Where: Hawaii

Issue: Department of Hawaiian Homelands (DHHL) lacked the technical expertise and staffing to apply for U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) grant funding.

Outcome: RCAC assisted DHHL to prepare required reports and DHHL submitted four successful grant applications for three projects totaling $15,826,191.

During his tenure in the U.S. Senate, the late Sen. Inouye secured approval for DHHL to participate in the Native American set-aside program in the Rural Utility Service water and waste program.  USDA granted DHHL $5 million per year to meet the needs of native Hawaiians.  However, DHHL lacked the technical expertise and staffing necessary to submit the required grant applications, by 2015 they had accumulated an unspent balance of $20 million, and USDA suspended further funding. In December 2015, USDA set the end of the fiscal year (September, 2016) as a deadline to obligate the funds or they would be recaptured.

DHHL contacted RCAC for assistance to apply for $15,826,191 USDA grant funds, with DHHL contributing $19,543,123 to the projects for a total of $35,369,314. RCAC staff worked through a challenging process, including the death of one engineering consultant, to complete the technical reports required for all four grant applications to fund projects on Kauai, Molokai and Hawaii.

RCAC staff performed the environmental assessments for the projects. The applications were approved in August 2016. DHHL and RCAC are now performing the work required in the Letter of Conditions.

This enabled DHHL to obligate nearly 75 percent of the fund and as a result USDA will reinstate DHHL’s eligibility for the Rural Utility Service water and waste program Native American set-aside.