HONOLULU Kaiser Permanente Hawaii has awarded $100,000 in total grant funding to two local organizations striving to address health disparities, with special attention to people experiencing homelessness.
HONOLULU — Kaiser Permanente Hawaii has awarded $100,000 in total grant funding to two local organizations striving to address health disparities, with special attention to people experiencing homelessness.
“Building a healthy community starts with creating opportunities for all our residents to thrive,” said David Tumilowicz, spokesman at Kaiser Permanente Hawaii. “By addressing the root cause of systemic issues such as housing availability and health disparities, we can help create solutions that improve health and wellness throughout our state.”
Hawaiian Community Assets received $50,000 to support the Hawaii Housing Affordability Coalition, a statewide effort to improve housing affordability by 2025. HCA aims to shape policies and build capacity within communities to build or preserve affordable homes for households earning less than $75,000 annually.
The coalition will include businesses, unions, public officials, nonprofits, health providers, financial institutions, builders, homeowners, renters and people experiencing homelessness.
Project Vision received $50,000 to continue its HiEHiE hospitality project, which provides showers and other resources to people experiencing homelessness. Project Vision’s mobile hygiene stations provided showers to more than 650 individuals in 2018. Participants visiting hygiene stations can also gain access to onsite vision and health screenings, referrals and basic necessities such as dental care supplies, hair care products and hygiene products.