Garden Isle nonprofit serving Native Hawaiians awarded grant

The Office of Hawaiian Affairs trustees approved more than $2.7 million in grant awards to 16 community nonprofits across the state that will serve Native Hawaiians.

Among them was Hoʻākeolapono Trades Academy and Institute, awarded $258,700 for its Kauaʻi-based “High School Trades Innovation Program” intended to educate Native Hawaiian students in grades 9-12 in the building trades industry to increase the Native Hawaiian graduation rate.

Projects that received funding were designed to strengthen Hawaiian cultural identity, support instruction in ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi, encourage ʻāina stewardship, prepare students for career readiness and help reintegrate those emerging from the justice system.

These are the first awards that OHA has announced since revamping its grants program with a goal of lowering funding application barriers to allow for increased community participation including reducing the number of eligibility requirements, simplifying the application process and focusing mandatory reporting on the most essential data elements.

“It is not only our honor but our kuleana to work with these outstanding community nonprofits who are making a difference in the lives of our people,” said OHA Board Chair Carmen “Hulu” Lindsey. “It is only by working together in a spirit of lōkahi and aloha that we can create maximum impact as we strive to better the lives of Native Hawaiians and raise a beloved lāhui.”

OHA’s Grants Program supports Hawaiʻi-based nonprofit organizations that have projects, programs and initiatives that serve the lāhui in alignment with OHA’s Mauli i Mauli Ola Strategic Plan. For more on OHA’s Grants Program visit www.oha.org/grants.