#TANF

The Hawaiʻi Department of Human Services will limit new applications to the Maui Relief Program to households with dependent children under 18 beginning Aug. 1 as state disaster relief funding for the program nears exhaustion, the agency announced.

Maui Economic Opportunity’s Head Start preschool program is now accepting applications for the 2026-2027 school year.  

The Hawai’i Senate Majority today announced its 2026 legislative priorities in advance of the Hawaiʻi State Legislature’s Opening Day on Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2026.

The reach of the Maui Relief TANF Program, which assists residents directly impacted by the 2023 wildfires, has expanded to include households without dependent children and noncitizens following additional funding from the State of Hawaiʻi. The program run by Maui Economic Opportunity in partnership with the state Department of Human Services began operating in the […]

Aloha United Way (AUW) is responding to a dramatic increase in calls to its 211 statewide helpline following public announcements about the Hawaiʻi Relief Program and the Hawaiʻi Emergency Food Assistance Program (HEFAP). 211 normally handles about 150 calls a day, but that number skyrocketed to over 850 contacts (calls, texts and chats) in one day from residents looking for resources and information.

Hawai’i Gov. Josh Green also announced state funding to help needy families with utilities and housing for the next few months.

Maui County’s food assistance system faces a crippling double crisis starting Nov. 1: federal budget gridlock will halt monthly SNAP payments for more than 18,600 residents, even as the state is forced to implement a new set of strict federal work and eligibility rules. The immediate response is Gov. Josh Green’s emergency Hawaiʻi Relief Program, launched Wednesday to provide temporary housing and utility assistance.

Maui Economic Opportunity (MEO) received the prestigious Promise of Community Action Award from the National Community Action Partnership (NCAP) for the agency’s work in the aftermath and the recovery phases of the devastating and deadly 2023 wildfires.

Since November 2023, the DCMP has worked to help survivors navigate their recovery by connecting them with specially trained disaster case managers (DCMs) to help assess and address their needs through a disaster recovery plan, which includes resources, decision-making priorities, providing guidance and tools. To date, the DCMP has helped more than 6,600 survivors, providing more than 12,800 direct referrals to community resources and services worth more than $140 million.

SUN Bucks is a new and permanent program that provides $177 per eligible child in food benefits to help families during the summer months when access to school meals is limited.

Maui Economic Opportunity’s Head Start preschool program, which offers comprehensive early childhood education at no cost to income-qualifying families, has available openings for preschool age children to attend the 2025-2026 school year, beginning in August.

US Sen. Mazie Hirono joined 46 Senate colleagues in opposing proposed Republican legislation they say would slash funding for critical social services in favor of tax breaks for the wealthy.

Maui Economic Opportunity’s Head Start preschool program, which offers comprehensive early childhood education at no cost to income-qualifying families, continues to accept children for the 2025-2026 school year, which begins in August.

Maui Economic Opportunity’s Head Start preschool program, which offers comprehensive early childhood education at no cost to income-qualifying families, will begin accepting applications Feb. 1 for the 2025-2026 school year.  

New benefits, including funds for a new refrigerator, washer, stove and microwave, and increased assistance limits highlight the beginning of the second year of the Maui Relief TANF Program that supports those impacted by the Maui wildfires.

More than 1,000 households and 4,000 individuals who were directly impacted by the wildfires have received housing, vehicle, utility, clothing and school supply assistance in the five months since the inception of the Maui fires relief program, according to Maui Economic Opportunity.

In addition to containing the recently-renegotiated Compacts of Free Association, the package includes the text of Sen. Hirono’s Compact Impact Fairness Act to restore access to a range of federal benefits for COFA citizens who reside in the US, including nearly 20,000 in Hawaiʻi. The package, which passed in the US House of Representatives on Wednesday, now heads to President Biden’s desk to be signed into law.

Maui Economic Opportunity’s Head Start, which offers preschool at no cost to qualifying families, will begin accepting applications Thursday, Feb. 1, for the 2024-2025 school year, which begins in August. 

The Maui Relief TANF Program has provided an array of assistance – from housing to clothing – to more than 450 families with children and about 1,700 individuals impacted by the Aug. 8 wildfires in the two months since the program began.

An outreach event to reach noncitizen families with dependent children, who could be eligible for Maui Relief TANF Program benefits, will be held from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., Sunday, Dec. 10, in Lahaina.