Six Maui groups to receive $550,000 in grants for nearshore marine management training

The Hawai‘i Community Foundation is providing grants totaling $550,000 from its Marine 30×30 Pooled Fund to support six Maui community groups and nonprofits involved in nearshore marine management.

The groups will engage as a cohort in technical assistance training over the next two years.  

“Every community has its own unique needs and goals, and we’re committed to supporting community groups across the state to find the best solutions for stewarding Hawaiʻi’s precious marine environment,” said Dana Okano, the Hawaiʻi Community Foundation program director who oversees the Marine 30×30 Pooled Fund. 

The types of training support to be provided will be customized to the needs of each group, and may include:  

• Civic engagement in the legislative or rulemaking process  
• Community leadership building  
• Development of facilitation skills  
• Strengthening community voice and collaboration  
• Understanding of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) or other mapping software programs  
• Financial and grant management 

The state Division of Aquatic Resources launched Holomua Marine 30×30 in 2016 as a way to work with communities to effectively manage Hawaiʻi’s marine resources, with the goal of working with communities to effectively manage the nearshore marine resources around each main Hawaiian island to ensure that local resources are available and plentiful today and for future generations. 

The Marine 30×30 Pooled Fund grantees can align their marine management work with Holomua Marine 30×30, but it is not a requirement.  

The community groups and nonprofits on Maui awarded this round’s funding: 

• Kīpuka Olowalu in partnership with the Coral Reef Alliance: Kīpuka Olowalu is an organization working to preserve the Native Hawaiian cultural site of Olowalu valley, in West Maui, through longstanding Native Hawaiian cultural knowledge, and passing said knowledge on to future generations. This funding will go toward protecting reef ecosystems in West Maui, in partnership with the Coral Reef Alliance. 

• Ke Ao Hāliʻi: The organization is focused on preserving and protecting the coastal lands of Hāna and the customary and traditional practices of Native Hawaiians of the region. 

• Kīpahulu ‘Ohana: It is a grassroots Hawaiian nonprofit dedicated to the cultural sustainability of the Kīpahulu moku in East Maui, through educational programs, as well as culturally based agricultural and resource management projects from mauka to makai. 

• Maui Hui Mālama: It has a mission to provide inspiring educational opportunities and supportive compassionate learning environments that help Maui youth overcome barriers to education, careers, and cultural goals. With the Marine 30x30funding, the nonprofit will create hands-on activities for parents/caregivers to do with their children that will educate and promote pono fishing practices and eventually help youth become stewards of and advocates for Maui’s ocean and beaches. 

• Nā Mamo O Mūʻolea: The nonprofit’s mission is to perpetuate traditional ahupua‘a management of the Mūʻolea ahupua‘a and to restore and maintain Mūʻolea’s natural, cultural, scenic, historic, and marine resources for the community and future generations. 

The Hawai‘i Community Foundation manages the Marine 30×30 pooled fund of philanthropic donations that supports communities engaged in nearshore marine management efforts. This is its first round of community capacity-building cohort grants, with plans for future rounds of funding to go toward other islands across the state. Funding was offered to organizations and community groups on Maui and Lānaʻi; applications were received from Maui only. 

“The Holomua initiative is true to its definition: to move forward together—with its success hinging on partnerships with communities,” said Brian Neilson, administrator of the Division of Aquatic Resources. “Through the philanthropic support being organized by the Hawaiʻi Community Foundation, community groups on Maui will receive training to help ensure that nearshore marine environments remain a vital resource for generations to come, whether for traditional subsistence fishing, cultural practice or recreation.” 

Scott Crawford, executive director of Kīpahulu ʻOhana, a grantee, said the funding will help support its Mālama I Ke Kai programs, in particular the Kīpahulu Moku Community Based Subsistence Fishing Area that it hopes will be officially designated next year.

“The Marine 30×30 funding comes at the perfect time, as we prepare to move into the implementation of our management plan for the effective co-management of the Kīpahulu Moku shoreline resources and nearshore fisheries through education and outreach, monitoring and collaboration,” he said. “Rooted in place and in the traditional practices and generational knowledge of Kīpahulu, supported by science and partnerships, we seek to ensure these resources are healthy in the future in order to perpetuate the subsistence Hawaiian lifestyle.” 

HCF supports the efforts of the Holomua 30×30 Initiative through its CHANGE Framework that strives to create a shared movement to solve Hawai‘i’s greatest challenges.

HCF Marine 30×30 Pooled Fund request for proposals for grant and contracts, announcements of grant recipients, funding amounts, and more can be found on the HCF website here.