Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 30, Number 7, 1 July 2013 — PROMISE FULFILLED; A LEGACY GROWS [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

PROMISE FULFILLED; A LEGACY GROWS

Aloha mai kākou,

Last year, the late U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye called together major institutions that serve Native Hawaiians and urged us to pull together and tell our story. The story is of the legacy left by the last 30 years of federal funding to programs that benefit Native Hawaiians. At a time when many on the national stage question federal funding for programs that benefit Native Hawaiians, his message was clear: show how the federal funding given to these programs has affected real people. So, along with our partners, we pulled together to tell the story of who has been affected by federal funding and how. How many people have gone from homeless to rental housing and employment? How many have graduated from high school and gone on to college? How have we extended career pathways for those in heahh fields? What have we done to provide social services for needy families and communities? What have we done to boost Native Hawaiian entrepreneurs and business entities? In essence, we needed to be able to say, "This is what we have achieved, and we have the data to support it." Senator Inouye's foresight is a legacy that will benefit the Native Hawaiian community as a whole. He saw the need to provide concrete evidence that tells the story of the trust relationship between the federal government and Native Hawaiians. In June, we met with our congressional delegation to build our relationship with Hawai'i's current delegation as the new advocates for Native Hawaiians.

The timing couldn't have been better. All those looking for money from the federal govemment are facing sequestration: mandated cuts in the federal budget. Therefore, we encourage all Native Hawaiian-serving organizations that receive federal funding to eonhnue the necessary data collection and reporting in order to show just how their programs are effective in bettering the conditions of Native Hawaiians. In short, this will strengthen our position as advocates for programs that benefit Native Hawaiians.

I believe Senator Inouye had a vision of the future and what he needed to do to ensure Native Hawaiians will continue to benefit from the trust relationship with the federal aovernment.

Senator Inouye, we humbly accept the gift of your mana, and will nurture it so it will eonhnue to benefit generations of Native Hawaiians to

eome. 'O au iho nō me ke aloha a me ka 'oia'i'o,

Kamana'opono M. Crabbe, Ph.D. Ka Pouhana/Chief Executive 0fficer I

Followus:lā/oha_hawaii | Fan us:Ē/officeofhawaiianaffairs | Watoh us: Yūlll iT1 ĪTT| /OHĀHawaii A \ THE CEO