The month-long drive will allow patients and the public to donate early childhood books at Nomi sites where no-cost antigen and PCR testing for Hawaii residents (with or without insurance) and self-pay options for international visitors continue to be offered at Ala Moana Center, Waikele Premium Outlets (now located indoors in the outlet mall near Tommy Bahama), Kaneohe Bay Shopping Center, Ka Makana Ali’i Center and BYU-Hawaii. On the Big Island, book donations can be made at Waiakea Center in Hilo and The Sure Foundation in Keaau..

Partners in Development Foundation, pidf.org, is a nonprofit that reaches rural communities with early childhood education resources that give families with young children the tools they need for a great start at life and learning.

According to Nomi Health Field Operations Director Ailana Meyer, “November is the perfect month to give out of the abundance we’ve been given to help others as we countdown to Thanksgiving. Based on last year’s food drive, we know we have very generous supporters in the community, and we hope to collect over a thousand books for young children.”

Partners in Development Foundation’s Tūtū and Me Traveling Preschool Curriculum and ‘Ohana Support Manager, Amanda Ishigo, added, “Our early education programs teach caregivers the importance of reading daily with their keiki. Developing a love for books supports language development and enriches the relationship between caregiver and keiki. Reading to keiki also predicts higher academic success in elementary school. We are so grateful for the opportunity to share books that the ‘ohana can enjoy together.”

Social factors have a big impact on health and well-being. For instance, job instability can compromise a healthy lifestyle and lead to food and shelter issues. Homelessness further deteriorates one’s well-being, and chronic homelessness often leads to an early death.

Known locally and nationally as a high quality, affordable health care provider, Kaiser Permanente’s care extends beyond its hospital walls by investing in Hawai‘i organizations to address issues of housing and homelessness, food security, and economic opportunity. It believes that good health is a fundamental right and is focused on making a difference.

Ending Veteran Homelessness

Born and raised in Hawai‘i, Staff Sergeant Sterling Beair had difficulties assimilating to everyday civilian life when he completed service and returned home. For 10 years, he worked as a U.S. Army combat medic in Iraq and other missions and was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.

Beair eventually found himself homeless for two years and then was incarcerated. That’s when he was connected to U.S.VETS, whose mission is to end veteran homelessness.

“He put his heart and soul into the program,” says Gregory Williams, executive director of U.S.VETS Barbers Point at Kalaeloa. “He got his associate, bachelor’s, got his master’s, started a career as a therapist, and then within the last year and a half was elected to the national board of directors for U.S.VETS.”

Not all veteran stories are as successful as Beair’s but U.S.VETS is there to support any veterans who gave of themselves to serve the country, should they need the help to regain their independence.

U.S.VETS’ ultimate goal is to keep veterans in permanent housing, and that requires a commitment from the veteran to do the work in addressing their personal challenges, whether that’s getting a better job, anger management issues, or substance abuse.

“I would say that no veteran that comes to us is without some kind of issue that they’re dealing with,” says Williams. “I wouldn’t necessarily say there’s a 100% correlation between those issues and the reason why they’re homeless, but for sure, those are definitely contributing factors.

“Kaiser Permanente generously awarded a grant for nursing support,” says Williams.

To support the health and wellness of homeless veterans, Kaiser Permanente awarded U.S.VETS a grant that staff s a full-time nurse at its facilities in Barbers Point and Wai‘anae. The nurse also visits Kama‘okū Kauhale village, a tiny-home community for homeless civilians and veterans that U.S.VETS operates in Kalaeloa.

The nurse provides health education and advice for minor medical issues that may include encouragement to visit a doctor or hospital. The hope in the future is to bring a doctor on full time or at least schedule visits once a month.

Like Beair, many of the veterans who live in Hawai‘i have some connection with the Islands and have probably served in Hawai‘i at some point in their career.

On O‘ahu, there were 3,951 people experiencing homelessness, and veterans make up 7% of the adults, according to Partners In Care’s March 10, 2022 Point In Time Count. Partners In Care performs the count annually to learn more about the homeless population and determines what solutions are needed.

“Most of our veterans who are experiencing homelessness are single, and a majority of them are also men,” says Laura Thielen, executive director of Partners In Care, a coalition of organizations dedicated to eliminating homelessness.

The 2022 report showed some positive news. Veteran homelessness decreased by 57% since 2015 and 44% since 2020. It’s believed to be due to increased efforts to house veterans through the “Mayor’s Challenge,” a national initiative Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell accepted in 2015, and the “Built for Zero” movement, started by national nonprofit Community Solutions.

Kaiser Permanente has actively participated in these efforts, as well as with local nonprofits such as U.S.VETS and Partners In Care.

“Many of them have trouble going through the VA [Veterans Affairs] system. It’s a complex system and there’s a lot of waiting, so that’s one of the big issues that we’ve seen is there may be services available to folks, but they have to wait a long time,” says Thielen. “That’s where the landlord engagement program and other programs we run really helps them.”

Partners In Care’s landlord engagement program finds landlords on the island who are willing to rent units to homeless individuals. In its three years, the program has assisted over 1,000 individuals get into housing.

Kaiser Permanente funds a landlord engagement program specialist specifically for veterans. Seanya Nakapalau, who’s been working in the human services field for 12 years, has worked in the position for a year. Last month, she assisted six veterans, including one family.

Her work entails screening veterans, finding housing, doing home tours, and working on relationships with landlords. The stigma of her homeless veterans sometimes makes it more difficult to house them, so she’s always searching for new landlords who are willing to work with them or decide to have a change of heart.

“Our job takes a lot of advocating and sometimes it can be more difficult to match a specific situation to a landlord,” says Nakapalau. She says the program offers incentives for landlords and points out that veterans have a consistent source of military benefits that can help pay rent. The specialist is there to help with any concerns, too.

“Some of the stories that my veterans share of how they got to this situation is very disheartening,” says Nakapalau. “I do think that some of them have a harder time getting housed because of all the trauma that they faced.”

When there is a suitable match for a veteran, though, she finds joy in the program’s success. “Going through the process with them, getting to know them and their stories, and then actually housing them is an amazing feeling,” Nakapalau says.

Turning Children’s Lives Around

“They weren’t born bad,” says Deborah Spencer- Chun, president and CEO of Adult Friends for Youth. “Circumstances happened to them along the way and so our work is to peel the layers and get to the core of who they really are. They’re really loving and really good kids and very respectful actually.”

Youth exposed to situations beyond their control, such as domestic violence, homelessness, and financial challenges, have a higher probability of dropping out of school or not continuing on to college. Offering support and guidance, Hawai‘i nonprofits, like Adults Friends for Youth, are there to help turn things around.

Creating Positive Pathways

With a mission to stop violence and create a peaceful community, Adult Friends for Youth serves 600 kids who voluntarily joined its programs on O‘ahu.

“Many of our kids are already engaged in some type of destructive behavior,” says Spencer-Chun. “A lot of them think we’re the police or someone they’re not sure about because they’ve had so many people in their lives, but we’re consistent. We keep coming back.”

The nonprofit has a 32-week curriculum over four years that’s tailored to each child’s needs, including healing from trauma, coping skills, and communication. It also discusses life after high school with the youth and helps them create a path forward, whether that’s in college, vocational school or the military.

“We’ve been real fortunate because a private foundation such as Kaiser Permanente has really stepped up, especially during the pandemic,” says Spencer-Chun.

Kaiser Permanente supports Adult Friends for Youth through a grant it provides for redirectional therapy. Half, or 300, of its kids take part in this form of group counseling.

“As long as they can redirect the negative behavior they have built along the way, if that can change, then the sky’s the limit for them,” says Spencer-Chun. “Success is not measured by money but by how happy they are, how much better they’re feeling about their lives now and how they’re trying to strive to do better.”

Another organization supporting youth in communities, Partners in Development Foundation helps foster kids by training local families and relatives who can take them in; runs a safe house for adjudicated boys; and cares for the 5-acre Kupa ‘Aina Farm on the grounds of the Hawai‘i Youth Correctional Facility, which has been renamed to the Kawailoa Youth & Family Wellness Center.

As part of a program, Kupa ‘Aina Farm programming offers minors from the correctional facility, as well as other youth, the opportunity to work on the farm, learn about food nutrition, and enjoy being in the outdoor space.

“All of our staff are trauma-informed and they support the youth by mentoring them and helping to grow positive behaviors,” says Shawn Kana‘iaupuni, president and CEO of Partners in Development Foundation. It also provides youth an opportunity to develop career skills by working on the farm.

“It provides a little bit of cushion where they can practice a bit before they go out and get that regular job,” says Kana‘iaupuni. “We’re able to support youth to become engaged as positive community contributors by supporting their workforce readiness and skills development.”

More Support to Lean On

Coming from financially challenging situations, children’s basic needs are addressed at the Boys & Girls Club, such as providing food or offering a safe space to decompress, so the kids can turn their focus on the future and having a successful life.

“Eighty-two percent of our children come from what are designated as low to very-low income families. We always try to have a healthy snack or preferably a hot meal when they arrive after school,” says Paddy Kauhane, president and CEO of Boys & Girls Club of Hawai‘i, which covers O‘ahu and Kaua‘i. Teens make up almost half of its members at 45%.

“One of the reasons we do that is kids who are hungry don’t learn as well. Kids who have full tummies are able to focus and concentrate better. For some of our kids, the last meal they have of the day is often in our clubs.”

Kaiser Permanente has been a supporter of its healthy living and athletics programs in the past, but in 2020, it started funding the club’s What’s Next program, too. The new program is for kids specifically who have higher needs and less resources than others.

“We bring them in, we start them at grade nine, and they go all the way through, in the same pod until they graduate high school,” says Kauhane. “Through those years, from nine to 12, we start to really intensely work on social and emotional learning, workforce development, career clusters, and applications for scholarships.”

The program has also taken the kids, some of whom have never left Hawai‘i, to the mainland to visit colleges. Following high school graduation, the club keeps track of the kids who have gone on to college or trade school, and helps them return home to visit families during breaks.

“The beautiful thing that’s happening now is these kids are attending college, and when they do come home, they’re actually working for the clubs now as interns during their summer breaks. So they get to earn money and still reconnect, and they also become adult mentors,” says Kauhane.

Similarly, the Boys & Girls Club on Maui has three major core program areas, including academic enrichment, character and leadership and healthy living. One of its goals is to focus on inclusion so as to increase teen engagement in programs and give opportunities for them to be a part of planning for activities and events, such as its annual Teen Expo, so they have a voice.

“Over the years, Kaiser Permanente has worked with us, supported our programs, our events, and in the past supported our big chef event which promotes culinary career explorations working with our little chefs and big chefs of Hawai‘i,” says Kelly Maluo-Pearson, CEO of Boys & Girls Club of Maui.

Cultivating Teen Leaders

Kaiser Permanente awarded a grant to Boys & Girls Club of Maui to support its leaders in training program, which gives teens healthy activities to engage in with topics of how to be leaders, social emotional learning, tobacco and vaping prevention and awareness, and healthy alternatives to drugs and alcohol.

“The leadership development is very important because what we’re trying to do is make sure that they really do understand and feel confident that they can do whatever they desire to do in life after they leave our clubs,” says Maluo-Pearson.

At the club, teens create resumes, do mock interviews, participate in club service and service outside the community, understand financial literacy, and explore different career pathways. This is also the first year the club will be sending a group of teens to the national Boys & Girls Club leadership development conference in California.

“We want them to be successful in their lives,” says TJ Daya, director of operations for the Lahaina Boys & Girls Club. “We want them to be happy in their lives and realize they can achieve anything they want if we provide them with the tools.”

Advocacy for Maui Businesses

Building wealth and creating jobs is integral to the physical and mental well-being of the community, and the Maui Economic Development Board (MEDB) is focusing efforts on underserved populations.

The MEDB, whose mission is to inspire innovation in business, education and community in Maui County, received a grant from the National Association for Latino Community Asset Builders funded by Kaiser Permanente. The grant has traditionally been used for the Latino community, but because its population is small in Hawai‘i compared to other states, the grant opportunity expanded to include all vulnerable populations, such as the Native Hawaiian, Filipino, and Micronesian populations.

“Kaiser Permanente wanted to make sure this kind of community asset development was happening in Hawai‘i,” says Leslie Wilkins, president and CEO of MEDB. “It really led us to focus on those underserved communities in our business outreach and development.”

The grants been used to work with community members and help businesses get fiscal infrastructure so they can continue to grow. MEDB also coaches on business reorganization and how to move into ecommerce.

“It’s so amazing how Kaiser Permanente doesn’t just invest in our physical and mental health, but they invest in the health of a community,” says Wilkins.

“We have four generations living on one property. From a one-year-old to an eighty-seven-year- old, there’s 18 of us under one roof,” she shared. 

Multigenerational homes are common in Hawaiʻi, and for some neighboring island communities where access to resources and services aren’t always readily available, having a Covid-19 outbreak at home could be life-threatening. 

In an effort to bridge the gap, PIDF kickstarted Hoʻopalekana Ola (to strengthen and defend life), an initiative through the Department of Health’s Hawaiʻi Pacific Health Institute (HIPHI) Cares Grant. Once the grant was contracted, the Hoʻopalekana Ola team wasted no time.

“PIDF has never been afraid to jump to the frontline of our community’s needs. In our 25 years, we have served over 128,000 family members in more than 50 communities. Where there is a call for support, we try to respond to our lāhui however best we can,” said Shawn Kanaʻiaupuni, PIDF President and CEO.  

Hoʻopalekana Ola HIPHI Cares Program Manager, Perlas Bardouche, previously managed the Open Arms Harbor Isolation-quarantine facility that PIDF opened during the height of the COVID pandemic in 2020 through March of 2021. She is supported by team members with vast experience in health care. 

When the HIPHI contracted team began its outreach efforts, the recent Covid-19 outbreak on Molokaʻi seemed like the right place to start. Hoʻopalekana Ola partnered with Tūtū and Me Traveling Preschool to set up booths at the Molokaʻi Island Foundation’s Molokaʻi Drug-Free Movement event, which hosted local vendors and speakers to share more about their community-strengthening stories, services and programming.

During the event, Hoʻopalekana Ola met with local residents, distributed hundreds of free at-home Covid-19 test kits, provided safety guidelines and resources, and shared more about upcoming education programs like the Global Biorisk Advisory Council certification, a course to prepare for, respond to and recover from biohazards in our community spaces.

The Hoʻopalekana Ola team also connected with members at the Molokaʻi General Hospital, Molokaʻi Community Health Center, and local retailers. They were greeted by smiles as residents recognized PIDFʻs kalo logo.

“Are you with Tūtū and Me?” The Molokaʻi residents asked, and shared stories about attending Tūtū and Me or the people they knew (if not themselves!) who worked with Tūtū and Me. 

The small-town island community has been home to a Tūtū and Me Traveling Preschool for over 15 years. Hoʻopalekana Ola is partnering with other PIDF programs like Tūtū and Me and Ka Paʻalana that serve neighbor island communities and are trusted by their local residents, many of whom live in multi-generational homes. 

For households with ʻohana ranging from keiki to kūpuna, access to Covid-19 at-home test kits and knowledge about infectious disease control, and knowing what to do when someone at home is exposed or tests positive, will prepare families and save lives. 

While society at large transitions into a post-pandemic world, rural communities are vulnerable to the detrimental impacts of Covid-19 with fewer medical resources, hospital beds, and physicians. 

“Coronavirus is here to stay, so we’re committed to helping our communities navigate in the safest and healthiest way. We want our ʻohana to survive and thrive,” said Bardouche. 

That’s why PIDF is committed to strengthening ʻohana and to seeing that our communities are healthy and sustainable.

Original story published on Honolulu Civil Beat’s Community Voice column on Feb. 7, 2022 by Shawn Kana‘iaupuni, Alfred L. Castle, Keala Peters, click here to read.

As we look forward to a new year filled with exciting opportunities, it is also important to take stock of the opportunities that were missed and how we can learn from them.

Omicron’s surge has raised questions about whether Covid’s latest wave will be its last or just part of the “new normal.” Activities like spending time with family and enjoying the simple pleasures of walking on the beach or sharing a meal take on greater significance.

Covid-19 has left an indelible mark in Hawaii. More than 200,000 people have contracted coronavirus and, sadly, more than 1,200 have succumbed to the virus. It has impacted families across the islands and all businesses in immeasurable ways, from both a workforce and economic perspective.

Covid’s reach into all sectors of the state has also highlighted a tremendous weakness in our safety net, specifically as it relates to our keiki and ohana — in particular a lack of quality, affordable child care and inadequate resources to address both an increase in family violence and mental health needs.

To address this shortcoming, business leaders have joined forces with education, family support, philanthropic and mental health leaders to launch Commit to Keiki. This effort, directed at the gubernatorial campaigns now underway, seeks to underscore the importance of greater investments in early learning, child care, family violence prevention and mental health.

The public education campaign focuses on gubernatorial candidates and the importance of making early learning and child care more accessible, affordable and of higher quality. At the same time, Commit to Keiki will underscore the importance of investing in family violence prevention and mental health.

Covid exposed the fact that the lack of adequate investment in Hawaii’s keiki and ohana is not sustainable and hurts our children and families now and in the long-term. As parents get back to work, our keiki deserve priority attention, better education, greater funding and improved services to help them succeed.

Building Blocks

In a recently completed statewide survey, 74.5% of voters agreed that Hawaii’s next governor must invest more to create a system of high-quality, publicly funded, community-based child care, early learning and family support programs. Given that Hawaii ranks 43rd of 50 states, seventh from the bottom in its investments in children, it’s no surprise voters feel so strongly about their support.

Considerable research demonstrates the importance and the positive impact of early learning and family support programs, especially in the first five years of life — when a child’s brain absorbs knowledge and develops at its fastest rate. These programs represent building blocks for a better future.

According to recent data, Hawaii today can serve only about 25% of keiki ages birth to 5 in child care, which also impacts parents and caregivers’ ability to work. In addition, this research highlights that young children who are exposed to family violence are more likely to suffer from health-related problems, as well as academic and cognitive problems, delinquency, and involvement in the child welfare and juvenile justice systems.

The Commit to Keiki campaign intends to change this dynamic by working with all gubernatorial candidates and, ultimately, the state’s next governor to address the needs of our youngest keiki. The challenge is great and solving it won’t be easy.

All of Hawaii will benefit from investments in programs that help young keiki and their families. It’s an important and necessary effort to ensure parents have the ability to get back to work and make a living, and our keiki get the attention and programs they need to grow, develop and thrive while improving the wellbeing of our state’s diverse communities.

Anything less is unacceptable for Hawaii’s future.

Editor’s note: The authors are members of the Commit to Keiki steering committee, a non-partisan education initiative created by partners within the Early Childhood Action Strategy collaborative. Visit www.CommitToKeiki.org for more information.

Community Voices aims to encourage broad discussion on many topics of community interest. It’s kind of a cross between Letters to the Editor and op-eds. This is your space to talk about important issues or interesting people who are making a difference in our world. Column lengths should be no more than 800 words and we need a photo of the author and a bio. We welcome video commentary and other multimedia formats. Send to news@civilbeat.org. The opinions and information expressed in Community Voices are solely those of the authors and not Civil Beat.

About the Authors

Shawn Kana‘iaupuni

Shawn Kana‘iaupuni is president and CEO of Partners in Development Foundation.

Alfred L. Castle

Alfred L. Castle is CEO of the Samuel N. and Mary Castle Foundation.

Keala Peters

Keala Peters is executive vice president of the Chamber of Commerce Hawaii.

Watch the discussion with Nāʻālehu Anthony, Director of COVID Pau, Juanita Nalani Benioni, of the Center for Native Hawaiian Traditional Healing at the Waianae Coast Comprehensive Health Center and Dr. Gerard Akaka, V.P. of Native Hawaiian Affairs & Clinical Support at Queen’s Health Systems Internal Medicine.

Watch the entire discussion here: https://www.crowdcast.io/e/civilcafenovember

For more Covid related resources and information, go to pidf.org/covidresponse

Original story published on Honolulu Civil Beat on October 8, 2021 by Suevon Lee, here.

A nonprofit serving Native Hawaiian children and their families through educational and social service initiatives will launch a new savings program in partnership with a bank to help families build financial security using a $2.5 million grant under the federal American Rescue Plan.

Hawaii’s Partners in Development Foundation was among the nearly two dozen beneficiaries of a combined $28.1 million in federal grants under the Native Hawaiian Education Program announced by U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz’s office last month.

PIDF said in a news release Thursday it will use its grant to create and manage up to 800 savings accounts for children enrolled in programs it oversees — such as Tutu and Me preschool, Ka Paʻalana Homeless Family Education and Na Pono No Na Ohana Family Education in Waimanalo, in partnership with American Savings Bank. Families involved in early education programs run by the nonprofit INPEACE will also be eligible to enroll.

Together, these programs serve close to 6,500 individuals.

Families will receive an initial deposit for their accounts and have the opportunity to receive matching funds as they work their way through a series of workshops. These will include sessions focusing on skills such as managing money, building savings, protecting income and assets, paying for child care or preschool or saving for a child’s college education.

The matching funds will be based on a families’ level of participation.

Shawn Kana‘iaupuni, president and CEO of Partners in Development Foundation, said in an interview that the idea behind the initiative, known as Keiki Assets Account or Ka‘a, was to build something that had “more enduring impact” for low-income Native Hawaiian families as they weathered the impacts of the pandemic.

The nonprofit participated in food and supplies distribution to communities in need during the height of the Covid crisis, and also ran an isolation quarantine shelter for the Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander community, but wanted to leverage these federal dollars to last well into future generations.

That includes offering a toolkit to help families work toward building wealth so they can better prepare for their children’s educations. One of the existing barriers for many families, Kana‘iaupuni said, is a lack of access to information on the basics of financial literacy. The nonprofit hopes to connect participants to the resources they need, including life coaches or mentors, that incorporate culturally responsive concepts.

“What are the root causes of the multi-generational poverty and longstanding educational divides?” Kana‘iaupuni said. “Some families have borne a greater brunt of the pandemic than others, as far as economic hardship, death rates, jobs and mobility and educational disparities and the ability to stay engaged online with their kids.”

The group is planning to offer seed deposit amounts of $200 to $400 for up to 850 children and their caregivers, with the goal of families accumulating $4,000 or more in total savings with full participation over three years.

“It’s not something we’ve ever done before, to infuse the income directly into the hands of people,” Kana‘iaupuni said. “The thinking was, how to be a support system for families in getting this money to them in ways that are aligned with better educational outcomes?”

The funding will support over 500 Native Hawaiian community members in Waimānalo through PIDF’s family education programming and services.

Partners in Development Foundation was awarded $150,000 from the Office of Hawaiian Affairs (OHA) COVID-19 Impact and Response Grant to support and improve the lives of Native Hawaiians.

The OHA grant award will go toward PIDF’s Nā Pono No Nā ʻOhana family education program (Nā Pono), of which up to 85% participants and clientele are Native Hawaiian. Nā Pono will expand its services to mitigate the learning loss among children ages birth through sixth grade as well as struggles faced by families due to the COVID-19 pandemic, such as lack of food and hygiene supplies. The funding will also equip families with support needed to prepare children to enter school and achieve success.

“We are grateful to the OHA Trustees, leaders, and staff for honoring us with the privilege to continue programs and services for Waimānalo keiki and families. It’s an especially critical time for PIDF to remain steadfast in this community, which has been heavily impacted by the coronavirus pandemic,” said Shawn Kanaʻiaupuni, President and CEO of PIDF.

Nā Pono has served the community of Waimānalo for a total of 20 years, offering a comprehensive early childhood family interaction education program, tutoring, and culture-based education, and more recently providing food distributions, home visits, and houseless/homeless outreach. The Nā Pono No Nā ʻOhana program is one of Hawaiʻiʻs pioneering Family-Child Interaction Learning (FCIL) programs, a model that has since been adopted by other preschool agencies in the State.

“This has been a tough year. COVID-19 caused unprecedented challenges to our families who have lived in Waimānalo for generations. Our staff is committed to serving the keiki and families. With this OHA funding, we will connect with and educate families with young children, combat food insecurity, support household needs, and reduce stressors brought about by the pandemic,” said Skydee Kalani-Canon, Nā Pono No Nā ʻOhana Project Director.

This project is part of OHA’s COVID-19 Impact and Response Grant, Project 3411, which is to serve at-risk Native Hawaiians and help the community address the multiple impacts of the global pandemic. To learn more about Partners in Development Foundation and its Nā Pono No Nā ʻOhana Program, visit pidf.org/napono.

Partners in Development Foundation received a $43,009 grant from ASB’s Kahiau 2021 Giving Campaign. The funding will support program keiki and their ʻohana, as well as community members in need of PIDF’s continued Covid-19 relief resources and services. 

ASB raised a total of $360,708 to donate to support local community organizations during a time when they need it most. An impressive 95 percent of ASB teammates participated in the annual workplace giving program. This year’s “We’re all in this together,” canoe‐themed campaign generated $210,708 in teammate donations, which was then matched by an additional $150,000 from ASB.

“Our local nonprofits across the state have been crucial in providing much‐needed services to our community throughout the pandemic and we are thrilled to be able to support them during these challenging times,” said Ann Teranishi, President and CEO of ASB. “I am so proud of our teammates for grabbing their paddles and giving from their hearts so that our nonprofit partners can continue their life‐changing work.”   

The word “Kahiau” in Hawaiian means “to give from the heart without expecting anything in return.” PIDF is one of five recipients of the Kahiau funds. The other recipients include the Child & Family Service, Kapiolani Health Foundation, Kupu, and United Way chapters in Hawaiʻi. 

ASB supports initiatives that promote educational excellence and financial literacy, strengthen families and foster innovation and entrepreneurship through donations, sponsorships, grants, scholarships, internships and volunteerism. ASB supports its Kahiau Community Partners year‐round through the bank’s Seeds of Service volunteer program and financial literacy workshops.   

“The families we serve are hurting right now. We are so grateful for partners like ASB who go above and beyond to support our programs,  keiki, and ʻohana. It’s because of their loyal support and belief in our mission that we are able to work together to transform the lives of families for the better throughout Hawaiʻi. It’s always a special relationship— even more so this year in particular,” said Shawn Kanaʻiaupuni President and CEO of PIDF.

In addition to serving higher numbers of at-risk youth, in the past year, PIDF worked quickly to close the gap for Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islanders (NHPI) who had difficulty accessing resources during the covid-19 pandemic. The Open Arms Harbor iso-quarantine facility served over 225 members of the community who had been exposed to or tested positive for covid-19 and needed a place to heal. Not only that, PIDF partnered with key community partners to launch Wifi on Wheels, a van providing wireless internet access to connect keiki and ʻohana in Waiʻanae for distance learning, provided electronic devices like tablets and headphones, and distributed over 60,000 pounds of food throughout Hawaiʻi.

The Partners in Development Foundation recently received a $10,000 grant from Hawaiian Electric to continue the Resilience Hub in Kohala, a project under the Pili a Pa‘a program that provides a safe space for keiki who are doing distance learning because of the COVID-19 pandemic and whose caregivers are unable to supervise them.

The project launched in September 2020 and successfully allowed children to participate in distance learning and parents to re-enter the workforce.

The Resilience Hub prioritized assisting Kohala school complex teachers who do not have access to affordable or reliable child care for their children who have to continue distance or hybrid learning. The project supported teachers and other parents, largely in the service industry, to work instead of taking a leave of absence to care for their children.

“Kohala does not have a large pool of teacher candidates or substitute teachers, so the schools would have been short-handed and may not have been able to provide quality education to the students,” said Ross Pagat, Pili A Pa‘a community school manager.

When online schooling is done for the day, Resilience Hub staff coordinate extracurricular activities such as archery, gardening, cooking and 3-D printing.

The project also promotes more than just emotional and physical health; the hub allows for keiki in the community to socialize, problem solve, follow instructions and learn ways to give back to their families.

Not only that, but the Resilience Hub served as a center for adults who needed help getting connected with services that dealt with alcohol and drug recovery.

The grant enabled the project to continue this work of connecting and assisting Kohala community members with critical services.

The Partners in Development Foundation is a nonprofit public charity that inspires and equips families and communities for success and service, using timeless Native Hawaiian values and traditions.

For additional information or to learn more about the Partners in Development Foundation and Resilience Hub, get online and visit pidf.org.

“Thank you very much for having a safe place like this for people like me to come and heal. You made this COVID experience a lot easier for me and my family,” said one Open Arms Harbor guest. 

Approximately 42% of the guests were Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander, most of which came from large family households that made it difficult to isolate or quarantine safely. Staff provided culturally and linguistically-tailored services to one in five guests in a Micronesian language and seven additional guests in Ilocano. 

Open Arms Harbor first welcomed guests on November 6th in a unique partnership between the Partners in Development Foundation (PIDF), the City and County of Honolulu, and the Department of Health. Staff provided daily wellness checks, case management for transitions from shelters or homes, to hospitals, to the hotel, and outward to their healthy destination, distributed meals three times a day as well as snacks and water. They also stopped to talk-story or share in a much-needed laugh with people separated from their family and friends and yearning for social connections.

“It was a meaningful partnership effort. At PIDF, we were compelled by the urgency of COVID-related needs in our communities to step up and stretch our arms around people who needed help to keep their families safe. I’m proud of our staff, none of whom had done this before, they really made all the difference,” said Shawn Kanaʻiaupuni, President and CEO of PIDF. 

All staff members were trained and certified in cleaning via GBAC, a nationally accredited association and received hands-on training to be well-versed in guest management and safety protocols. This workforce opportunity allowed PIDF to recruit and train community members wanting work during an economically troubled time, all with a shared commitment to aloha and genuinely care for our guests as part of our ʻohana.

“Everyone that comes onto our site, we treat them as if they are our family members,” said Perlas Bardouche, Open Arms Harbor site manager. Staff provided services beyond what was expected despite significant risk to themselves and their families. “It doesn’t matter who you are or where you come from, you’re still a person that needs help and assistance.”

During the holidays the staff called vendors, friends, and other community players to round up donations like toys, books, supplies such as diapers, bottles, toiletries, gift cards, and even gingerbread house kits. The gifts were wrapped up and delivered door to door to show the guests they are appreciated and even though they are not able to be with their families during the holidays, “it’s our way of extending our family,” Bardouche said. 

The quarantine experience can be lonely, especially on birthdays. For one guest, staff arranged with their significant other to deliver a cake along with a surprise facetime call. Another couple were in separate rooms to quarantine safely. Learning of how lonely they were without each other, staff went out of their way to coordinate meal deliveries so that they could facetime and eat dinner “together”, despite the separation. They made friends with children, and went out of their way to find special treats that kept guests smiling.

Even with PIDF’s experience during the last 24 years of supporting healthy and resilient communities, no one could have prepared us for the pandemic that hit our islands one year ago. Running this hotel facility was a new one for our organization. Like us, the pandemic saw so many people, partners and organizations across the state who stretched in new ways, standing up to support families in need, including ensuring that our community members had places to heal during this vulnerable time.

“Across Hawaiʻi, our community response to this coronavirus pandemic is proof of how resilient we are, how innovative we can be, and how we can partner in new ways to do things we never thought possible,” said Kanaʻiaupuni. 

Josie Howard

Executive Director,
We Are Oceania

During surges of COVID-19 in the Islands last year, Jocelyn “Josie” Howard and another We Are Oceania staff member took food, masks, dignity bags and other personal necessities to more than 100 Pacific Islander families every month.

Then the nonprofit added staff and increased donations to more than 200 food boxes and 600 hot meals every week.

The efforts were just Howard’s latest in a lifetime spent supporting her fellow Micronesians in Hawai‘i – who at times throughout last year suffered more than a quarter of all confirmed coronavirus cases while being just 4% of the local population.

“I believe this is my calling and my purpose,” Howard says. “From a young age I left home and sacrificed a lot to be educated so that I can learn how to care for my community.”

Howard says she left her Chuuk home on Onoun Island, in the Namonweito Atoll, at 13 for high school on another Micronesian island; at 20 she came to Hawai‘i for advanced college, hoping to train as a physician and then take her expertise home.

But with no hospital or electricity on her island, she rethought her plan and decided to focus on making life better for Micronesians who had come to Hawai‘i seeking better jobs, health care and lives.

“There was such a great need for service providers to understand how to work specifically with our people, and we realized at the same time that our people needed help to navigate the system.”

Howard has also worked in Department of Education schools as a cultural resource for Pacific Islander students and families, and also at Goodwill Industries. Her community often turns to her for help.

“Navigation is not only for the ocean, it’s for life,” she explains. “You navigate the currents of life. My grandfather told me that to be home, and to be able to be whole, you have to be palu: a master navigator in navigating life. At home they know how to navigate, but when they come here they don’t, so having a onestop is a start.”

That’s what We Are Oceania has become: a one-stop center that guides Pacific Islanders through whatever needs or concerns they have.

Lillian Segal, who serves on We Are Oceania’s board, says Howard is a constant source of inspiration.

“I’m always learning from Josie,” writes Segal in an email. “Josie is a strong, compassionate and dedicated leader who works tirelessly for her community on a daily basis.”

See the story in the Kohala Mountain News, here.

The Partners in Development Foundation received a $27,027 grant from the William J. and Dorothy K. O’Neill Foundation for the Piha Me Ka Pono program. The funding will provide North Kohala community students additional educational support and resources to enhance their school experience, which has been drastically altered due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, community workshops will be offered based on the needs of the community and can include, but not be limited to, financial literacy, first aid and CPR, Hawaiian culture, and other certifications. 

Piha Me Ka Pono sparks unique partnerships with community agencies to meet the needs of Kohala Complex students and their ʻohana, servicing beyond academic requirements like collaborating with the high school culinary arts school students to cook and prepare food for community events and health assistance to build a healthy and resilient community.  

Past and current partnerships and efforts allow Piha Me Ka Pono to supplement innovation and keep up with the ever changing needs and challenges of the community, particularly with the pandemic. These projects include utilizing a 3D printer to create PPE like masks, Medical Assistant Certifications for high school students, and a resilience hub that supports working parents with a safe place where their  child can be supported with their distance learning and interact with others during the pandemic.  To learn more about Piha Me Ka Pono or support their efforts, please visit pidf.org/piliapaa