Hawaiian homestead leaders have been hosting the 36th annual Hawaiian Home Lands Leadership Convention this weekend in the first leadership reconvening since 2019.

The convention, which ends today, covered an array of topics including Act 80, which would lower the minimum Hawaiian blood quantum requirement for successorship of Hawaiian home lands to one thirty- second, as well as conversations over the spending of funds allocated under Act 279, and the various challenges around reducing the 29,000-person waitlist.

“We’re really excited,” said Sovereign Council of Hawaiian Homestead Associations Chair KipuKai Ku­ali‘i. “There’s a lot of work for us to do, but it’s exciting that we’ll be all in the same room and hearing ideas.”

The convention is at the Maui Beach Hotel in Kahului, where more than 160 people were expected to attend, making this year’s attendance significantly greater by about 100 attendees than what was originally predicted, said Robin Puanani Danner, CEO of SCHHA’s nonprofit, TiLeaf Group, and former SCHHA Chair.

By Monday, at least 73% of the associations’ leaders had registered, to which Danner said she was blown away.

“That is an unbelievable number,” said Danner. “It shows how engaged Homestead Association leaders from around the state are that they want to talk to each other about what’s going on in other homestead areas. And that’s the best way to solve problems is to share solutions.”

Among the convention’s participants are the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands Director Kali Watson, Hawaiian Homes Commissioner Randy Awo and several other state DHHL staffers, said Kuali‘i. The engagement from the current DHHL administration with SCHHA is a newer development that both Kuali‘i and Danner expressed excitement in seeing.

On Saturday, DHHL was scheduled to present updates on the Act 279 $6 million spending plan, proposals for the 2024 legislative session and more.

“Department of Hawaiian Homelands itself is partnered with SCHHA on this convention — that hasn’t happened in a decade,” Danner said. “For this to be restarted, this new conversation and direct engagement and conversations with the state government, … this is so exciting.”

During his time at the convention, Watson told the Hono­lulu Star-Advertiser that he hoped to address the topic of community development. He cited the “Village Center” approach created by the Nanakuli Hawaiian Homestead Community Association as an example of the positive impacts that may be gleaned from the insights of the associations.

With the association’s knowledge on its community’s specific needs, the center was created to include an affordable housing rental project to reduce overcrowded households, a cultural learning center, medical clinics and commercial outlets, all of which have had tremendous positive impact on the Nanakuli homestead community and the Waianae coast, said Watson.

While the COVID-19 pandemic put the annual convening on a four-year pause, Kuali‘i said that the associations have continued to meet virtually until now. And with a full agenda this year, he was looking forward to seeing the state’s Hawaiian Homestead leaders come together to further develop ideas and potential policies that best support the homestead community.

“As a leader for SCHHA, that’s the motivation and the fuel that keeps us going,” said Kuali‘i. “The fact that we know we’re fighting and working for the interests of our community, our members, of our homesteaders and our homestead families.”

Linsey Dower covers ethnic and cultural affairs and is a corps member of Report for America, a national service organization that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues and communities.