The County of Hawai‘i and Hawai‘i Community Foundation (HCF) are excited to announce the launch of the second year of the Puna Strong grant program. Puna Strong remains focused on disaster readiness and building community resilience for the Puna communities impacted by the 2018 Kīlauea eruption on Hawai‘i Island with a $600,000 investment in nonprofit organizations and partnerships leading community-driven projects.

“The first year Puna Strong grant program was incredibly successful,” said Mayor Mitch Roth. “These grants create opportunities for residents to connect and collaborate with each other on projects that bring an immense amount of benefit to the community and continue the healing process after the eruption.”

The first round of grants supported the work of 26 organizations that addressed a range of issues important to the community, including mental health, home and community food production, youth development, cultural grounding, environmental protection, educational opportunities, access to community-focused information, and readiness to respond to community emergencies/disasters.

 “Puna is a strong community because of the many people who care about each other and are taking action to become even more resilient.” Said Diane Chadwick, director of community philanthropy on Hawai‘i Island, Hawai‘i Community Foundation.

Puna Strong grantee organizations will take part in organizational assessments, project feasibility analysis, bi-monthly action learning circles, workshops, training, and site visits. This second round of Puna Strong will also feature larger grant awards.

To be considered for the pre-application technical support and grant funding, organizations must be able to:

• Describe what issue or change is being affected and the intended impact relative to the strategies of the Kīlauea Recovery and Resilience Plan (KRRP) or the vision for a Resilience Capacity Area.
• Demonstrate their efforts in building connections and collaborations with other organizations and to convene groups of people to implement their project.
• Explain interest in scaling their work to achieve greater impact for the community.
• Commit time and engagement of two people (one staff & one board member) to utilize their organizational assessment and project analysis, along with training, technical assistance, coaching and mentoring support, to further develop their organization and successfully implement a resilience project.

The first step in applying for the grant process is to submit a letter of interest to the Diane Chadwick with the Hawai‘i Community Foundation at dchadwick@hcf-hawaii.org by July 6, 2022.

Letters of Interest should include the following information:

• Name of organization, primary contact name, email address and phone number
• The issue that your project will be addressing, why it is an issue, and your intended impact/change relative to advancing KRRP strategies
• Describe your project, who will be served, how many will be served, and what activities will be implemented
• What is your experience in addressing this issue? Describe the qualifications of your team to implement this project.
• Describe how you are involved in building connections, networks, and collaborations within the community. Include names of organizations you partner with regularly. 
• Identify who from your team will be able to commit to an organizational assessment, project feasibility analysis, learning circles, and coaching. (A minimum of two people per organization, one staff and one board member.)
• Do you have a current 501(c)(3) designation, or do you have a fiscal sponsor?

For questions about submitting a letter of interest, contact Diane Chadwick at 808-938-8533.