We Are Puna Strong

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The 2018 Kīlauea eruption destroyed hundreds of homes, covered miles of roadways, and altered the landscape of lower Puna. But, through this adversity, the people of Puna have shown their resilience. The County is aiming to tell the stories that show how residents rose to the challenge and implemented community-driven actions, often with partnership from the County. Puna Strong is a grant program supported by the County of Hawai'i and Hawai'i Community Foundation that remains focused on disaster readiness and building community resilience for the Puna communities impacted by the 2018 Kīlauea eruption on the Island of Hawai‘i with an investment in nonprofit organizations and partnerships leading community-driven projects.

For more information on our Puna Strong grantees, click here.

Puna Strong Highlight Videos:

Presentations:

June 13, 2023:

If you missed our webinar with Hawai'i Tracker about the AI revolution, not to worry! Check out the video below:

April 19, 2023:

PART I + PART II of the Grants for Grassroots webinars including recordings, slides and additional resources.

PART I + PART II WEBINAR RESOURCES:

PART I - Grant Vocabulary + Narrative

Webinar Recording
Slide deck
Federal grants training series that includes information on the SAM.gov and DUNS numbers
More on de minimis rate
Additional grant vocabulary

PART II - Funder Landscape

On Friday February 24th, 2023, Puna Strong held two Technical Assistance presentations about non-profit board recruitment and board governance.

Session 1: Board Recruitment slide deck and accompanying audio:

Session 2: Board Governance slide deck and accompanying audio:

Punarising.com

PunaRising.com is dedicated to the recovery, renewal and rebirth of Lower Puna. In this time of COVID-19, we seek to become a virtual hub: a virtual connector of resources that links the various communities that constitute Lower Puna and give them a space to share their stories, learn from each other, ask questions and find solutions. This is a space where we can connect, reflect, organize, and activate, working together to re-inhabit this living place we share.

The website will serve as an electronic infrastructure to foster agriculture, culture, economic development, tourism, creative economy, energy and sustainable development. Currently, there are websites that address each of these different topics, but they all exist as separate silos and many of them are not informed by the realities of Lower Puna. We seek to bring all these websites together so they can cohabit a shared space. Furthermore, we will provide greater exposure for these local websites, so they no longer remain as buried treasures. Residents and visitors to Puna need only access this one web portal to get their questions answered, find resources within their local community, become educated about current issues, participate in discussions, and deepen their community connections and participation.

We are a model: a solution for how to build resilience in the 21st century, especially when virtual connection is paramount to activate the resources of our community. This is democracy in action.

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