Hawaiʻi Pacific Foundation gave a total of $1.395 million to more than a half dozen programs at the University of Hawaiʻi in 2022. Hawaiʻi Pacific Foundation is a Native Hawaiian organization whose mission is to empower Native Hawaiian communities through programs that create opportunities for success.
The gifts support programs and scholarships at UH Mānoa’s John A. Burns School of Medicine (JABSOM), School of Ocean and Earth Science Technology (SOEST), Hawaiʻinuiākea School of Hawaiian Knowledge, linguistics department and Thompson School of Social Work & Public Health, as well as programs at UH West Oʻahu.
- $260,000 to support the Native Hawaiian Center of Excellence at JABSOM, including the creation of a new endowed fund.
- $80,000 to support a graduate assistantship and efforts to foster a Native Hawaiian place of learning at SOEST.
- $200,000 to support the Hawaiʻinuiākea School of Hawaiian Knowledge, including the creation of a new endowed fund.
- $100,000 to support research on Native Hawaiian-English bilingualism in the linguistics department.
- $380,500 to support the Ke Aʻo Mau graduate assistantship, fellowship, scholarships, stipends and interdisciplinary clinic at the Thompson School of Social Work & Public Health.
- $375,000 to support various programs at UH West Oʻahu.
“We’re proud to partner with UH to support these programs that nurture the future leaders within the Native Hawaiian community,” said retired Brig. Gen. Edwin A. “Skip” Vincent, an alumnus of the UH Mānoa Shidler College of Business and the group’s chairman. Vincent founded the Hawaiʻi Pacific Foundation after retiring from a long career in the Hawaiʻi Air National Guard. “These students return to their communities with solutions to social, economic and cultural issues that address the source of problems.”
The 2022 gifts represent the greatest support from Hawaiʻi Pacific Foundation since the organization made its first gift to UH at the end of 2017, $3,000 to purchase bus passes for high school students enrolled in a program at UH West Oʻahu. Prior to 2022, Hawaiʻi Pacific Foundation had given more than $1 million to the Thompson School of Social Work & Public Health, Hawaiʻinuiākea School of Hawaiian Knowledge, the College of Engineering at UH Mānoa, UH West Oʻahu and the UH System.
“We’re grateful for the support from Native Hawaiian organizations such as the Hawaiʻi Pacific Foundation,” said Tim Dolan, vice president of advancement at UH and CEO of the UH Foundation. “Their mission to improve lives through education within Native Hawaiian communities is an inspiration.”
More on the Hawaiʻi Pacific Foundation
The mission of the Hawaiʻi Pacific Foundation Inc. is to empower Native Hawaiian communities through programs that create opportunities for success by focusing on education, primarily in science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics—STEAM.
Hawaiʻi Pacific Foundation holds a majority ownership in five Native Hawaiian-owned small businesses that engage in federal contracting and reinvests its profits from the businesses in supporting the economic, social and cultural issues within the Native Hawaiian community.
