Call it “product enrichment,” like the Hawaii Tourism Authority does, or call it what the everyman can understand, “cash grants,” and it boils down to the same thing:
There will be many hands requesting funding for fairs, festivals, cultural events and similar fetes, now that the county is in charge of the purse strings of nearly half a million dollars in state funds annually.
The county Office of Economic Development is the local agency administering $400,000 in HTA funds for the fiscal year beginning July 1, and Nalani Brun, OED tourism specialist, is the point woman.
She has a year’s experience administering HTA funds for cultural tourism programs and events, and time before that in charge of county funds for the same purposes.
But under the program the HTA is handing off to all the counties beginning July 1, determinations have to be made on which agritourism, cultural tourism, ecotourism, edutourism, health and wellness tourism and technotourism projects to fund – and not fund.
“So, we’re trying to get a handle on it within a very short time as to exactly what they (HTA) have funded, and what we’re looking at, because we haven’t worked with a lot of those groups, not the techno side,” said Brun.
On Thursday, May 9, at 4 p.m. at the Lihue Civic Center, the HTA and county co-host a workshop unveiling the County Product Enrichment Program.
By Tuesday, May 7, Brun and OED Director Gini Kapali will have at least considered several scenarios on how to divide up a finite amount of taxpayer money among what will likely seem a nearly infinite number of requests for it, Brun explained.
“We’re trying to figure out how we’re going to divvy up this money, if we’re going to try to percentage it out at first before we even look at the grants, to try to keep it so that each area gets something, or if we’re not going to do that at all,” said Brun.
The new program will like the HTA Product Development Program continue to provide funding, business assistance and other resources for projects in the various tourism-related areas, according to the HTA.
The workshop will offer detailed information on this program, including the proposal solicitation and award processes for product enrichment projects on the island.
Brun said applications will be available, and county officials will walk participants through the application process. That is especially important for Kaua’i nonprofit agencies and others seeking funds, because normally they don’t have grant-writing experts available among their members, she noted.
The Thursday event will also serve as a get-acquainted session for Brun and those potential applicants outside the cultural tourism realm she may not be familiar with, she added.
Under the new program, the counties receive a portion of HTA product enrichment funds (each county gets $400,000 a year, or $650,000 for 18 months beginning July 1), and are responsible for day-to-day management of the program, including review and evaluation of proposals, contracting with individual entities, and monitoring the projects in the six distinct tourism-related areas.
A local oversight committee which must have members knowledgeable in each of the areas but not from entities that will submit grant applications, must also be established, she added.
Brun and the county were part of an HTA pilot project to see how the county could handle the grant-administering portion of HTA funds specifically for cultural tourism, and because of the county and Brun’s success, the program has been handed to all the counties by the HTA, and expanded to include areas in and outside of cultural tourism.
For more information on the meeting or the new program, please call Brun, 241-6390.
Staff Writer Paul C. Curtis can be reached at mailto:pcurtis@pulitzer.net or 245-3681 (ext. 224).
