Windward Community Building

Harold K.L. Castle Foundation Grants Will Help Waimanalo Charter School Become a Reality and Provide Internships for College-Bound Students

Exciting things are happening for Windward O‘ahu keiki and college kids alike.

Hui Mālama O Ke Kai Foundation (HMOKK) — one of Windward O‘ahu’s strongest community-based youth-serving organizations – will be able to move to the next phase of the planned Mālama Honua Charter School on HMOKK’s 11-acre Waimanalo Teen Project site with the help of a $50,000 grant from the Harold K.L. Castle Foundation. An additional $70,000 grant to the organization will help selected Windward students fulfill their dream of going to college.

The plans call for new improvements to the permanent campus on the lush Department of Land and Natural Resources property that HMOKK leases from the state. But before building can start on the Waimanalo Teen Project site, an environmental assessment must be done and a state conditional use permit obtained. For more than 40 years, the Foundation has invested in the Waimanalo Teen Project site. The Foundation’s latest grant will ensure that this valuable community asset gets though this important step.

The second part of the grant to HMOKK will create the Alaka‘i Program to help selected young people enroll in college and gain income and work skills by serving in internships at HMKF while mentoring younger teens.

HMOKK plans to use the Harold K.L. Castle Foundation grant as a local matching grant, which will increase the likelihood of securing a $165,923 grant from the U.S. Department of Education’s Native Hawaiian Education Program to fund the bulk of the Alaka‘i Program.

“Our grant-making strategy focuses on building social, human and natural capital from Kahuku to Waimanalo, with a particular emphasis on nurturing future community leaders,” said Terry George, Harold K.L. Castle Foundation president and CEO. “Hui Mālama O Ke Kai Foundation shares those dreams. It sees the promise in our youth and works to fulfill that promise in concrete ways. It’s an honor to help HMKF assist both our keiki and college-bound students.”