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Congratulations to the 2021 Ho‘okele Award Recipients ~ Advancing Nonprofit Excellence

Congratulations to the 2021 Ho‘okele Award Recipients ~ Advancing Nonprofit Excellence

The Ho‘okele Award pays tribute to leaders from the nonprofit sector – the guiding forces in our community who strive to make Hawai‘i a better place.

Named for the ho‘okele, or steersman, the award recognizes the significant role that a nonprofit leader plays in improving the quality of life for Hawai‘i’s people. The award provides recipients with the opportunity for personal renewal and professional development.

The Ho‘okele Award was made possible from 2002-2016 through a partnership between the Wallace Alexander Gerbode Foundation and the Hawaii Community Foundation (HCF). In 2017, HCF’s Board of Governors created the Kelvin Taketa Ho‘okele Leadership Award Fund in honor of Kelvin’s visionary leadership as former CEO of HCF. The Fund ensures that the award will continue in perpetuity.

Congratulations to the 2021 Ho‘okele Award Recipients

Kristin Frost Albrecht

Kristin is the executive director of The Food Basket Inc. (TFB), Hawai`i Island’s Food Bank with offices and warehouses in Hilo and Kona, and a mission to end hunger on Hawai`i Island. TFB focuses on ending hunger at its roots through the development and administration of innovative anti-hunger programs that provide nutrition security and increased affordable healthy access for food insecure residents, including DA BUX Double Up Food Bucks, DA BUS Mobile Market and Food Pantry, DA BOX, community supported agriculture (CSA), and Kokua Harvest, a produce gleaning program, in partnership with County of Hawai`i.

Twinkle Borge

Twinkle is the leader of Pu`uhonua O Wai‘anae (POW), a village of 250 people living unhoused on State land adjacent to the Waianae Boat Harbor. She has organized her village into a powerful asset for the wider community that offers safety, healing, and purpose to people who have lost their housing. POW residents serve Wai‘anae in a variety of ways, including conducting regular cleanups across the Wai‘anae Coast, feeding and clothing residents of other houseless encampments, and distributing back-to-school supplies each year to both houseless and housed families in need. In 2018, Twinkle and others led an effort to defend the village from the threat of State eviction, then spent the next year-and-a-half raising funds to purchase land that the village could relocate to. In 2020, Twinkle and the village completed the purchase of 20 acres in Waianae Valley for their permanent home, and are now working on construction. She is also a member of the Steering Committee of Hui Aloha.

Jeffrey Gilbreath

The Ho‘okele Award pays tribute to leaders from the nonprofit sector

Jeff is executive director of Hawaiian Community Assets (HCA), a local community development nonprofit that administers Hawai`i’s largest nonprofit HUD-approved housing counseling program and the nation’s first-and-only statewide network of Financial Opportunity Centers. In addition to his executive role at HCA, Jeff also serves as executive director of the organization’s nonprofit social enterprise, Hawai`i Community Lending (HCL), a US Department of Treasury certified community development financial institution that co-locates with HCA at Financial Opportunity Centers across state and provides consumer, affordable housing, and social enterprise loans with a particular focus on unbanked and underbanked populations.

Sandy Ma

The Ho‘okele Award pays tribute to leaders from the nonprofit sector

Sandy is the executive director of Common Cause Hawai‘i, a nonpartisan grassroots organization dedicated to upholding the core values of American democracy. Sandy leads campaigns, fundraising, and engages local, state, and national organizations in building coalitions around Hawaii, focusing on ethics and accountability, money and influence, and voting and elections by promoting equal rights, opportunity, and representation for all; and empower all people to make their voices heard.

Darryl J. Vincent

The Ho‘okele Award pays tribute to leaders from the nonprofit sector

Darryl is the chief operating officer of United States Veteran Initiative, supervising all executive directors across the organization’s 11 service areas and oversees overall operations of U.S. VETS nationally. U.S. VETS works towards ending homelessness for veterans and providing comprehensive care services including housing, workforce development, mental health and wellness, and individualized support.

Read full story about Ho‘okele Award recipients here.

About Chanel Josiah

Chanel was born and raised on Oʻahu and now resides on Kaua’i with her husband and seven children. As a 5th-generation Hawaiian Home Lands lessee and homeowner, she has firsthand knowledge of the challenges families face in accessing housing, financial opportunities and resources both on and off homesteads. Her lived experiences and professional expertise inspire her passion for supporting others and strengthen her commitment to helping local and native Hawaiian families secure and sustain homes on their ancestral ‘āina, building lasting stability for themselves and generations to come.

Chanel also serves as the Board President of Pa‘a Lima, a nonprofit organization that offers support services and education to address houselessness, mental health challenges, financial literacy, and income instability. The organization is committed to breaking generational cycles and changing lives, with a special emphasis on supporting youth aging out of foster care.

As Operations Director, Chanel oversees marketing, community engagement, technical assistance, and operations. A key aspect of her role is connecting directly with communities to understand their needs and challenges. Drawing on her personal and professional experiences, Chanel approaches these challenges holistically, blending diverse perspectives to create innovative strategies that drive meaningful and lasting change for the communities she serves. “I’m grateful to be able to share our organization’s moʻomeheu (culture), moʻolelo (story) and kaunu (passion) with communities across Hawaiʻi, partners and investors who believe in the work we do.”

Chanel is inspired by her keiki, motivating her dedication to ensuring they can build their futures here in Hawai’i. She is also inspired by her tūtū kāne, Robert William Kalanihiapo Wilcox. “He was a fearless kānaka ‘ōiwi champion who encompassed the spirit of aloha ‘āina – the love of his land, and home just as we do now.” Outside of work, Chanel enjoys reading, practicing hula, and spending time at the beach with her ʻohana.

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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 Sean

Sean Perez loves hearing about the great things Hawai‘i Community Lending is doing for the Hawaiian community. And now as HCL’s new director of finance, he is excited to be part of the team making it happen.

“I enjoy hearing the success stories of new homes that we will soon be building and finding for these families,” he says. “HCL’s mission resonates well with me and my passion to help others and assist our community.”

To this end, Sean will manage HCL’s finances, accounting, compliance, and information technology matters; working with HCL Executive Director Jeff Gilbreath and supervising three division managers. He comes to HCL with over eight years of experience in financial management in the nonprofit and private, for-profit sectors having worked in the legal, social service, health, and telecommunications industries as well as with the US Attorney’s Office of Guam and CNMI. In his previous job as director of operations for the Hawai‘i State Bar Association where he was responsible for directing the organization’s finances, Sean grew his experience in nonprofit financial management and gained extensive background in accounting, grants management, IT and human resources. These skills, in conjunction with his drive to work with the Hawai‘i community through nonprofit assistance, led Sean to HCL.

Currently living in Honolulu, Sean was born in Tamuning, Guam. When he was 10 years old, he moved to Oxnard, Calif., where he attended school and eventually community college. The Air Force Reserves beckoned him after graduation, leading him to serve three and a half years as an aircrew flight equipment technician at March Air Reserve Base. After his military service, Sean returned to his childhood home of Guam, where he went to college to obtain a degree in finance and economics, and then to pursue an MBA.

On O‘ahu, Sean enjoys family life with his fiancée and toddler son; fishing and surfing in his time off. “I look forward to accomplishing great things with HCL and creating new success stories,” he says.

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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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