Introduction

Aloha, e nā ʻōiwi ʻōlino mai Hawaiʻi a Niʻihau a puni ke ao mālamalama. Aloha e nā kūpuna a me nā ʻōpio. Aloha e nā kamaʻāina a me nā malihini kekahi. Aloha nō kākou a pau loa. Aloha.

On behalf of the OHA Board of Trustees and our staff from Hawaiʻi to Washington D.C., I am pleased to welcome all of you once again to our message on the State of OHA and the Native Hawaiian Community.

Our first annual State of OHA address began in 2002 as a suggestion from our youngest Trustee John Waiheʻe IV.

This year’s address, the 7^th State of OHA address, comes at a particularly opportune time. We are closing a decade — a difficult decade — and entering a new one. What does that mean for us as Hawaiians?

Looking At The Past Decade 2000-2009

This first decade of the millennium, 2000 to 2009, now coming to a close, has been a challenging decade by all measures.

The year 2000 was a year that rocked the very core and foundation of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs challenging the basic principles of Native Hawaiian self-determination at the level of State governance and further embolding nā ʻelele o ka loko ʻino to tie the arm of Native Hawaiian advocacy. 2000 was the year the U.S. Supreme Court held in Rice v. Cayetano that the election of OHA trustees could not be limited to only Hawaiians.

On the heels of that case was another federal court decision that we refer to as Arakaki I, which determined that running for the office of OHA trustee could not be limited to only Hawaiians. It was the first time we were confronted with the reality that there were those who felt empowered by the Rice decision to finish the job to eliminate the Office of Hawaiian Affairs in total.

More federal lawsuits followed with additional cases being filed by folks like Barrett, Carroll and Kuroiwa who challenged OHA’s constitutional right to exist; and it remains their intent to use the U.S. Constitution to do it, under the 14th Amendment.

Over time we have been able to navigate these waters of litigation. Today only one case is pending, Day v. Apoliona. However, it has been a 10-year minefield of lawsuits that have cost millions of dollars to fight. These lawsuits are not just about OHA but about Native Hawaiians and our legal right to exist as a distinct group of people to manage assets and resources as derived by constitutional and statutory mandates.

Another area of difficulty in this first decade of the millennium included uninterrupted receipt of funding that the State of Hawaiʻi is obligated to pay to OHA from revenue received from crown and government lands, more commonly referred to as ‘ceded lands.’

Early in this decade, payments were halted by then Governor Cayetano. Those “halted” payments were restored through combined efforts of the State Legislature and Governor Lingle. In 2006, the Legislature also codified a set amount of $15.1 million annual revenue payments for years going forward.

To be crystal clear, these revenues are not derived from taxpayer dollars, nor are they part of the general fund of the State budget.

This ceded land revenue stream allows OHA to plan its advocacy in advance as well as continue grant awards to community organizations, as we did this year in the amount of $13 million. Details of this and other accomplishments for 2009 are contained in the supplement distributed to you today with these remarks. These same materials will also be available on OHA's website, www.oha.org.

One languishing issue that OHA has worked diligently to resolve in the second half of this decade is the payment of “the obligated but disputed public land trust revenue amounts” owing for those in-between years from 1980 to 2009. For a third consecutive legislative session, the OHA Trustees are pursuing resolution of this 30-year-old issue by offering a reasonable process for completion. We ask for your support, the community's support, when we renew our efforts at the 2010 Legislature in January.

Understanding these key issues from this difficult decade helps give insight to what our role as Native Hawaiians can and should be in the next decade. The painful challenges of this first decade of the millennium serve as building blocks to fortify our political will and renew our spirit to prepare for the actions that will need to be addressed as we move forward in the next several years. We are, or should be, fine-tuning for the next decade, as we focus on the future.

Second Decade: 2010 to 2020

For the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, a new Strategic Plan for 2010 – 2016 approved by the Board of Trustees in September 2009, has affirmed strategic priorities and strategic results (the Strategic Plan with its priorities and results can be found on the OHA website as well).

There are six strategic priorities; one of which includes Ea (governance) which reads, “to restore pono and ea, Native Hawaiians will achieve self-governance after which the assets of OHA will be transferred to the new governing entity.” And the strategic result linked to this specific strategic priority reads, “Transfer Assets to Entity, adoption by the Board of Trustees of a Transition Plan that includes the legal transfer of assets and other resources to the new Native Hawaiian governing entity.”

The execution of the plan is the kuleana of the OHA Administrator and the staffing he assembles. Administrator Nāmuʻo has recruited, interviewed, selected, and hired a Chief Operating Officer and four Line of Business Directors — in Resource Management, Research, Public Communications and Advocacy — to address identified priorities. These leaders, chosen by the Administrator, will be responsible for Operations focused on “managing for results” as the innovative approach which replaces the former government process we know as “management by objectives.” The 8^th State of OHA Address in 2010 will report on our progress.

Readiness for building with the community a Native Hawaiian governing entity, enabled by passage of the Native Hawaiian Government Reorganization Act (also known as the Akaka Bill) is a responsibility that OHA has championed for the last nine years by advocating passage of this monumental and far-reaching legislation.

When enacted, it will be up to ALL Native Hawaiians, whether residing in or outside Hawaiʻi, to ensure that the enabling process is one that includes all Native Hawaiians who wish to participate, and that the process produces an outcome and end result that present and future generations of Native Hawaiians will use as a tool to better conditions for their ʻohana and all of Hawaiʻi nei.

Another focus area for OHA in this new decade will be to advance OHA’s LLCs — limited liability corporations. In addition to managing Waimea Valley and improving Makaweli Poi, the LLCs will serve as incubators for new Hawaiian businesses and non-profits, helping to seek and apply for federal, state, county, and private funding to reach outcomes of self-sufficiency. Accomplishing the latter will strengthen the economy of the State of Hawaiʻi as a whole.

As a Hawaiian community, we can look forward in this coming decade to the APEC meetings — Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meetings — that are coming to Hawaiʻi in 2011. Hawaiʻi has been selected! What a tremendous opportunity for Hawaiʻi and Native Hawaiians to help enlighten the global community!

Leaders of the world will be coming to Hawaiʻi to reflect on what the economic future for the Pacific can and should be. As the host culture, Native Hawaiians are blessed with the unique opportunity to take a leading role. We are the reason people come to Hawaiʻi. Our honorable culture and our Hawaiian values blending with diverse cultures and peoples are what make Hawaiʻi unique from any other destination in the world. When APEC leaders are here, we can plant Hawaiʻi seeds of ideas, and that spirit nurtured in Hawaiʻi can blossom in and impact far-reaching corners of the world.

Native Hawaiians can significantly affect what the Hawaiʻi of the future will be. In this Pacific Century we can take leadership roles in government. Just as our forefathers who traversed the Pacific Ocean were trained in the Far East and Europe to become leaders, in our motherland, in their century, we can be leaders in this century. Let us reach deep within our spirit and naʻau to surface and rekindle that depth of leadership and… navigate again. This coming decade can trigger the start of the next Pacific century.

Hawaiʻi and the Native Hawaiian community can choose to demonstrate leadership to APEC leaders on many fronts. Areas of focused leadership can address:

• Managing threats from global warming industries since Pacific Islands are in imminent danger of rising tides;
• Safeguarding intellectual property of native people in the global competitive market;
• Developing policies and regulations which carve out native rights in telecommunications and limit destruction of cultural sites and island lifestyles;
• Developing guidelines for emerging bio-agricultural and aquamarine industries, both in shore and up to the edge of the 3-mile limit;
• Ensuring sustainable island fishing and marine life for future generations; and
• Building partnerships for green energy, alternative energy sources, and related technologies in the context of island economies for Pacific Island peoples.

The evolution of Hawaiʻi on the world stage is valuable not only to Native Hawaiians but to all people of Hawaiʻi. And we, the people of Hawaiʻi, have much to share with the rest of the world. All of Hawaiʻi can enlighten the world.

As we look forward to this next decade, our focus should be on building. We as Hawaiians can become more fully aware and more fully a contributing partner for the future.

Ua ao ka pō, ua eo ka pō i ke ao.
(’Tis the dawning, darkness is overcome by daylight).

We have opportunities in our hands. Let us not squander them. Or as Queen Liliʻuokalani’s words remind us, “Never cease to act for fear you may fail.”

These times call for Hawaiian leaders to move with resolve, focus and discipline. We at OHA call for an expanded unified effort by ALL the Aliʻi Trusts, Hawaiian Public Trusts, and Hawaiian-Serving Institutions and Agencies. We must, collectively, demonstrate the effort to work together to move the Hawaiian community forward. With our collective political will elevated by acting together in joint efforts — “managed for results,” this new decade and century will be one of success for Native Hawaiians and all Hawaiʻi.

Closing

As I bring my remarks to a close, I would like to take a moment to acknowledge and reflect upon a kupuna who passed away this Fall, a kupuna who was very dear to many of us during her lifetime of 82 years. That kupuna is Auntie Mary Mālia Kawaihoʻouluohāʻao Craver, who now sleeps the sleep of summers and winters and takes her place among the ancestors.

For many of us who are products of the Hawaiian Renaissance of the 1970s, Auntie Mālia Craver was a beacon. As a pure Hawaiian and mānaleo, native speaker, Auntie Mālia freely shared compelling manaʻo from her kūpuna and homeland of Hoʻokena, South Kona, Hawaiʻi, and profound cultural wisdom that is getting harder for this generation to find in contemporary Hawaiʻi. She was a gift to all of us who were lucky enough to know and experience her.

There are two things Auntie Mālia often said: “Get a grip,” and “leave a legacy.”

“Get a grip” was her instruction to all of us to honestly assess where we are, determine what we want to achieve, decide what we are going to do about it, and take action.

Even harder than “get a grip” is her instruction to “leave a legacy.”

As we begin a new decade and look forward to 2010–2020, we are on the cusp of what could be another Pacific century – a golden Pacific century.

What legacy will each of us leave as individuals? What legacy will the Office of Hawaiian Affairs leave for Native Hawaiians and the rest of Hawaiʻi?

What legacy will Native Hawaiians leave for the State of Hawaiʻi and the rest of the world as the new decade unfolds and global leaders discover Hawaiʻi anew as the treasure and beacon for nurturing diversity, tolerance and world peace?

A new decade is a new dawn.
Hiki mai ka lā i Haʻehaʻe.
(The sun appears at Haʻehaʻe … ’Tis the dawning).

I challenge us in this coming decade to rise with determination to produce good from all of the opportunities we are given.

“Leave a legacy,” a kind of legacy that would make our ancestors proud and one that they would bless.

“Leave a legacy” that makes Hawaiʻi and the world a better place for us having been in it doing what we do each day.

Hiki nō?

No laila, hiki mai ka lā i Haʻehaʻe. Ua ao ka pō; ua eo ka pō i ke ao.
The sun appears at Haʻehaʻe. ’Tis the dawning; darkness is overcome by daylight.

Aloha and mahalo.

Portfolio Performance

• OHA’s investments have gained over $72 million between March and September since the equity market hit bottom in March.
• From January 1^st through third quarter 2009, the Native Hawaiian Trust Fund grew by 16.2%, outperforming the average peer endowments and foundations two out of three quarters this year.
• OHA successfully negotiated lower fees with its investment advisors for a combined savings of over $100,000 per year.
• The goal of these activities has been to ensure OHA has a prudent and robust investment program in place to protect and advance OHA’s financial assets so adequate funding is available to serve beneficiaries.

Lawsuits & Legal Protections

• Successfully defended OHA in the Day v. Apoliona case that threatened OHA’s outreach to all Hawaiians.
• Successfully defended OHA in the Kuroiwa case that threatened the existence of OHA.
• Obtained successful results in the HCDCH case, limiting the scope of U.S. Supreme Court opinion and which provided an opportunity to settle issues with the State and obtain passage of legislation on the sale of crown and government lands (“ceded lands”).
• Worked with external counsel to determine whether OHA has escheat interests in quiet title actions involving kuleana land.

OHA Washington D.C. Bureau

• Continued to seek passage of the Native Hawaiian Government Reorganization Act, also known as the Akaka Bill.
  • Worked with legal advisors, Hawaiʻi’s congressional delegation and key staff, congressional co-sponsors, American Indians, Alaska Natives, various Pacific and Asian Pacific American organizations, and an array of civil rights organizations to urge passage of the Akaka Bill.
  • Hosted Native Hawaiians and other visitors in Washington D.C. to raise awareness of Native Hawaiian issues, especially the Akaka Bill, and to increase the visibility of OHA’s D.C. office.
  • Briefed thousands of allies on the status of the Akaka Bill and presented Native Hawaiian issues at local and national meetings and conventions.
• Worked to prevent elimination of Native Hawaiians from existing U.S. policy and law.
• Met with White House officials to discuss NHGRA, health reform and OHA’s role as a resource for White House initiatives.
• Submitted testimony in support of stimulus funding in Hawaiʻi (August 24, 2009 field hearing).
• Advised and assisted Department of Defense in development of a draft Native Hawaiian Consultation policy and cultural communications training.
• Promoted and protected Native American political status, entitlements, and expressions of self-determination of the indigenous, native, aboriginal people whose ancestors lived and exercised sovereignty in the Hawaiian archipelago that later became part of the United States.
• Maintained and expanded a network of allies supporting Native Hawaiian issues at the national level by hosting or sponsoring more than 30 events and attending more than 50 organizational meetings and events.
• Coordinated collaboration with Ke Aliʻi Makaʻainana Hawaiian Civic Club to complete Aliʻi Diplomatic Missions and Other Business Travel to Washington D.C., Phase 2.
• OHA DC Bureau and former OHA DC Bureau Chief Martha Ross acknowledged by Association of Hawaiian Civic Clubs Resolution for national advocacy on behalf of Native Hawaiians.

Government Relations & Legislative Affairs

• Facilitated legislative rally “Pupukahi I Holomua” on January 15 to gather support for Hawaiian legislative issues.
• Introduced 19 measures addressing Hawaiian issues of concern.
• Reviewed over 3,500 Senate and House bills and resolutions.
• Monitored and submitted testimony on 510 bills that could impact Native Hawaiians.
• Obtained enactment of a bill clarifying and strengthening OHA’s authority to issue revenue bonds.
• Obtained enactment of ordinances in Maui County and Kaua’i County granting property-tax exemptions for kuleana land.
• Obtained enactment of a bill protecting publicity rights of entertainers and performers.
• Obtained enactment of a bill to study disparate treatment of Native Hawaiians in the Hawaii’s criminal justice system.
• Conducted “Ka Na’i Aupuni“ legislative community outreach meetings on Molokaʻi, Maui, Hawaiʻi island, Hāna, Kona, Kaua’i, and Lānaʻi to receive ideas for consideration in the 2010 legislative session.
• Produced 24 OHA shows “Hoʻoulu Lāhui Aloha — To Raise A Beloved Nation” on ʻōlelo television addressing Native Hawaiian issues.
• Facilitated 12 two-hour radio shows featuring members of the State Senate and House of Representatives and Washington D.C. delegation and their staff members.

Nation-Building

• Organized “Kū I Ka Pono” march and rally on January 17 to stand firmly in protest against the State’s U.S.Supreme Court appeal for the right to sell government & crown lands.
• Surpassed 100,000 registrants in Kau Inoa.
• Promoted and facilitated Community Consultation Network (CCN) video conferences with Hawaiians in the Washington D.C. area, Indiana, Tennessee, New York City, and Utah.
• Featured Hawaiians living away from Hawaiʻi in OHA's Ka Wai Ola newspaper's “Hoʻoulu Lāhui Aloha”column and on OHA’s Na ʻōiwi ʻōlino radio show. Goal is to showcase and acknowledge activities and accomplishments of Hawaiians preserving and promoting their culture across the continent and throughout the world.
• Organized Kūkulu Kumuhana (spiritual unity moment) on February 25, the day of U.S. Supreme Court’s hearing on the crown and government lands case.
• Registered 2,255 Native Hawaiians in Hawaiian Registry.
• Conducted “OHA Report to the Community” meetings in August and September with Hawaiian communities on the continent to dispel misconceptions and misinformation about the Akaka Bill and to raise awareness and support of the bill through better understanding of it.
• Coordinated “OHA In Your Neighborhood” event in January at Windward Mall to share information about OHA’s programs.
• Participated in “Human Rights Day at the Legislature” in March with other non-profit and government agencies dedicated to improving the lives of others.
• Provided funding for documentary film, “Noho Hewa: The Wrongful Occupation of Hawaiʻi,” by Anne Keʻala Kelly that documents the desecration of Hawaiʻi.
• Funded display of photography by Brother Bertram Bellinghausen of Chaminade University, a friend of Queen Liliʻuokalani who captured Hawaiʻi and its people in the years before and after the Overthrow.
• Sponsored the Association of Hawaiian Civic Clubs’ 50^th Annual Convention held November on Maui.
• Sponsored the Association of Hawaiian Civic Clubs’ representation at the annual lei draping ceremony of the Kamehameha Statue in Washington D.C. in June.

Protection of Native Rights & Culture

• Participated as member of Papahānaumokuākea Monument Management Board.
  • Coordinated implementation of 5-volume Monument Management Plan.
  • Facilitated and finalized the production of a Cultural Briefing Video in July.

• Participated as member of the Ocean Resources Management Plan working group.
  • Assisted in creating A Framework for Climate Change Adaptation in Hawaii, a collaborative effort designed to prepare for the impacts of climate change to be better able to withstand the negative impacts and to form partnerships.

• Conducted 50 days of archaeological surveys on Stryker Brigade projects, identifying 102 new archaeological site features and 20 traditional Hawaiian artifacts, ensuring these historic properties will be considered during the Stryker Brigade Transformation.

• Assisted in the member selection and developed the operational structure of the Taro Security and Purity Task Force created by Act 211
  • Facilitated 19 task force meetings and 8 community meetings.
  • Played integral role in coordinating and assisting in drafting a report for the legislature by January 2010, which will include findings, research statistics, and recommendations.

• Obtained Invited signatory status on the Ane Keohokalole Highway project memorandum of agreement which will ensure the protection of cultural sites as this public works project in North Kona moves forward.
• Responded to 400 inquiries regarding the Kuleana Tax Exemption and survey.
• Enhanced the Wahi Pana Database, uploading over 500 documents and creating over 2,000 records, including Environmental Assessments (EA), Environmental Impact Studies (EIS), Cultural Impact Statements(CIS), and other related documentation.
• Received and processed approximately 1,200 compliance letters related to archeological finds; building permits; burials; cultural, land & water surveys; and water and land zoning codes from the Federal, State and County governments and other regulatory and non-regulatory agencies.
• Responded to 229 inquiries regarding burials on private lands, baby names, blessings for businesses & homes, boundary disputes, Department of Hawaiian Home Lands questions, genealogy and cultural practices, monk seals, quiet title actions, and the Individual Claims lawsuit.
• Participated in State Historic Preservation Day at the State Capitol.
• Participated on boards and councils, including Kāneʻohe Bay Regional Council, Hawaiʻi Board of Geographic Names, Hawaii Tourism Authority Native Hawaiian Advisory Council, Lāna’i Archaeological Committee, and Kalaupapa ʻOhana.
• Facilitated meetings of the Native Hawaiian Historic Preservation Council.

Economic Development

• Established Hawaiʻi’s first and only Procurement Technical Assistance Center (HI-PTAC) with $300,000 grant from U.S. DoD Defense Logistics Agency to help small businesses market their goods and services to federal, state, and county governments.
• Helped more than 200 Hawaiʻi businesses learn procurement guidelines and procedures.
• Helped 2 clients obtain government contracts worth more than $300,000.
• Awarded 8 Community Based Economic Development (CBED) grants for non-profits totaling $230,000.
• Issued 5 grants totaling $115,000 to nonprofits that conduct workforce training.
• Provided technical assistance to 98 Native Hawaiian businesses in the areas of business planning, financial management, financial planning, marketing, cost accounting, and staff training and retention.
• Issued 119 loans under Mālama Loan/Native Hawaiian Revolving Loan Fund for business, education and home improvements totaling $1.9 million.
• Issued 34 loans from Consumer Micro Loan Program, assisting beneficiaries with temporary cash flow difficulties and career enhancement opportunities.
• Continued to work with Pacific Network TV, www.pacificnetwork.tv in breaking new ground with innovative internet technology to share information on Hawaiian issues and concerns.
• Continued to work with the business community to plan for ways to invest in cleaner, lower cost alternatives to petroleum and coal for electric power generation and gasoline and diesel for transportation.

Education

• Addressed severe budget reductions in public education for the current school year by granting $1.5 million in supplemental funding to 17 Hawaiian-focused charter schools serving 2,800 Hawaiian students island-wide.
• Implemented new K-12 Education Family Financial Assistance program, Kākoʻo Hoʻonaʻauao, providing $500,000 to support economically disadvantaged Hawaiian families with extraordinary educational expenses, including private school costs or special education services.
• Continued statewide support of Nā Pua Noʻeau with grant totaling $1,048,800 to serve 1,020 Native Hawaiian students in grades K-12 with after-school enrichment programs focusing on the sciences andleadership.
• Promoted economic sustainability and recovery by implementing new OHA Paipai Vocational Education Scholarship Program and awarding $70,000 in scholarships to 59 non-traditional students.
• Awarded $500,000 in post-high scholarships to 256 undergraduate and graduate scholars.
• Awarded $70,000 in Early Childhood Education scholarships to 20 families.
• Collaborated with Nā Lau Lama Consortium to publish and disseminate its report, “Teaching and Learning with Aloha: Successful Strategies in Engaging Hawaiian Learners.”
• Acquired a federal grant for $453,000 from the USDA for Distance Learning and Telecommunication advancement in rural Hawaiian communities.
• Granted $415,000 to support UH-Mānoa College of Education’s Hoʻokulāiwi program to prepare 46 pre-service and in-service Native Hawaiian teachers working at Native Hawaiian schools on Kauaʻi and Oʻahu and to develop research and curriculum in Hawaiian education.
• Granted $50,000 to support Partners in Development Foundation’s Ka Paʻalana Family Education Program, providing a New Beginning Shelter and the Onemaluʻu Transitional Shelter.

Housing

• Provided $3 million to the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands to offset DHHL loans for housing projects and infrastructure.
• Facilitated the adoption of the OHA Housing Plan and Strategy in July.
• Co-sponsored OHA team for Habitat for Humanity Build-a-thon in August to build two new homes for beneficiary families living in Waimānalo and Papakōlea Homestead communities.
• Co-sponsored and provided staff support to Hawaiian Community Assets for its 2009 Conference to honor Native Hawaiian families achieving new home ownership.

Health

• Co-sponsored and coordinated OHA team for the American Diabetes Association 2009 benefit walk in an effort to broaden awareness to Native Hawaiians impacted by diabetes.
• Provided technical support to Kula No Nā Poʻe and its Kawaihonaʻakealoha Papakōlea Community Long-Term Care Initiative in a private/public partnership with Hawaiʻi Community Foundation, Hawaiʻi Pacific University School of Social Work, and UH-Mānoa Thompson School of Social Work, and a grant from the U.S. Administration for Native Americans.
• Provided funding and technical support to Nā Puʻuwai for its study and assessment of long term care needs for Molokaʻi and presentation of its findings at the Molokaʻi Long-Term Care Forum in March.
• Provided funding and technical support to ʻAha Kāne to plan and develop a 2010 Native Hawaiian Men’s Health Conference as a continuation of the inaugural event in 2006 to address the issues of Native Hawaiian male leadership and community involvement by focusing on cultural history and the roles of Native Hawaiian men in the past, present, and future.
• Provided funding and technical support to Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) to expand alcohol abuse awareness programs in high schools statewide.

Human Services

• Facilitated passage of HCR 27 to request a study of disparate treatment of Native Hawaiians in the Hawaii criminal justice system.
  • Developed criteria and initiated research for study in collaboration with UH-Mānoa Thompson

• School of Social Work; UH-Mānoa Richardson School of Law; Public Policy Center/Justice Policy Institute, Washington D.C.; and Georgetown University School of Law.
• Sponsored and provided technical support to Hawaiʻi County Police Department to develop a Community Policing Collaboration pilot project to improve officers’ capacity to serve the homeless and the mentally ill in East Hawaiʻi island, many of whom are Native Hawaiian.
• Participated as working member of the Hawaiʻi State Asset Building Task Force, a public/private partnership to develop wealth-building options for low-income families.
• Participated as working member of the Hawaiʻi State Prisoner Re-entry Steering Committee in partnership with U.S. Probations Office, Hawaiʻi District; Hina Ma Uka; Hawaiʻi State Department of Public Safety; Queen Liliʻuokalani Children’s Center; and Maui Economic Opportunity’s BEST Program. Goal is to develop alternatives to incarceration, reduce prison population, enhance community re-entry programs, and improve treatment and employment opportunities for ex-offenders.
• Developed pilot project with the Domestic Violence Action Center to provide legal assistance to beneficiaries who are victims of domestic violence.
• Developed pilot project with The PATH Clinic to provide perinatal care and out patient substance treatment to women and their children.
• Co-sponsored Children and Youth Day 2009 along with Hawaiʻi State Legislature and major corporations and non-profit organizations to support conference for family strengthening, health and wellness activities, and dissemination of information to 20,000 attendees.
• Co-sponsored Hawaiʻi Peace Day Celebration 2009 to focus statewide attention on creating a culture of peace by weaving the elements of peace through schools and communities.
• Co-sponsored Unlocking Justice – Protecting the Community and Saving Money, along with the Community Alliance on Prisons and the Drug Policy Forum of Hawaiʻi, to support conference to discuss alternatives to incarceration to reduce the prison population, enhance community safety, and improve the quality of justice in Hawaiʻi.
• Co-sponsored Hoʻōla Lāhui, a Maui Conference on Spiritual, Emotional, and Physical Health of Native Hawaiians. Partnered with the Kamehameha Schools Maui Campus, Hawaiʻi State Department of Human Services, Maui Child Welfare Services, Neighborhood Place of Wailuku, Queen Liliʻuokalani Children’s Center, Hui No Ke Ola Pono, Nā Pua Noeʻau, and Child & Family Services to provide discussion opportunities and information to families on both traditional and non-traditional services to strengthen families.

Land Acquisition & Management

• Spearheaded parcel selection and due diligence for properties proposed for transfer to OHA in lieu of cash for past due income and proceeds from the Public Land Trust.
• Oversaw efforts in Nā Wai ʻEhā contested case hearing before State Commission on Water Resource Management resulting in a proposed decision to return approximately one-half of the stream flow for Native Hawaiian uses.
• Continued transition of management of Waimea Valley by Hiʻipaka LLC, including hiring of permanent executive director, doubling of daily visitation, and donation of land owned by Finance Factors.
• Facilitated completion of plugging and abandonment of geothermal well at Wao Kele O Puna by executing a Right-of-Entry Agreement with the Department of Land and Natural Resources.
• Monitored the State’s implementation of Act 178 reporting requirements for Public Land Trust revenue.
• Pursued development of a Corporate Real Estate Strategy for OHA.
• Continued management of Kekaha Armory on Kauaʻi, home to Ke Kula Niʻihau O Kekaha Learning Center.
• Oversaw due diligence on potential real estate acquisitions enabling OHA to make informed decisions on whether to pursue such acquisitions.
• Negotiated leases for OHA’s headquarters and offices on Kauaʻi and Maui; led space planning efforts for OHA headquarters; reconciled annual CAM charges for OHA leased premises; and completed financial analysis ofLot 1, Kakaʻako, the proposed headquarters site.

Communications with Community

• Provided free monthly newspaper Ka Wai Ola with a circulation of 59,000.
• Posted Ka Wai Ola Loa, OHA’s electronic monthly newsletter.
• Coordinated major sponsorship of ʻĀhaʻi ʻōlelo Ola, the television news magazine show broadcast in ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi.
• Coordinated sponsorship of Nā Kai ʻEwalu statewide radio news magazine show.
• Produced broadcast of a 1-hour panel discussion special on KITV on U.S. Supreme Court case on ceded lands.
• Organized news conferences in Hawaiʻi and Washington, D.C.; media appearances; and communications strategies surrounding the U.S. Supreme Court decision on ceded lands.
• Coordinated Nā ʻōiwi ʻōlino, a weekday morning statewide radio show covering issues facing the Native Hawaiian community and the general public.
• Produced new television commercials to promote Ka Wai Ola, Ka Wai Ola Loa and Nā ʻōiwi ʻōlino.
• Produced OHA Annual Report, calendar, and greeting card with the artistic theme “Nā Waiwai o Wao Kele oPuna — Treasures of Wao Kele O Puna.”
• Assisted in production of the 2009 Grants & Sponsorships Annual Report.
• Assisted in producing Hoʻoulu Lāhui Aloha round table discussion programs for ʻōlelo Community Television.
• Supported advertising sponsorship of major events including Queen Liliʻuokalani Keiki Hula Competition, Merrie Monarch Hula Festival, Kamehameha Schools Song Contest, and Nā Hōkū Hanohano Awards.

Grants

• Granted $13.6 million in awards for projects benefiting the Native Hawaiian community in the areas of education, housing, native rights, culture, economic development, social services, health, and nation-building.
• Of $13.6 million in grants, awarded $6.9 million to state agencies or non-profit organizations that partner with State agencies to deliver services through public schools on all islands, the Department of Hawaiian Home lands, and the University of Hawaiʻi.
• Conducted 26 grant workshops statewide, resulting in 142 grant applications.
• Supported 29 community events through sponsorships.
• Produced the 2009 Grants & Sponsorships Annual Report.