OFFICE OF ECONOMIC REVITALIZATION (OER)

January 2021 – December 2023

KEEPING LOCALS SAFELY HOUSED
The Rental and Utility Relief Program (RURP) uplifted our neighbors during the chaos of the pandemic and continues helping eligible Oʻahu households pay essential household bills (rent and eligible utilities). To date, the OER-administered RURP has helped over 22,000 local families who were at risk of eviction stay safely housed. Ultimately, OER will invest $304 million in federal funds, making it the largest City and County of Honolulu relief program in the City’s history. The City’s RURP program has been recognized by the U.S. Department of Treasury as one of the nation’s best-performing rent and utility relief programs. The RURP program has excelled in helping local families on O‘ahu through the valiant efforts of Catholic Charities Hawaiʻi and the Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement (CNHA). To disburse RURP funds, Catholic Charities and CNHA hired hundreds of community members to work with thousands of applicants between 2021 and 2024. This pandemic-era program is now expending the last of its rent and utility relief funding and will be winding down in 2024 after helping thousands of O‘ahu families get back on their feet.
HELPING SMALL BUSINESSES RECOVER FROM THE PANDEMIC
The O‘ahu Business Recovery Grants have uplifted 514 small businesses on O‘ahu with $10 million in grants. The funds helped companies in our community create or maintain good jobs, pay down debt created by the pandemic and/or upgrade their equipment. The grants are part of OER’s mission to support entrepreneurs and create a more diverse and equitable economy: 63% of small businesses receiving a grant are owned by a minority or underrepresented community, including women, veterans or LGBTQ. 58% of grants went to small businesses with less than $1 million in annual revenue.
WORKING ONE-ON-ONE WITH SMALL BUSINESSES AND START-UPS
The OER Resource Connectors were the City’s first grassroots team dedicated to helping small businesses and startups. They have worked one-on-one with more than 3,000 local companies, connecting them to dozens of nonprofits, government partners and support organizations. Most of these small businesses have fewer than 10 employees. They are the smallest of stores that can benefit tremendously with help in navigating the maze of available resources. The team’s counseling and referrals have allowed many local companies to expand their operations, solidify their place in the marketplace, and create good jobs for our community.
SUPPORTING LOCAL AGRICULTURE
Supporting local agriculture is vital to our vision of an Oʻahu where more of our food is grown, harvested, and prepared for our tables by our neighbors. OER awarded $3 million in grants to 66 small farmers to increase their production of locally grown fruits, vegetables, and proteins. To date, grants created 125 jobs and increased farm employee wages by an average of 20%. Creating an equitable application process was a key part of the grant distribution process, which is why we translated the application into eight languages, including ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi. Of the applications we received, 88% were submitted by farmers of minority and/or disadvantaged backgrounds. The City’s agriculture work also extends to the buying side of food production. The Oʻahu Good Food Pledge and Show has brought local farmers and food producers together with many of the state’s most influential food purchasers at local schools, government organizations, healthcare, nonprofits and the hospitality industry.
GOOD JOBS FOR O‘AHU’S COMMUNITIES AND PEOPLE
The City is committed to helping our neighbors find good jobs, a way of caring for our people and our place. During the pandemic, OER sponsored the Oʻahu Back to Work partnership with the University of Hawaiʻi (UH). bIn 2021, 590 Oʻahu residents enrolled in job training in diverse fields — at no cost to them. Now, the City is taking the next step with “Good Jobs Oʻahu.” This partnership with employers and UH offers free job training that links with a job on Oʻahu. OER has invested $5 million in this program to train Oʻahu residents for jobs with career pathways and opportunities to advance in education, health care, clean energy, skilled trades, technology, and careers at the City and County of Honolulu.
GETTING ALL O‘AHU RESIDENTS ONLINE
Access to online high-speed internet on O‘ahu is a must-have for modern life. The City is leading the Oʻahu Digital Equity Coalition, a public-private partnership to help get more of our neighbors online and bring more federal money into our community for internet infrastructure. As many as 90,000 O‘ahu residents do not have access to the internet. Together, OER is conducting grassroots outreach in areas of Oʻahu with little or no internet access to find out why these residents cannot get online. More than 400 community members have shared their insights with us over the last several months. This community engagement work happens in partnership with UH, the State Office of Broadband and Digital Equity, the Hawai‘i State Library System and the Department of Hawaiian Homelands.
HELPING PACIFIC ISLANDERS BECOME DIGITAL READY
Economic equity means our neighbors overcome challenges to a full and productive work life. A new program from the City, Safe Haven, Digital Literacy Hawaiʻi and the State of Hawaiʻi Public Library System creates digital literacy and career readiness in the Compact of Free Association (COFA) community. The “navigators” are native speakers of Marshallese, Kosraen, Pohnpeian, and/or Chuukese. They received training in detailed use of the internet, computers, email etiquette and career readiness: how to draft resumes, search for jobs online, and how to prepare people for job interviews. Each navigator will reach out to train their neighbors on these skills, with an emphasis on starting a career with the City. This service is grounded in language and culture and will create pathways for those who face the greatest barriers to entering the workforce, strengthen our communities and advance the goal of a more diverse and equitable economy. Creating a workforce that truly represents our community is good for us all.
WORK JOURNEY MAPPING FOR MIDDLE AND HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS
OER’s goal is to help young people from underserved communities start productive work lives right out of high school. OERʻs Pacific Islander Community Liaison has been working with the state Department of Education (DOE) to share opportunities for trade school and, in some cases, college with Pacific Islander students. Many of these students and families do not know about available resources, so they are not inspired and motivated to pursue higher education or consider trade schools. Journey mapping surveys middle and high school students to identify learning gaps and needs and also get to know the students so OER can connect them with the right resources.
FAMILY FUNERAL ASSISTANCE FOR THE COFA COMMUNITY
The devastating effects of the pandemic are still with many of us, particularly our neighbors who lost a family member. Many of our neighbors on O‘ahu who are citizens of the Compact of Free Association (COFA) nations were not eligible for the FEMA funeral assistance program due to their citizenship. To address this inequity, the COFA Family Funeral Assistance program assists the COFA community with COVID-related funeral costs.