions next week.

The effort is part of Pāʻupena CDC’s two-year HUD-funded grant project. The initiative is a homeland-needs assessment to optimize use of the 203,000-acre Hawaiian Homes Commission Act federal trust.

Maui has 31,831 of those acres. Project organizers urge Hawaiian Homes beneficiaries to join any of next week’s Zoom sessions:

• Monday meeting hosted for Lealii Phase 1 Association in Lahaina;
• Tuesday for prospective Honokowai homesteaders in Lahaina;
• Wednesday for Waiehu Kou homesteaders in Central Maui, and
• Thursday at large.

Zoom link is https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89735622624?pwd=WGRrZ01RODQrT2lBUFAyUEhIVk5TZz09 Meeting ID: 897 3562 2624, Passcode: 950965

Pāʻupena Community Development Corporation is a representative organization authorized by the 1921 Hawaiian Homes Commission Act. The corporate mission is to empower fellow Hawaiian Homes trust beneficiaries to build home and self sufficient communities.

Congress approved 1959 Hawai‘i statehood with the proviso that the prospective state government appropriately manage the 203,000-acre Hawaiian Homes federal trust; therefore, the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act is one of the most critical acts defining the State of Hawai‘i.

Pāʻupena represents 10,618 HHCA Maui beneficiaries, who are native Hawaiian.