MEDIA RELEASE

Kaiser Permanente Hawaii has announced more than $122,000 in grant funding to six local community organizations: Peoples Advocacy for Trails Hawaii; Honolulu Theater for Youth; Kanu Hawaii; Kahikolu Ohana Hale O Waianae; North Kohala Community Resources Center; and the Hawaii COPD Coalition.

Grant funding supports healthy eating, active living, and respiratory health initiatives in Hawaii.

“Kaiser Permanente Hawaii is dedicated to serving the health needs of Hawaii’s most vulnerable populations,” said Janet Liang, President of Kaiser Permanente Hawaii. “We are proud to partner with programs and support community health initiatives that promote and increase opportunities for healthy eating, active living and health education.”

To promote healthy communities, Kaiser Permanente works with community-based organizations to design, deliver, and sustain long-term programs that engage residents in improving the conditions of their neighborhoods, workplaces, and schools.

Kaiser Permanente’s Healthy Eating Active Living (HEAL) focused grant programs support community organizations who promote healthy eating, active living and initiatives that emphasize environmental and policy change.

The following organizations recently received HEAL-related grants:

* Peoples Advocacy for Trails Hawaii received $42,116 in grant funding to launch HOALA (Hawaii’s Opportunity for Active Living Advancement), a pilot project which aims to reduce childhood obesity by making it easy, fun and safe to get daily exercise by walking or bicycling to school. The community-based grassroots organization works in partnership with organizations across the state and the country to make it safe, fun and easy to walk, hike, ride a bike and live a healthy, active lifestyle in Hawaii.

* Honolulu Theater for Youth received a $20,000 grant to support “Poetry Fever”, a series of statewide community awareness-building initiatives that will use theater to deliver active living messages to youth, families and educators.

* Kanu Hawaii was given a $15,000 grant to support its pilot initiative to evaluate healthy food promotion at convenience stores located in low-income communities and related food-benefit utilization for healthy food purchasing. Kanu Hawaii is a movement of everyday people drawing on island strengths to make Hawaii a model of environmental sustainability, economic resilience and compassion.

* Kahikolu Ohana Hale O Waianae received a $10,000 grant to support its project to build a preschool playground in a transitional housing facility in the Leeward area to promote active living. This is a joint-initiative between the Head Start Program on Oahu and Kahikolu Ohana Hale O Waianae, which is a transitional program and offers low-income affordable rental housing that offers support with the goal of positive community acclimation and sustainability.

* North Kohala Community Resources Center was awarded $10,000 in grant funding to support their goal of 50 percent community food sustainability by 2018 and implement their “North Kohala Eat Locally Grown” campaign geared to promote healthy eating.

* Hawaii COPD Coalition was awarded a $25,000 grant. The community organization provides services and support to Hawaii’s people affected by Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) and its related disorders, including care givers, healthcare professionals, family, and friends through research, education, and increasing public awareness, including early screening and diagnosis.

Kaiser Permanente supports local health departments, public hospitals, health centers and other organizations that address disease prevalence and health disparities – collectively referred to as the “safety net” – to help improve care and expand treatment capacity for the communities they serve.