Hawaiʻi’s Child & Family Service will be able to provide more in-depth support over the next few years thanks to two recent sources of funding.
One chunk of $125,000 comes from the First Hawaiian Bank Foundation, which will be dedicated to strengthening and supporting youth programs in Waiʻanae. The money will be split over the next five years, allocating $25,000 annually to focus on prevention, intervention, and advocacy services.
Amanda Pump, the president and CEO of CFS, said the grant will be able to provide about 35 youth with individualized support each year. She noted that Waiʻanae has increasingly high poverty levels that disproportionately impact Native Hawaiians.
“We're going to be providing them with case management, substance abuse treatment, with mental health counseling, tutoring, shelter and basic needs to overall strengthen their social determinants of health, and therefore to strengthen their family to thrive,” Pump said.
CFS has worked with upwards of 1,600 people in Waiʻanae since 2022 and says nearly one-third were children or youth under 18 years old.
The state Legislature also allocated $1 million to the agency through Act 310, which acts as a buffer for the federal funding the organization lost earlier this year.
The organization’s application for the state funding says this money will go toward rebuilding “safety net programs” like substance abuse recovery, parent education, and mental health counseling.
“This support ensures at-risk families receive timely crisis intervention and ongoing assistance, allowing us to maintain services, prevent layoffs, and deliver evidence-based, trauma-informed care to Hawaiʻi's vulnerable populations,” CFS wrote.
