As a former social service provider and director of PHOCUSED (Protecting Hawai‘i’s ‘Ohana, Children, Underserved, Elderly, Disabled), a coalition of social service and health providers across the state, I can tell you that funding has never come easy for community-based organizations (CBOs). They are consistently expected to provide the most excellent care for those in our communities while having to scramble for resources.
The COVID-19 pandemic taught us a great deal. PHOCUSED facilitated countless meetings on Zoom, trying our best to support those on the ground doing the hard and challenging work of providing for those who were in great need — including dealing with job loss and health crises, homelessness and housing instability, food insecurity, a rise in domestic violence as a result of heightened stressors and confined living situations, lack of child care. The list goes on and on.
CBOs were concerned that they had to pay loan or interest fees while waiting for a contract payment, with many never being reimbursed for such fees. During the pandemic, they saw a temporary increase in county, state, and federal funding which was sorely needed at the time — but that funding boost has since dissipated.
Just when we thought things couldn’t get worse, we now find ourselves in the midst of another nightmare.
With looming federal freezes on funding, services and jobs, CBOs are now faced with the challenge of serving their communities under these increasingly dire circumstances. According to a recent survey conducted by Aloha United Way and the Hawaii Alliance of Nonprofit Organizations, potential funding losses from at least 41 identified federal sources across at least 119 individual projects covering the gamut of services were identified by the 85 agencies that responded.
In addition, more families will need unemployment and food support due to pending layoffs. This will also increase outmigration of Hawaii’s most stressed families, negatively impacting over 500,000 Hawaii residents.
The daunting task of finding funding to pay their own employees a living wage continues to fall on CBOs. It is not surprising that many providers are having to apply for the same SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) and other benefits as their clients.
Hawaii CBOs’ administrative costs are also on the rise. It is quite disheartening to know that almost a half of our service organizations may close their doors if government contracting falls short.
Diminished support will mean that there will be less case management for those trying to find housing they can afford. Outreach workers won’t be able to go out into our neighborhoods and assist our houseless neighbors. There will be fewer domestic violence advocates to support survivors with the resources they desperately need to start a new life without the threat of violence in their lives.
The good news is that there are more than 70 community-based organizations, who are members of the Hawaii True Cost Coalition, working hard to pass legislation during this 2025 legislative session. With severe federal cuts coming down the pike, we are going to be looking to our elected officials to step in and ensure that the financial burden for our CBOs, who are taking on the work that our government does not have the capacity to take on, is alleviated.
We cannot leave them hanging and expect them to do more with less. Let us all come together as a community to support an increase in appropriations for government contracts.
Christy MacPherson is director of community engagement for the Hawaii Appleseed Center for Law & Economic Justice.
