{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://case.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=577", "Case and Kahele Announce $1.18 Million In Federal Grant Awards To 12 Native Hawaiian Organizations", "2021-06-10", "2021", "2021-06", "Democrat", "House", "HI", "Ed Case", "C001055", "case.house.gov", "case", "https://case.house.gov/news/documentquery.aspx?DocumentTypeID=27&Page=26", "scraper", "(Honolulu, HI) \u2013 U.S. Congressman Ed Case (HI-01) and U.S. Congressman Kaiali\u02bbi Kahele (HI-02) today announced that 12 Native Hawaiian programs based In Hawai\u2019i have been awarded grants totaling $1,181,486 to help preserve the indigenous history, heritage and culture of Hawai\u02bbi.\n\nThe grants are administered by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (Institute), an independent federal agency, through its Native American/Native Hawaiian Museum Services program. The Institute\u2019s mission is to advance, support, and empower America\u2019s museums, libraries, and related organizations. The Institute is the primary source of federal support for the country\u2019s libraries and museums.\n\n\u201cThe awardees include the Hawai\u02bbi state government, \u02bbIolani Palace, our country\u2019s only royal palace, Kawaiaha\u2018o Church and other organizations whose programs seek to preserve our island heritage through exhibitions, educational services and programming, professional development and the stewardship of invaluable and often endangered collections,\u201d said Case, a member of the House Natural Resources Committee and its Subcommittee on Indigenous Peoples of the United States to include Native Hawaiians. \u201cThese grants match and forward my own efforts, through my House Appropriations Committee and otherwise, to apply advanced digitization and other technologies to the preservation of records of our indigenous people.\u201d\n\n\u201cIf our history is forgotten, Native Hawaiian culture will cease to exist,\u201d said Kahele. \u201cSecuring these grants to preserve and celebrate indigenous heritage is critical to the identity of native communities across the nation. I look forward to seeing these funds directly benefit our cultural museums and programs to further the knowledge of our keiki for generations to come.\u201d\n\nCase and Kahele also noted that the 12 Hawai\u2019i grant recipients were among just 26 awardees nationwide. The Hawai\u02bbi awards represent over 50% of the $2.2 million total grants awarded this year by the Institute.\n\nThe 12 awardees and their awards include:\n\nProgram: Native American / Native Hawaiian Museum Services\n\nInstitution: Hawai\u2018i Department of Accounting and General Services\n\nAward Amount: $100,000\n\nProject Title: He Maka Kahiko | A View to the Past: Increasing Transparency and Discoverability of Hawai\u2018i's Visual Records\n\nProject Description: The Hawai\u2018i State Archives will improve the preservation and accessibility of its collection of negatives documenting the history, heritage, and culture of Native Hawaiians. The project team will digitize over 22,000 fragile and deteriorating 19th and early 20th century negatives, many of which have been pulled from public access due to damage and signs of severe deterioration. The digital images will live in a freely accessible, centralized, bi-lingual (\u2018\u014dlelo Hawai\u2018i\u2013Hawaiian Language\u2013and English), searchable online public access database. Two Hawaiian language graduate student interns will assist with digitization work and transcribing descriptive metadata.\n\nInstitution: \u02bbAha Kane Foundation for the Advancement of Native Hawaiian Males\n\nAward Amount: $100,000\n\nProject Title: Ka\u2018imina\u2018auaoka\u2018eo Archive and Database Project\n\nProject Description: Aha K\u0101ne will work with a consultant and the Office of Hawaiian Affairs to create a publicly accessible resource documenting three decades of repatriation work. N\u0101 Mea Hawai\u2018i (Hawaiian ancestral remains, funerary possessions, and cultural items) are scattered throughout the globe but many documents, pictures, databases, emails, letters and other research relating to items that have been returned are stored in boxes in rural Hilo. A consulting project director, repatriation specialist, and document technician will coordinate project activities, including the creation of a searchable digital archive and two new databases reflecting past and ongoing efforts to identify N\u0101 Mea Hawai\u2018i held nationally and internationally. The transformation of these materials into a digital repository will increase an understanding of healing from trauma, improving the well-being of Hawaiian families while sharing Native Hawaiian worldviews and cultural practices with others.\n\nInstitution: Bishop Museum\n\nAward Amount: $100,000\n\nProject Title: Ka Makaiwa: Strengthening Digital Access for Native Hawaiian Futures\n\nProject Description: The Ka Makaiwa: Strengthening Digital Access for Native Hawaiian Futures project will develop an approach to producing online exhibits and related programming for the Bishop Museum. The project will address barriers to physical access to collections expected to continue beyond the pandemic by expanding access to information by developing a high-quality, thoughtfully designed, and user-friendly online exhibit platform. The museum will capture photographs, video footage, and other content from the (Re)Generations: Challenging Scientific Racism in Hawai\u2018i exhibition, which explores racism and bias in scientific research while celebrating Native Hawaiian voices and collaborative endeavors. The project team will test a beta version internally and conduct a thorough internal review before launching the online exhibit publicly.\n\nInstitution: Friends of Iolani Palace, Inc\n\nAward Amount: $85,218\n\nProject Title: Iolani Palace's Gallery Voices\n\nProject Description: Iolani Palace will launch the next stage of exhibit development as part of a comprehensive overhaul of the museum's visitor experience. Based on completed interpretive and exhibit design plans, the new exhibit area will focus on ten themes for over 100,000 visitors per year, with an emphasis on multigenerational family groups and school classes.\n\nThe museum will assemble a team of experts, knowledge-bearers, teachers, and other museum professionals to build the voice, text, and content for the exhibit panels and labels, which will reflect Hawaiian history, culture, and contemporary issues.\n\nThe project team will also engage with local residents, college faculty and students, military service members and their families, and others to ensure that the process opens as many doors as possible to serving the Hawaiian community as well as building better understanding of Hawaiian culture for visitors.\n\nInstitution: Institute For Native Pacific Education and Culture\n\nAward Amount: $99,842\n\nProject Title: Indigenous Science Center - Mahina Exhibit\n\nProject Description: The Institute for Native Pacific Education and Culture will address low science and math proficiency achievement rates for Native Hawaiian students by designing more relevant STEM learning activities. The INPEACE Indigenous Science Center's Mahina Exhibit Project will create three exhibit designs with learning objectives targeted for students ages 4-14. Focused on the Mahina (moon), the exhibits and related activities will be designed to be enjoyable and thought-provoking for Native Hawaiian communities to engage in STEM learning through a framework that is familiar.\n\nThrough consultation with experienced exhibit designers, the science center's staff will gain a stronger understanding of best practices in exhibit design, and indigenous communities will benefit from approaches that translate their own histories into relevant and fun STEM learning experiences.\n\nInstitution: Kawaiaha\u2018o Church\n\nAward Amount: $98,288\n\nProject Title: Na Makamae o Kawaiaha\u2018o\n\nProject Description: Kawaiaha\u2018o Church Historical Site and Archives Library (KHSA), housed in the first Christian church built on O\u2018ahu, will improve the preservation and management of its collections through a digitization project that will also provide public access via the Internet and social media platforms. Collections to be digitized, cataloged, and transcribed include church administration and sacramental records; land, buildings, and grounds records; and audio tapes, music, and photographs. Documents such as baptism, marriage, death, and funeral records will provide genealogical data for Hawai\u2018i residents. A project coordinator and digital archive specialist will coordinate the project in addition to creating a series of videos for community members to provide instruction on the use of the digital collections to conduct research on family history.\n\nInstitution: Hawai\u2018i Department of Land and Natural Resources\n\nAward Amount: $98,230\n\nProject Title: Expanding Public Access to Kaho\u2018olawe through Live-Stream Video and Virtual Reality\n\nProject Description: With a mission to restore, preserve, and provide safe, meaningful access to the Kaho\u2018olawe Island Reserve, the Kaho\u2018olawe Island Reserve Commission (KIRC) will implement new ways for the public to access the historical, cultural, and natural resources of the site. Due to limitations on physical access related to funding constraints and COVID-19, KIRC will develop digital tools to provide the greater community with access to the Reserve through virtual means.\n\nThe project will focus on three deliverables: sharing livestreaming video from Kaho\u2018olawe on the KIRC website; sharing 360-degree video updates of monthly volunteer access activities; and developing a pilot Kaho\u2018olawe virtual reality Huaka\u2018i, or expedition. The project will support the KIRC in serving as a model for other natural museum spaces that hope to maintain or expand public access beyond a physical means to local and worldwide audiences.\n\nInstitution: P\u0101paku No K\u0101meha\u2018ikana\n\nAward Amount: $99,965\n\nProject Title: Kuleana: I Ulu No Ka Lala I Ke Kumu\n\nProject Description: Papaku No Kameha'ikana will document the history and lineage of hula-the traditional dance of Native Hawaiian people. Originally intended to be passed from master teacher to student, hula has been popularized around the world, resulting in forms that no longer resemble the traditions handed down from generation to generation. The project will produce 24 webinars posted online and 12 workshops targeting 200 persons. The project team will produce a book on hula legacy and will conduct interviews with descendants of master teachers.\n\nEight students will participate in collections management, cataloging and application design as they assist with the interviews and their transcription. The long-term goal of the project is to ensure the transmission of the legacy of hula, which is not only the traditional Hawaiian dance but also the foundation of oral history, ceremony, spirituality, healing, and wellness.\n\nInstitution: Pu\u2018uhonua Society\n\nAward Amount: $100,000\n\nProject Title: \u2018Ai P\u014dhaku: Increasing Access to Native Hawaiian Contemporary Art\n\nProject Description: Pu\u2018uhonua Society will collaborate with the University of Hawai\u2018i to implement a project to create broader access to the work of Native Hawaiian artists.\n\nThe \u2018Ai P\u014dhaku project will disperse artist exhibitions across three campuses and five venues within the University of Hawai\u2018i System, including The John Young Museum of Art, the Art Gallery, and the Commons Gallery at UH M\u0101noa and at Gallery \u2018Iolani at Windward Community College and Koa Gallery at Kapi\u2018olani Community College. The series of exhibits will be accompanied by public programming and a comprehensive publication with archival images, historical and newly commissioned essays, artist and artwork information and installation images. The project will serve over 27,000 students, including approximately 5,400 Hawaiian students and will also bring over a thousand other visitors to the campuses.\n\nInstitution: K\u0101huli Leo Le\u02bba\n\nAward Amount: $100,000\n\nProject Title: The Mele: Sonic Knowledge Project\n\nProject Description: The Mele: Sonic Knowledge project will document the unique practices of the Haku Mele-the Hawaiian cultural practice of knowledge proliferation through song. By engaging a cohort of master Haku Mele and cultural experts, this project will provide new compositions of mele to be captured in educational resources in the form of audio recordings, video interviews of composers, and written curriculum on each composition to fully explain this traditional practice.\n\nThe project team will engage the support of an audio engineer and videographer to guide the development of the project resources, which will be made freely available online.\n\nInstitution: Papahana Kuaola\n\nAward Amount: $99,943\n\nProject Title: \u2018ILI\u2018ILIKAUHALE\n\nProject Description: Papahana Kuaola will strengthen the connection between kanaka (people) and aina (land, that which feeds us) by developing and presenting community-based education programs focusing on the knowledge, use, and growth of Hawaiian food and medicinal plants. The project team will develop and implement nine sequential learning sessions, reaching 600 participants either in-person or online.\n\nProject activities will focus around the 63 acres of conservation land that Papahana Kuaola stewards and the identified native plants that flourish on the property. With the guidance of cultural practitioners and native plant specialists, staff will generate on-line curriculum and hands-on workshops to bring these perspectives to the community. Participants will learn skills that can be utilized in everyday life while deepening their understanding and appreciation of Hawaiian culture.\n\nInstitution: Hi\u02bbipaka LLC\n\nAward Amount: $100,000\n\nProject Description: Hi\u2018ipaka, LLC will enhance its efforts to sustain Hawaiian heritage, culture, and community knowledge by building the capacity of staff to adopt best practices and innovations to better care for and interpret the collections of Waimea Valley. A consulting conservator will complete a general conservation survey of the collections, which include Hawaiian cultural sites, Native Hawaiian plant collections, and Native Hawaiian cultural artifacts.\n\nThe project includes funds to purchase necessary supplies and equipment to support staff work under the guidance of the conservator to assess, catalog, rehouse collections, and improve ongoing collections management practices.\n\nThe longer-term project goal is to improve the wellbeing of the surrounding community by serving as a trusted space for community dialogue and the care and interpretation of Hawaiian culture.\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T19:57:00Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://case.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=577"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.721154898405075, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}