Roundtable on Annual Funding For Hawaiian Home Lands

Hawaii flag. Photo by Wendy Osher.

Thirty Homestead Associations statewide, including 11 on Maui, are leading an effort to put forward a budget for the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands that administers the Hawaiian Home Lands program.

The Roundtable is being held for Homestead Association members, homestead residents and beneficiaries of the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act. The event is from 3 to 7 p.m., Sunday Feb. 21 at the Paukūkalo Community Center.

Robin Puanani Danner, the Chairman of the Sovereign Councils of the Hawaiian Homeland Assembly will be traveling to Maui from her homestead on Kauaʻi to attend the Roundtable event. Other SCHHA leaders hosting include Blossom Feiteira and Kekoa Enomoto.

“It’s powerfully important that beneficiaries, that homestead association leaders from every island, know how the $28 million dollar annual budget of DHHL is put together,” Danner said. “And even more important, it is time, well over due, that all of us as beneficiaries weigh in on what goes into the budget.”

The Roundtable will share and discuss with Maui beneficiaries, the budget provided by DHHL to the legislature last week, line by line, and will discuss an alternative budget being worked on by SCHHA homestead leaders from Maui, Big Island, Molokaʻi, Kauaʻi and Oʻahu.

Blossom Feiteira, the SCHHA Maui Mokupuni President said “We can no longer just sit by and let funding decisions be made without the knowledge of our people. This Roundtable will empower our Maui people to help our Maui Commissioner and legislators to be informed about what our funding priorities are. It’s a great opportunity,” she said.

For more information on the Roundtable sponsored by the SCHHA, contact Kekoa Enomoto at (808)-276-2713 or email at kenomoto1@hawaii.rr.com.

SCHHA is the oldest and largest coalition of homestead associations unified to protect and advocate the interests of beneficiaries of the 1920 Hawaiian Homes Commission Act.