Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 39, Number 8, 1 August 2022 — John D. Waihe'e IV [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

John D. Waihe'e IV

1 1 Since 2000 1 have been a trustee with the Ofīice of Hawaiian Affairs, holding one of the At-Large seats. I currently chair OHA's standing Committee on Resource Management, whieh recommends policies for the oversight of the agency's investment portfolio and other fiscal and budgetary matters. It also develops policies and guidelines for OHA's land acquisitions, dispositions, and development. 2 1 1 initiated a partnership with Center of Hawaiian Studies at UH Mānoa to create a PhD program and four new classes, one of whieh inventoried the ceded lands. I also initiated the first grant given to Kanu O Ka 'Āina Charter School Allianee

by OHA. I further initiated OHA's job training and placement program Ka Li'u 'Oihana, whieh was a collaboration between OHA and muhiple organizations. 3 1 I was involved in the negotiations on the state level with the Abercrombie administration that resulted in the transfer of 25 acres of land on and near the waterfront in Kaka'ako to OHA, valued at $200 million at the time. I was also involved in negotiations on the federal level with the Ohama administration that resulted in the creation of the Native Hawaiian Government Reorganization Act of 2011, that acknowledged Native Hawaiians as the Indigenous people of Hawai'i with whom the United States has had a political relationship. 4 1 Last year OHA gave out $15 million in grants to muhiple nonprofit organizations to advance policies, programs and practices that strengthen eeonomie stability, and euhivate eeonomie development in and for Hawaiian communities. OHA needs to continue to provide this type of grant support, while also helping Hawaiian students through our UH-OHA Ho'ona'auao Higher Education Scholarship Program and encouraging the creation of Hawaiian businesses and entrepreneurs through our OHA Loans Program. 5 1 As a state agency with a eommon beneficiary base, OHA should obviously partner with the Department of Hawaiian Homelands. We have already successfully done so, approving as mueh as $90 million in grants to help the department hnanee infrastructure such as sewers, water systems and roads for housing development, by paying their debt service on revenue bonds. We should also look forward to partnering on condominium projects where OHA could pay for those of our beneficiaries with less than a 50% blood quantum using money ffom both agencies as well and federal grants and other funds. I feel that this is the future of large-scale housing programs for Hawaiians. ■