Controlled by Native Hawaiians
The Trusted Bridge in the Pacific
The Trusted Bridge
A 501(c)3 Non-Profit Native Hawaiian Organization (NHO)
70+ Years of Military Experience
Led (and controlled) by retired Native Hawaiian’ military officers and successful CEOs who are dedicated to serving our Native Hawaiian’ people and the men and women protecting our Country.
Drawing on the combat experience of veterans born and raised on these islands, our NHO Board of Directors carries both the profound kuleana (responsibility) of a people who have called Hawaiʻi home for generations and a clear-eyed grasp of the operational demands facing our warfighters who train here to defend the nation.
Our NHO board members bridge that gap naturally — because there is no gap for us. We have faithfully served this nation in uniform and come home to serve the Native Hawaiian Communities we grew up in and where our families have lived (and continue to live) for generations.
Our NHO supports a specific Native Hawaiian Community
Kaʻu sits at the bottom of the island of Hawaiʻi, running from the summit region of an active volcano (Kilauea) down to the sea at Ka Lae, South Point, the southernmost place in the United States.
It is 55% larger than the entire island of Oahu and connected by a single 2-lane road. The towns are few and far between: Pahala, Punalu’u, Naʻalehu, Waiʻohinu, & Ocean View. Between them: cattle land, lava flows, macadamia and coffee, and miles of open coast where the cliffs drop straight into deep water.
To live in Kaʻu is to live at the end of the road. The nearest hospital with specialty care is hours away in the island’s two primary “cities,” Hilo or Kona. When the weather (or Kilauea volcano) closes the island’s single highway — and it does — Kaʻu is on its own. This is not a hardship the people of Kaʻu complain about. It is simply the truth of the place, and it has shaped every generation that has lived here.
Controlled By Native Hawaiians
Who are Native Hawaiians? — “any individual whose ancestors were natives, prior to 1778, of the area which now comprises the State of Hawaii.” – 13 CFR § 124.3
Why Our NHO Exists
Our NHO began with a promise – one our Chairman made at his father’s beside before he passed on December 8, 2023. To build a dialysis clinic in Ka’u, so no family in his rural Native Hawaiian Community would ever have to watch a loved one go without the care they need.
That promise still drives everything we do.
We keep it – and carry the wider work forward – through the U.S. Small Business Administration’s 8(a) program: an economic engine Congress wrote into law for community economic development, not individual gain.
Why Our NHO is Different
We are led by Native Hawaiians, as defined by federal law, supporting a specific Native Hawaiian Community.
Pre-1778 lineage: Every Native Hawaiian member of our NHO board is a descendant of ancestors who lived in Hawaiʻi before 1778, the historical benchmark the Small Business Administration (SBA) uses to define Native Hawaiian ancestry.
Independently Verified: Every Native Hawaiian member of our NHO board has had their pre-1778 ancestral lineage independently verified by the Office of Hawaiian Affairs (OHA), the Hawaiʻi state agency created by the 1978 State Constitutional Convention.
Born and raised in Hawaiʻi: Every Native Hawaiian member of our NHO board was born and raised on these islands. This is our home, where we grew up, went to school and learned what it means to care for one another.
Measurable NHO giveback: We DO NOT simply donate funds to other Hawaiʻi-based nonprofits to satisfy SBA’s NHO “giveback” requirements. We are on the ground in the specific Native Hawaiian communities we serve, doing the hands-on work ourselves and measuring our progress against our NHO’s stated objectives, so every result can be seen, counted and reported back to the Native Hawaiian families we serve.
Transparent: Our NHO’s decision to become a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) was deliberate. We publish our NHO Board members’ salaries and our federal tax returns on-line. So anyone can see exactly where and how our NHO spends our money, and the good it does for the specific Native Hawaiian Communities we serve.
We defend the SBA NHO 8(a) Program
Congress authorized NHOs to participate in the SBA 8(a) program to build economic self-sufficiency for Native Hawaiians…in the State of Hawaii.
That is the only reason this program exists.
Not to take advantage of the 8(a) contracting benefits afforded to our Native Hawaiian people living in poverty and struggling to put food on their tables.
We defend the SPIRIT and INTENT of this program so it passes on to our next generation.