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About Hawai‘i Community Lending

Hawai‘i Community Lending is a nonprofit Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) certified by the U.S. Department of Treasury.

Started in 2002 as a mortgage broker under Hawaiian Community Assets and founded as a subsidiary nonprofit in 2014, HCL funds affordable housing ecosystem from home buyers to home builders to homeowners.

Our mission

Hawai‘i Community Lending increases access to credit and capital for the economic self-sufficiency of Hawai‘i residents with a particular focus on native Hawaiians. 

Our vision

All native Hawaiians will own a home and reconnect to ʻāina for spirituality, food security, and healing from the systematic separation of our people from our ancestral lands. When we realize this vision together, our ʻohana will anchor a 21st century Hawaiian economy centered on Hawaiian values, and collective well-being.

Our philosophy

Our organization is rooted by a philosophy of Kahua Waiwai, meaning Foundation for Wealth. We view the home as a foundation (Kahua). Upon this foundation is built a family’s spiritual values and teachings (Waiwai). It is the spiritual value of the home and its surroundings that provides stability and the opportunity for families to build a secure future. Opportunities that help stabilize family life help to create a more stable community. A strong foundation, if built property, will serve generations to come.

Our values

We embrace three core values.
‘Ike – We empower our community and our team to be leaders in affordable housing and community development.
Ea – We motivate our community and our team through a Hawaiian way of being, thinking, and interacting with the world.
Pono – We establish and maintain relationships in our community and within our team that are mutually respectful.

About Aikū’ē Kalima

Aikū’ē Kalima, former Native Hawaiian Revolving Loan Fund Manager for the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, joins Hawaiʻi Community Lending as its lending director.
Kalima comes to HCL with more than 25 years of experience in community development and mortgage lending. In his new position, Kalima will direct HCL’s consumer, construction, mortgage and small business lending.
“As a native Hawaiian and Hawaiian Home Lands beneficiary, I understand the financial needs for economic development and quality housing for kānaka is great,” said Kalima, who led OHA’s deployment of $9.8 million in loans to 286 native Hawaiians statewide over the last five years. “For over 25 years, I have worked tirelessly at the grassroots level, educating kānaka on the skills necessary to achieve the dream of homeownership and providing resources to achieve financial sustainability. I plan to continue serving the lāhui empowering ‘ohana and communities as the lending director for Hawai‘i Community Lending.”
Kalima takes the reins of HCL’s $16-million revolving loan fund and will oversee a team of seven staff members statewide. “HCL is honored to have Aikū’ē join us in our mission to help tackle our housing crisis by funding native Hawaiian and local families to build, buy and save homes from foreclosure,” said HCL Executive Director Jeff Gilbreath. “He has proven leadership in both the public and private sectors and has the passion to get families on the land through homeownership.”

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About Nikki

Nikki Hollern is a mother of five, born and raised in Upcountry Maui, but she spent the last 15 years in the beautiful town of Lahaina. Lahaina stole her heart, with the people and the town being unlike any other. After the fire, her family had to relocate to Kahului.

Her heart remains in Lahaina, and her goal is to help this amazing community get back to where they belong. She feels blessed to have the opportunity to be part of the HCL ‘ohana, helping navigate this incredibly hard time and hopefully serving as a guiding light to assist the community in returning home and coming back even stronger.

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