Press Release: Announcing 2022-2024 ALICE Cohort

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

April 20, 2022

The Hawai‘i Community Foundation and Aloha United Way Announce the 2022 – 2024 ALICE Initiative Cohort

17 nonprofit organizations will receive a total of $4.5 million over a three-year period to support their work to improve the economic conditions of ALICE households in Hawaiʻi. The funding partnership

 is the only largest in the state focused on the ALICE population.

HONOLULU – The Hawaiʻi Community Foundation (HCF) and Aloha United Way (AUW) today announced the cohort of nonprofit organizations selected to be a part of their 2022 – 2024 ALICE Initiative cohort. The selected organizations will receive a combined total of $1.5 million per year over the next three years to support their work on key issues facing ALICE households, specifically relating to financial stability, building savings, and safe and affordable housing. This cohort will build on the momentum of the previous 3-year cohort to create measurable impact to improve the economic conditions for ALICE residents in Hawaiʻi.

ALICE is an acronym for Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed, and is a way to describe people in Hawaiʻi who are working but struggling to make ends meet, with no safety net for emergencies. According to recent estimates, by the end of 2020, the percentage of ALICE households in Hawai‘i had grown from 42 percent to 59 percent.

The ALICE Initiative uses a collective impact model to achieve large-scale social change. Unlike the traditional funding model that provides financial resources to individual organizations, the collective impact model aims to create positive social change through intentional cooperation, shared measurement, and tools that help build capacity.  

AUW, HCF, and a volunteer community review committee selected nonprofits based on Oʻahu with existing or pilot programs that help ALICE households obtain the financial tools and resources to build savings, reduce debt, and secure stable housing. The cohort will work collectively on programs that increase access to untapped public benefits, job training and career advancement tools, as well as match savings programs and education. The cohort will also work to create more affordable housing opportunities and community organizing which play a critical role in creating systemic change. This cohort of ALICE Fund grantees will work as a collective to develop shared goals, create strategies and indicators of progress; and adopt and implement these shared strategies over the three-year period.

“Working in partnership with Aloha United Way, the Hawai‘i Community Foundation is committed to finding solutions that lead to a more equitable Hawai‘i,” says Michelle Kauhane, senior vice president of community grants and initiatives at HCF. “Doing so requires focused work on tackling systemic change over multiple years. Through the ALICE Initiative Cohort, we’re creating a space where experts can come together to share their experience, knowledge and best practices and work collaboratively to create a measurable impact in our communities.”

“Through this collective approach, we can address complex social problems and systemic barriers that no single entity or sector is able to address on its own,” says John Fink, the CEO of Aloha United Way. “This is not a grantor/grantee model, but rather an innovation that requires long-term partnerships that build trust, collaboration, shared resources, and metrics. We are excited to convene such dedicated providers as part of a larger hui to tackle these big issues together.”

Caroline Hayashi, president of the Waikīkī Community Center (WCC), says she’s excited for her organization to be part of this 2022 – 2024 cohort. “As a community center, especially during the pandemic, we have witnessed the power of community—coming together to accomplish things we never would have thought possible just a few years ago. Collective impact harnesses the synergy of all of our organizations, communities and partners, so we can be so much more than the sum of our parts. That is why WCC is so grateful for the opportunity to participate in this collective impact cohort, which leverages the power of community, amplifies our own work, and acknowledges that no one can do it alone.”

HCF partnered with AUW due to the ALICE Initiative’s alignment with the HCF CHANGE Framework. Each of the six letters of the HCF CHANGE Framework represents a sector that affects the community and its ability to thrive. Under the Community & Economy sector, housing affordability and the cost of living in Hawai‘i are included as indicators that affect the well-being of Hawai‘i’s people.

The 2022 – 2024 ALICE Initiative cohort includes:

• Hawaiʻi HomeOwnership Center
• Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement
• Family Promise of Hawaiʻi
• Feed the Hunger Fund
• Goodwill Hawai‘i
• Hawaiʻi Childrenʻs Action Network
• Institute for Native Pacific Education and Culture
• Legal Aid Society of Hawaiʻi
• Parents And Children Together
• Partners in Development Foundation
• Waikīkī Community Center
• Residential Youth Services & Empowerment (RYSE)
• Catholic Charities Hawaiʻi
• Hawaiʻi Appleseed Center for Law and Economic Justice
• Hawaiian Community Assets Inc.
• The Institute for Human Services Inc.
• Kōkua Kalihi Valley Comprehensive Family Services