The Department of Hawaiian Home Lands is in the process of updating its statewide General Plan and is seeking beneficiary input.
DHHL’s General Plan is the first opportunity, within the Department’s planning system, for beneficiaries to provide their input into future policies and strategies that are designed to guide the utilization of trust resources in the implementation of the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act.
In March, the DHHL will begin conducting its first beneficiary consultation meetings related to the General Plan. All beneficiaries are asked to watch for postcard invitations in the mail that will include meeting details.
As one piece of the planning framework, the General Plan provides a comprehensive policy that ensures coordinated, integrated, orderly social, physical, and economic development of Hawaiian Home Lands through the establishment of goals, objectives, and implementing actions. The General Plan is followed by detailed Island and Regional Plans that are crafted with further beneficiary consultation.
The General Plan process allows DHHL and its beneficiaries an opportunity to reflect on what has been accomplished, identify areas for improvement, and articulates a vision and direction for the Trust.
DHHL’s planning process includes the involvement of an investigative committee formed with Commissioners of the Hawaiian Homes Commission pursuant to Hawaiʻi Revised Statutes Section 92-2.5 and Hawaiʻi Administrative Rules Section 10-2-16 (b) (1).
Commissioners Randy Awo, Russell Kaupu, Zachary Helm, and Chair William J. Ailā, Jr. have been selected to serve on the HHC’s investigative committee.
The General Plan is updated every 20 years with the last plan published in 2002. In that time, the Kaupeʻa, Maluʻōhai, Kānehili, Kaʻuluokahaʻi, Laʻi ʻŌpua, Waiohuli, and Waiehu Kou homesteads are among the new subdivisions that were established.
To learn more about DHHL’s planning process and statewide plans, visit dhhl.hawaii.gov/po.
Cedric R. Duarte is the Information & Community Relations Officer for the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands. He has worked in communications and marketing since 1999 and is a longtime event organizer. A product of the Kamehameha Schools and the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, he resides in ʻAiea with his wife and two daughters.
