PRESS RELEASE For Immediate release November 23, 2020 FOR MORE INFORMATION Contact: Sheila Sarhangi Hawai‘i Community Foundation (808) 772-0718 Mobile ssarhangi@hcf-hawaii.org
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DASHBOARD SHOWS REAL-TIME DISTRIBUTION OF CARES ACT RELIEF FUNDING ADMINISTERED BY HCF More than $52 million of funds have been committed to serving Hawai‘i’s communities HONOLULU, HAWAI‘I — The Hawai‘i Community Foundation (HCF), one of the state’s leading philanthropic institutions, today unveiled a new public dashboard that tracks its continued distribution of federal Coronavirus relief funding to nonprofits, businesses and individuals serving communities throughout the state.
The State of Hawaiʻi and the City & County of Honolulu contracted HCF to administer a total of $57,600,000 – a portion of the overall funding the state and local governments received under the CARES Act (Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act). The dashboard shows that HCF has to date already committed 91% of the funds, or more than $52 million, to four program sectors: human services, emergency food distribution, local agriculture, and child care programs. Moreover, in only a matter of weeks, more than $30 million of CARES Act funds have been distributed by HCF to the community. “The CARES Act of 2020 brings welcome federal funding to Hawai‘i, yet it comes with a responsibility to deploy the funds for maximum benefit to the people of our state,” said Gov. David Ige. “The Hawai‘i Community Foundation, with decades of grantmaking experience, has demonstrated its ability to quickly disburse funds to organizations that are meeting the critical needs of our community.” “HCF understands our critical role in ensuring that vital resources are reaching our communities quickly and efficiently during this pandemic. We also believe in the importance of transparency of public funds— and the dashboard tracks HCF’s distribution of dollars in detail,” said Micah Kāne, chief executive officer and president of HCF. “All of us want to extend our gratitude for the partnership and trust of our state and county agencies to serve our community with this scale of relief.” The dashboard displays total dollars contracted, committed, and awarded for each of the four program sectors, with data further broken out by total dollars to specific businesses, nonprofits and individuals; and total dollars already spent. To view the dashboard, visit https://www.hawaiicommunityfoundation.org/coviddashboard.
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Programs Funding relief is being distributed by HCF under four programs from the noted expending agencies:
Expending agency: City & County of Honolulu, Department of Community Service (2 programs) •
Support of human service providers to address COVID-19 related needs of vulnerable communities. Contract amount: $31.3 million. This program serves individuals and communities experiencing hardship because of COVID-19. A cost-reimbursement program, human service providers must have a direct nexus between expenditures and their response to hardships including the following noted descriptions below. Decisions on awardees were recommended by HCF and approved by the City and County of Honolulu.
1. Child care for those suffering hardship due to the COVID-19 public health emergency; 2. Housing and support services for individuals who have been released early from prison due to the COVID-19 public health emergency; 3. Housing and support services for domestic violence victims or Domestic Violence Shelters suffering hardship due to the COVID-19 public health emergency; 4. Housing and support services for homeless youth suffering hardship due to the COVID-19 public health emergency; 5. Drug treatment and support services to address early release of patients from non-profit drug treatment facilities due to the COVID-19 public health emergency; 6. Mobile hygiene services to homeless individuals to ensure proper hygienic resources are available to help prevent the spread of COVID-19; and 7. Other services as deemed necessary by the City to address community hardship due to the COVID-19 public health emergency or to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Statement from Kūhiō Lewis, President and CEO, Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement, one of the awardees of the program: “With Hawai‘i suffering from the highest unemployment in the nation, funding received from HCF is providing stability and hope for families and businesses grappling with the pandemic. Dollars are supporting Hawai‘i residents in need with mortgage, rent, utilities, medical coverage and internet service, as well as support for programs like the PopUp Mākeke, which allows local businesses to sell their products online and around the world.” •
Support of the “Farm to Food Program.” Contract amount: $6.3 million. This program funds 12 organizations, identified by the City and County of Honolulu, that a) produce locally grown food or value-added food products made from local products, or b) provide key training and support to food producers on Oʻahu.
Statement from Brian Miyamoto, Executive Director, Hawai‘i Farm Bureau Federation, one of the awardees of the program: “The Hawai‘i Farm Bureau Foundation is extremely grateful to be part of the City & County of Honolulu and the Hawai‘i Community Foundation’s Farm to Food Program. This program is helping to keep our farmers and ranchers in business during these challenging times, contributing to our local economy while feeding those in need on our island. This is a great opportunity for Hawai‘i’s farmers, ranchers, and food producers to give back to our local community.”
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Expending agency: State of Hawaiʻi Department of Labor and Industrial Relations, Office of Community Services •
Support Hawaiʻi’s food distribution system. Contract amount: $5 million. This program provides resources to the State’s four food banks to purchase food and distribute it to the public and to their network of food pantries, soup kitchens, and community partners. HCF proposed the program and its recipients.
Statement from Ron Mizutani, President and CEO, Hawai‘i Foodbank, one of the awardees of the program: “Even with the re-boot of the visitor industry on October 15, we anticipated the needs in our communities would continue into November, December and beyond the winter months and that’s come to fruition. Since our first positive case in mid-March, we have distributed more than 19.5 million pounds of food on O‘ahu and Kaua‘i. Philanthropy, Foundations, businesses and our local community carried the day early in the pandemic with generous support, and the State’s distribution of CARES Act money came at a critical time in our relief and response efforts. We are extremely grateful for this support and the heroic efforts of Hawai‘i Community Foundation." Expending agency: State of Hawaiʻi Department of Human Services, Benefit Employment and Support Services Division: •
Support the capacity and resilience in Hawaiʻi’s child care provider system. Contract amount: $15 million. The Child Care Stimulus Grant Program aims to provide regulated child care programs with onetime, flexible funding to ensure the continuity of their programs, prevent permanent closure and/or support child care providers to re-open their operations safely with financial resources. Grants were awarded to eligible childcare providers licensed and regulated by the Hawai‘i State Department of Human Services. HCF administered the application and approval process.
Statement from a child care provider (name withheld) on Kaua‘i who runs a local preschool, and one of the awardees of the program: “Our enrollment was cut in half. We would not have been able to finish the school year without this grant as our budget depends completely on tuition. [Through this funding] we are able to provide child care service to our families.” About Hawai‘i Community Foundation With over 100 years of community service, the Hawai‘i Community Foundation (HCF) is the leading philanthropic institution in the state. HCF is a steward of more than 950 funds, including more than 280 scholarship funds, created by donors who desire to transform lives and improve communities. In 2019, HCF distributed more than $63 million in grants and contracts statewide, including more than $7 million in scholarships. HCF also serves as a resource on community issues and trends in the nonprofit sector. To learn more about HCF’s response during coronavirus, please visit https://www.hawaiicommunityfoundation.org/coronavirus.
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