OHA committee approves a slate of event sponsorships; trustees delegate line‑item legacy sponsorships for administrative execution

The Office of Hawaiian Affairs Committee on Budget and Finance approved a slate of event sponsorships under the Ho‘āko‘a/Lahui sponsorship program, awarding grants to community organizations that applied for cultural programming, youth activities and business support events across the islands.

Kehau (administration presenter) and Grants Manager Chantelle Belay said these sponsorships are funded from the biennial sponsorship allocation established in the FY26–27 budget (administration referenced a $635,000 pool for Ho‘āko‘a/Lahui sponsorships combined with $235,000 in line‑item sponsorships budgeted in the biennium, a total OHA commitment of $870,000 for sponsorships this fiscal year). Kehau explained the quarter‑based schedule that the administration has adopted for processing sponsorships and said the team is moving the application platform into Foundant to standardize submissions.

The items voted by the committee (action identifiers correspond to the meeting agenda) included the following approvals and amounts as recorded in the public transcript: BF25‑53 Aina Momona, Oʻulu Festival (Molokai) — $10,015,375 (amount recorded in transcript); BF25‑54 Pohaku…