The Office of Hawaiian Affairs (OHA) has released $594,079 through three grant programs that will directly support Native Hawaiian communities.
OHA’s newly created Homestead Community Grant awards $278,095 to address community needs and improve the quality of life of homesteaders. Funded projects include building a Hale Waʻa in Makuʻu Homesteads on Hawaiʻi Island, installing watering systems on 7 acres for Anahola Homesteaders to grow food on Kauaʻi, and building a playground for keiki in Papakōlea, Oʻahu.
OHA’s new Iwi Kūpuna Repatriation and Reinterment Grant is providing $167,298 to four community organizations. Nearly $33,000 will go toward facilitating the reburial of 700 to 900 iwi kūpuna and moepū (funerary possessions) disturbed at Kawaiahaʻo Church grounds. The remaining iwi kūpuna grants will provide education in communities throughout the state to empower Native Hawaiians to protect and care for iwi and provide training on the proper treatment of iwi.
“The new Homestead and Iwi Kūpuna grants are in direct response to our new strategic plan, Mana i Mauli Ola, which provides specific emphasis on the implementation of the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act and on broadening the definition of health to include spiritual health and the care of our iwi kūpuna,” said OHA Board Chair Carmen “Hulu” Lindsey.
OHA will also sponsor 20 community events statewide that will receive a total of $148,686 from OHA’s ʻAhahui Grants program. Now in its 10th year, the ʻAhahui Grants program supports community events that serve as enrichment opportunities for Hawaiian culture, ʻāina stewardship, economic opportunity, food sustainability and strengthening ʻohana.
“We are proud to partner with these community organizations that are providing educational opportunities in areas that align with the strategic foundations of our new plan,” Lindsey said. “All of these grant awards help us to strengthen our ʻohana, perpetuate our moʻomeheu, or culture, and help care for the stewardship of our ʻāina.”
For more information on OHA’s Grants Programs please visit www.oha.org/grants.
New 2021 Grant Awardees
Homestead Community Grants
- Papakōlea Community Development Corporation
Papakōlea Community Playground Project
$75,000 | Oʻahu
To provide the keiki of the Papakōlea, Kalāwahine and Kewalo Hawaiian homestead communities a safe place to play within their close-knit family homestead community. - Kūkulu Kumuhana O Anahola
Ulupono Anahola
$75,000 | Kauaʻi
To provide water systems on 7 acres of land to the Native Hawaiian beneficiaries in Anahola so they can participate in an ʻāina-based curriculum that will restore health, culture, and food systems. - ʻO Makuʻu ke Kahua Community Center
Kūkulu Pono Hale Waʻa
$75,000 | Hawaiʻi
The project will focus primarily on the development of a community-serving structure that will build collective resilience and provide traditional educational opportunities to participants via the construction process of a hale waʻa, fulfilling a critical need within Makuʻu Homesteads as well as in Puna. - Homestead Community Development Corporation
Homestead Advocacy Education Project
$53,095 | Oʻahu
To provide training that empowers homestead associations and homestead residents/waitlist to effectively advocate and produce a priority list impacting the wellbeing of families and business on homesteads.
Iwi Kūpuna Repatriation and Reinterment Grants
- The Hawaiian Church of Hawaiʻi Nei
E Hoʻomau O Nā Mālama I Nā Iwi Kūpuna
$50,000 | Hawaiʻi, Maui, Lānaʻi, Oʻahu, Kauaʻi
A project designed to address the needs of nā iwi kūpuna by providing the necessary education and knowledge to gather and prepare the materials needed for the care of nā iwi kūpuna. - Hawaiian Islands Land Trust
Waiheʻe Iwi Kūpuna Protection
$50,000 | Maui
To protect iwi kūpuna disinterment, to empower Native Hawaiians to care for iwi, to train our staff in the treatment and reinterment of iwi, and that the temporary holding space for iwi remains secure. - Ke Ao Hāliʻi
Nā Kiaʻi Iwi Kūpuna o Hāna
$34,300 | Maui
To provide long-term preservation measures, reinterment and repatriation in the protection of Iwi Kūpuna in the Hāna community, Maui County, and to stop future desecration of Iwi Kūpuna o Hāna. - Hui Hoʻoniho
Iwi Kūpuna Reburial at Kawaiahaʻo
$32,998 | Oʻahu
To purchase the items needed to facilitate reburial of 700-900 iwi kūpuna and moepū disturbed at Kawaiahaʻo Church grounds.
ʻAhahui Grants
- Laʻiʻōpua 2020
$9,733 | Hawaiʻi
Hoʻokahua – Under The Kona Moon - Pōhāhā I Ka Lani
$7,700 | Hawaiʻi
Kaʻelehua - Nā Maka Onaona (Fiscal Sponsor for Nā Waʻa Mauo)
$7,250 | Hawaiʻi
Ka Moʻolelo Honuaiākea - Maui Nui Botanical Gardens
Amount: $10,000 | Maui
Lā ʻUlu – Breadfruit Day - Ke Ao Hāliʻi
$10,000 | Maui
Pule ʻĀina o Makaʻalae me Mokaenui - Organization: Hāna Arts
$8,500 | Maui
Uniting East Maui ʻOhana - Bishop Museum
$10,000 | Oʻahu
POW! WOW!: Arts Night at Bishop Museum - Aloha Week Hawaiʻi
$10,000 | Oʻahu
Aloha Festivals - Waiʻanae Economic Development Council
$7,300 | Oʻahu
Best of the Westside – New Products Show - Protect & Preserve Hawaiʻi
$6,200 | Oʻahu
Mālama Niu Valley - Kaikeha, INC.
13th Annual Hubb Keiki Fest on Oʻahu
$2,024 | Oʻahu - Huliauapaʻa
$1,655 | Oʻahu
Kaliʻuokapaʻakai Building Capacity in Stewarding Wahi Kūpuna Speaker Series - Nā Maka Onaona (Fiscal Sponsor for Kanuikapono Public Charter School)
$10,000 | Kauaʻi
Food Security through Aquaponics - Kūkulu Kumuhana O Anahola
$10,000 | Kauaʻi
ʻĀina to ʻŌpū - Nā Maka Onaona (Fiscal Sponsor for Waimea High School Teacher Cohort)
$9,000 | Kauaʻi
Project Kuleana Partnership - Homestead Community Development Corporation (Fiscal Sponsor for Anahola Hawaiian Homestead Association)
$3,450 | Kauaʻi
Anahola Stables Community Visioning Session - Kaikeha, INC.
3rd Annual Garden Island Boogie Board Classic on Kauaʻi
$2,024 | Kauaʻi - Homestead Community Development Corporation
$1,450 | Kauaʻi
Kumu Camp Mauka Community Visionin
Statewide Events
- Papahana Aloha ʻĀina Hawaiʻi
$8,745 | Statewide
Ola i ka ʻĀina – Kī - Hoʻoulu Lāhui
$3,655 | Statewide
XPLORE MOKUOLA - Moanalua Gardens Foundation
$10,000 | Statewide
Virtual 44th Annual Prince Lot Hula Festival
