Last month, I reflected on the kūpuna who shaped my understanding of service and kuleana. Their lessons continue to guide the work ahead of us. Mahalo e nā kūpuna.
While our values come from our kūpuna, the responsibility before us is clear. My focus has been on strengthening systems that will continue to serve our people long after any one trustee’s time has ended. As chair of the Investment and Land Management (ILM) Committee, I worked alongside fellow trustees and staff to advance and adopt key policies that guide how the Office of Hawaiian Affairs (OHA) stewards its resources.
This included implementing a Real Estate Strategic Plan to guide OHA’s management and activation of its landholdings in a way that balances revenue generation with cultural and community priorities.
We also advanced the OHA Investment Policy for Legacy Lands, established OHA Management Policies for Investment Lands and Legacy Lands, and refined the Native Hawaiian Trust Fund Spend Policy to promote a more sustainable and responsible approach to resource management, ensuring we can meet the needs of today’s beneficiaries while safeguarding resources for future generations. We strengthened these investment policies and oversight practices to enhance transparency, accountability, and long-term performance.
These efforts are not just technical decisions; they reflect a broader commitment to mālama ʻāina and to ensuring that OHA’s resources are managed in ways that create lasting, meaningful impact for Native Hawaiian communities. By putting these frameworks in place, we are better positioned to expand opportunities in areas like housing, education, and economic stability.
Another important step forward has been the development of the AHO program in collaboration with American Savings Bank. This partnership reflects what is possible when we work together across sectors with a shared commitment to our lāhui. The AHO program was designed to expand access to financial resources and pathways to homeownership – something that remains out of reach for too many Native Hawaiian families. Through this initiative, the program has already helped 31 Native Hawaiian families secure homes in Hawaiʻi.
By creating opportunities for our people to establish homeownership, we are investing not only in individual families, but in the long-term stability and strength of our communities.
At the same time, our communities continue to face unexpected challenges due to natural disasters. In response, OHA established two emergency relief efforts to support our people during times of crisis.
First was the $5 Million Kanaaho grants for Emergency Financial Assistance to support Maui families impacted by the devastating wildfires in 2023. Then in 2025 and 2026, the $6.1 Million I Ola program in collaboration with Hawaiian Council. This program started by assisting those affected by governmental shutdowns, then pivoted to assist those affected by the Kona Low storms and severe flooding, ensuring that immediate needs could be met while families worked toward recovery.
These efforts are grounded in a simple principle: when our people are in need, we respond by showing up for one another as our kūpuna taught us.
While each initiative represents meaningful progress, they also remind us that our work is ongoing; the challenges facing our lāhui are complex and cannot be solved by one initiative. Yet by strengthening policy, building meaningful partnerships, and responding with compassion in times of need, we are building a stronger foundation for the future.
Together, we move forward, grounded in our values, committed to our people, and carrying a deep kuleana to one another, to stand beside our lāhui in their hardest moments, to lift them when they cannot stand alone, and to ensure that our lāhui not only survives, but endures with strength, dignity, and hope.
