Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 37, Number 6, 1 June 2020 — OHA Approves $3 Million in COVID-19 Emergency Relief [ARTICLE]

OHA Approves $3 Million in COVID-19 Emergency Relief

By Sterling Wong On May 8th, the OHA Board of Trustees announced the approval of a $3-million emergency relief package to help individual beneficiaries as well as Native Hawaiian communities impacted by the C0VID-19 pandemic and associated eeonomie crisis. "The last three months have turned our people's lives upside down," said OHA Chair Colette Machado. "OHA is doing whatever we ean to help our families and communities hurt by this crisis. I thank my fellow tiustees and administration for contributing to OHA's relief efforts." Chair Machado continued: "To our beneficiaries, our hearts go out to all of you and please know that OHA remains eommitted to aiding our lāhui. We are a resilient people who have persevered through tremendous adversity over the course of our history. We will make it through this by sticking together and eventually eome out on the other side stronger than ever." At the OHA Board's first virtual meeting during the COVID crisis, tmstees unanimously approved funding for a series of programs. First, tmstees authorized the release of an additional $2.17 million to OHA's existing Emergency Finaneial Assistance Program grant, whieh aims to help Native Hawaiians struggling economically. Last November, OHA awarded the original $1.66-mil-lion grant to the Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement (CNHA) who administers the program whieh they have rebranded the Kahiau Community Assistance Program. The grant provides up to $1,500 in one-time emergency assistance to cover mortgage, rent, rent deposit or utility debts of Native Hawaiians facing Ananeial hardship. Such hardship may include reduction in hours or loss of employment.

The recent board action brings OHA' s total investment in the program to $3.83 million. OHA Chief Executive Officer Sylvia Hussey said that recent data indicated that OHA should direct resources to address the growing eeonomie challenges facing the Native Hawaiian community. "Our research at the start of the pandemic anticipated that our community's longstanding financial difficulties would make them more vulnerable to an eeonomie downturn resulting from COVID-19," said OHA CEO Hussey. "New eeonomie data is beginning to illustrate the heavy hnaneial toll this crisis is having on our 'ohana. This is why the Board took action to provide direct funding to our beneficiaries most in need; why we advocated for renter eviction protection; and why we are helping to cover the cost to feed our must vulnerable families through our Kaiāulu Meals program." New data from the state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations indicates that Native Hawaiians are losing their jobs during the pandemic at disproportionate rates. While Native Hawaiians constitute only 19 percent of the total working-age population of Hawai'i (over 16 years of age), a quarter of all unemployment claimants in Hawai'i from the first quarter of the year identified as Native Hawaiian. Moreover, between late March and late April, CNHA's Kahiau program received a 125 percent increase in applications, demonstrating elevated levels of Ananeial hardship within the Native Hawaiian eommunity. This data substantiated prior research that predicted that Native Hawaiians would be at greater risk of suffering finaneial challenges, including loss of employment and eviction, from the eeonomie impacts from the coronavirus pandemic. Native Hawaiians have fewer linaneial resources to weather

financial emergencies due to their lower per capita ineome ($25,590) compared to the overall state population ($35,255); and their lower median household ineome ($75,708) eompared to the overall state population ($80,212). Furthermore, 12.3 percent of all Native Hawaiians live in poverty, eompared to 8.8 percent of the total state population. Finally, like other Hawai'i residents, many Native Hawaiians rely on the service and tourism industries to financially support their families — 23.6 percent of working Native Hawaiians are employed in service occupations, whieh have been among the most impacted by the spread of COVID-19 and related business closures. OHA trustees have also approved $830,000 to programs located statewide that promote community-based food security for Native Hawaiian farmers, fishermen, ranchers, hunters and other individuals practicing subsistence living. The funds will be administered by the Hawai'i Community Foundation "We need to make sure that our 'ohana ean put food on the table during this pandemic," said OHA CEO Hussey. "But for many of our communities, the crisis is making it hard to access food at affordable prices. So, we are working with Hawai'i Community Foundation to support locally sourced food from area farmers and producers, and to help individuals who rely on fishing and other subsistence practices to mālama their families. Our hope is to help reinforce the resiliency and strength of our communities." For more information on the Kahiau Community Assistance Program, eall CNHA at 808-784-4464 or visit https:// w w w .hawaiianeouneil . org/kahiau . Additional information on COVID-19 relief resources from the OHA and federal and loeal sources are available at www. oha.org/covidl9. ■