Women’s Fund of Hawaiʻi awards $85,000 to 10 programs, including two on Molokaʻi

Women’s Fund of Hawaiʻi has awarded $85,000 across 10 nonprofit programs serving women and girls statewide, with two of the grants supporting Molokaʻi initiatives, the Honolulu-based foundation announced Tuesday.

The fund, which describes itself as the only Hawaiʻi grantmaking foundation dedicated exclusively to funding programs for women and girls, conducts two competitive grant cycles a year. Awards from the latest cycle went to organizations working in areas including reentry support, birth work, cultural healing, restorative justice and film.

“The needs are great,” Elisabeth Case, fund executive director, said in a news release. “Women need programs that offer a connection to their culture, strengthen their community, provide skills training, and thereby lift them up.”

Two grants went to Moloka’i programs. The Makuahine Program, administered through Friends of Waʻa, will subsidize childcare, escort boats, equipment and other supplies to help adult women on the island — particularly mothers and caregivers — take part in competitive outrigger canoe paddling. Molokaʻi Nui A Hina: Cultural Healing Retreat, rooted in ʻike kupuna through KHM International, will fund a trauma-informed healing retreat for women described in WFH’s release as those “who carry Molokaʻi on their backs.”

A third grant, the Missing and Murdered Native Hawaiian Women, Girls, Mahu Mapping Project, is based in Līhuʻe on Kauaʻi but addresses a statewide need, using a GIS mapping tool to track missing and murdered Indigenous relatives cases and support related policy changes. Kamawaelualani Corp is partnering with a hui of Native Hawaiian women survivors on the effort.

The remaining grants went to programs on Oʻahu and Hawaiʻi Island, including a re-entry program for formerly incarcerated women, a yoga teacher certification program at the Women’s Community Correctional Center, a sewing and English-literacy program for Marshallese and Chuukese migrant women in Waipahu, a birth-worker training program for Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander families, a leadership program for at-risk Native Hawaiian girls, a correspondence-course college program for incarcerated women, and support for the inaugural Women of Wonders Film Festival planned for the historic Hilo Palace Theatre in 2027.

WFH also used the announcement to flag a change to its application calendar. The foundation’s summer grant period opens July 15 and closes Aug. 15 at midnight; a winter grant period runs Jan. 1 through Jan. 31. Nonprofits interested in applying can find eligibility guidelines and the online application portal at womensfundhawaii.org. Organizations that have received WFH grants before may reapply, and the foundation said groups are not required to create new programs to qualify.

Since 2005, the nonprofit said it has partnered with 175 community organizations statewide. Questions about the application process can be directed to grants@womensfundhawaii.org.