Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 33, Number 3, 1 March 2016 — lmproving our people's sense of eeonomie well-being [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

lmproving our people's sense of eeonomie well-being

What do Chami-"-V versity alumna Moani Vertido and general eontraetor Traey Poepoe have in eommon? Both have benefited in a big way from a popular loan program at the Office of Hawaiian Affairs. Vertido tapped our

Native Hawaiian Revolving Loan Fund (NHRLF) for $6,300 to pay the tuition for her last semester in graduate school, where she earned her master's degree in nursing in 2012. Poepoe turned to the NHRLF program for a $200,000 loan that enabled him a few years ago to expand his construction business to better compete for federal government contracts. Fast-forward to today. The program is renewing efforts to help even more of our people improve their sense of eeonomie well-being. With newfound autonomy to make loans however it sees fit, our NHRLF program has moved out of First Hawaiian Bank branches and moved online, where its priority is to identify eligible Native-Ha-waiian consumers who want to improve homes, start businesses or cover education expenses. If your credit score is 600 or higher, you qualify for the absolute lowest rates on a variety of our loans. That includes up to $20,000 to improve homes or get a new business off the ground. In addi-

tion, between $200,000 and $1 million is available to help our people expand their small businesses, buy equipment or increase their cash How. At the same time, the program makes up to $7,500 available to those people who are experiencing temporary hnaneial hardships due to unforeseen circumstances such as car repairs, funeral expenses

and medical emergencies. We expect this new phase for our NHRLF program to help raise its profile as a lender of last resort to our people, especially those who are getting squeezed by tight lending standards at Hawai'i banks. Make no mistake about it: our NHRLF program remains a viable option for our people as they attempt to seek the best terms and interest rates on loans. It is clearly the best ophon for a loan that our people ean afford to repay. And we have given out more than $34 million in low-interest loans to more than 2,000 of our people. B ehind those numbers are people like Moani Vertido, who graduated from Kamehameha Schools in 1998 and completed in one year her master's degree in nursing thanks to her loan from OHA; and success stories like Tracy Poepoe, who due to our help ean now bid on $4 million government projects and earn a living from his passion. For more information about OHA's Native Hawaiian Revolving Loan Fund, eall (808) 594- 1924. ■

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Rūbert K. Lindsey, Jr. Chair, TrustEE, Hawai'i