Recent grants to Hawaii nonprofits

> Kohala Center gets $150,000 grant to assess health impact – The Kohala Center, a nonprofit research center on the Big Island, has received a grant for $150,000 to create a health impact assessment for Hawaii County. The Health Impact Project, a collaboration of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Pew Charitable Trusts, encourages health impact assessments at local, state and tribal levels. The findings from the Kohala Center, expected in December 2011, should help the County Council analyze the effects on health of its decision-making. The five other award recipients were located in California, Georgia, Minnesota, New Hampshire and Texas.

> KHET receives $300,000 to boost signal and add HD – PBS Hawaii, which will observe its 10th anniversary as a private nonprofit on July 1, has been awarded a grant of more than $300,000 to enable it to boost signal strength and deliver high-definition programming. The high-def and signal-boosting funding comes through a grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. The lion's share of the grant will be used to add high-definition equipment to the station's master control facility, which will allow the station to handle delivery of PBS' national HD programming as well as improve over-the-air and cable distribution.

> Grant will support HANO training on neighbor islands -- The Bank of Hawaii has awarded a grant of $7,500 to the Hawaii Alliance of Nonproft Organizations to bring business planning workshops to Maui, Molokai, Hilo and Kona locations in the second half of 2010. The presenter will be Marisa C. Hayase of Storyline Consulting, who has worked with nonprofit and government organizations both nationally and internationally in the areas of community and economic development, youth development, education, immigration and women’s health.  Most recently, Hayase was a program officer at the Harold K.L. Castle Foundation, where she created and implemented grant-making strategies for statewide education enhancement and for Windward Oahu community building.  Dates and venues will be announced soon.

> Six performing arts centers match their donations – The Hawaii Arts Alliance received a gift of $110,000 to enhance arts education opportunities within the Hawaii State Department of Education. The bulk of the gift is to focus on the Performing Arts Learning Centers, which provide performance skills to 1,000 students annually and expose countless others to the arts as audience members. The grant was also a challenge to other donors to raise the level of support for the arts. Each Center must raise matching donations to the initial $5,000 to receive a second grant installment. The schools which have achieved their matches so far include: Baldwin High School Performing Arts Learning Center, Castle Performing Arts Center, Kaimuki High School Performing Arts Center, Kauai Performing Arts Learning Center, Nanakuli High and Intermediate Performing Arts Center and Performing Arts Center of Kapolei.

> Maui United Way campaign exceeds last year – With the help of more than 500 volunteers islandwide, Maui United Way raised more than $1.1 million in its 2009-10 fundraising campaign. The total, $1,136,923, was raised with the help of more than 400 Maui County businesses and exceeded last year by more than $100,000. Twenty-seven partner agencies and programs in Maui County will receive the money. Alexander & Baldwin Inc. led major corporate donors with $100,000, followed by HEI Industries with $54,000, the Bendon Family Foundation with $50,000, Bank of Hawaii with $41,000, First Hawaiian Bank with $25,000 and major trust contributions from C. Bruce Staiger Trust with $305,000 and Harriet D. Baldwin's Kokua Charitable Trust with $63,737.

> Golf tourney nets $230,000 for Rehab Hospital – The 16th Annual First Hawaiian Bank - REHAB Golf Tournament raised $230,000 to fund charity care and educational scholarships for clinicians at the Rehabilitation Hospital of the Pacific. It was held at the Hawaii Prince Golf Course May 26.

> Parks Service funds Japanese Cultural Center – The Japanese Cultural Center of Hawaii received $117,626 from the National Park Service to help produce the first full-length educational documentary on the internment of residents in Hawaii during World War II. In the program's second year, the Japanese American Confinement Sites Grants helped fund similar projects in a dozen states. Other Hawaii organizations awarded grants include the University of Hawaii Center for Oral History, which will receive $29,080, and UH-West Oahu, $98,544.

> Award will help connect students to colleges – The Atherton Family Foundation awarded $20,000 to College Connections Hawaii to support its student outreach and capacity building efforts.

> Emergency food needs are growing – The Hawaii Foodbank received $100,000 from the McInerny Foundation to meet the growing need for emergency food.

> Catholic Charities receives $15,000 grant – The Friends of Hawaii Charities awarded $15,000 to Catholic Charities Hawaii's Mary Jane and Maili Land Transitional Housing Programs. The grants will be used to provide services for pregnant women in crisis and to homeless families. Services include counseling, case management, residential services and educational opportunities. The Maili program helps families with children under the age of 19 who are homeless and unsheltered.

> Girl Scout troop contributes to CFS – Girl Scout Daisy Troop 155 of Ewa Beach, which includes 10 girls, ages 5 to 7, donated 20 care boxes containing educational supplies, cookies and gift cards to Child & Family Service. The girls made the boxes from their recycled cookie cases.

> Red Cross gets donation from Crazy Shirts – Crazy Shirts donated $7,500 in proceeds from the sale of commemorative T-shirts to the American Red Cross, Hawaii State Chapter, to support its International Response Fund. The Tsunami Survivor shirts were created in remembrance of the tsunami alerts Feb. 27 in Hawaii and featured the arrival times of the first tsunami wave in Hilo, Kahului, Honolulu and Nawiliwili Harbors.

> Women’s Health Support Service gets $20,000 award – The March of Dimes Hawaii Chapter awarded $20,000 to the Waianae Coast Comprehensive Health Center for its Women's Health Support Service. This program will identify, educate and provide referral services to pregnant women who are using or at risk of using tobacco, alcohol and/or substances.

> $10,000 from OHA will support hula festival – The Moanalua Gardens Foundation received a $10,000 'Ahahui Grant from the Office of Hawaiian Affairs to support the 32nd Annual Prince Lot Hula Festival in July.

> Grant helps Hilo Hospice meet higher costs – Hospice of Hilo received $20,000 from the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation to help meet the rising costs of providing free bereavement services from Laupahoehoe to South Point on the Big Island.

> Shopping Center donates to railroad group – The Pearlridge Center presented the nonprofit Hawaiian Railway Society with $36,722 in thanks for its service to the riders of the Pearlridge Express over the holidays, and for locomotive repair and maintenance.