Because we are a statewide foundation with deep and broad reach into the community, we can design strategies to respond to community needs that any one funder would have a hard time doing on their own. Late last year, twelve funders came together to announce a 3-year, $4.6 million initiative to stabilize communities and help families weather our economic crisis and build toward a stronger and brighter future.

The first tranche of nearly $900,000 was awarded at a press conference on December 15, 2009, to help expand capacity to deal with the deluge of mortgage foreclosure and credit counseling needs as well as to increase access to available government assistance programs. And, as this newsletter goes to press, we are preparing to launch a public awareness media campaign to educate the Hawai‘i public on the increasing number of scams related to credit and mortgage foreclosures.