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Native Hawaiian Organization Stewardship Training

Native Hawaiian Organization Stewardship Training2024-05-24T18:08:27-10:00

REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS

5/24/2024: The NHO Stewardship Training Request for Proposals (RFP) is now closed.

The NHO Stewardship Training Program Committee will evaluate NHO proposals according to pre-established criteria. The highest-ranked NHOs will be offered a partnership agreement with HHF to implement their proposed stewardship training activity. The final number of selected NHOs will be determined by the funding available for 2024. Publication of this RFP does not obligate HHF to award any specific contract or to obligate all or any part of the available funds.

VIRTUAL INFORMATION SESSION

Mahalo to all who joined the info session on April 24!
Click the graphic below to view the presentation slides:

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS FROM THE PRE-SUBMITTAL INFORMATION SESSION

April 24, 2024

Note: Questions and Answers have been edited for length and clarity.

The actual implementation schedule is two years—from August 1, 2024 until July 31, 2026—so summer projects could take place in 2025 and 2026. However, projects do not require two-year timelines, shorter projects are also welcome. Project duration will be dependent upon the scope of work and delivery schedule included in the proposal and agreed upon with Historic Hawai‘i Foundation (HHF) in the Partnership Agreement. Proposals may also have 12- or 18-month timelines if that works better for your project, but the duration should not be more than two years.

Question 2: Do we need a Federal ID number or DUNS?

Because the Partnership Agreements are with HHF and not directly with the National Park Service (NPS), the only thing we need is your Federal Employer Identification number or FEIN. You provide documentation of your FEIN with your W-9, which is one of the required uploads that must be submitted with your proposal form.

You can spread it out. If you give us a schedule that includes your start date, interim milestone dates, and the final completion date, you can spread out the payments however you like between August 1, 2024 and July 31, 2026.

We understand that organizations often have a mailing address that is different from their physical address (i.e., P.O. Boxes) so that should not be an obstacle. Just make sure to include your primary mailing address for HHF to send correspondence to in the Cover Sheet and NHO Information Sections of your proposal form.

Question 5: Is the median $50K award meant to span the full two years or just one year?

Your budget should include the total amount of funding required for the duration of the project. Within the budget you can break it down by phase or by year and indicate how much you would need at each point in your project timeline, but the total should be included in your proposal—the full amount of funding requested for the entire project duration.

The project location does not need to be listed on the National Register of Historic Places to qualify for this program. It could also be a site that is eligible for the National Register but not necessarily listed. The NATIVE Act is very broad—the site needs to have some kind of historical or cultural significance to Native Hawaiians, but it does not have to be on the Register.

The indirect expenses for the organization are capped at 10% of your budget, so that applies to general overhead and regular operation expenses for your NHO, but you can break out the directly-related program activities. You can include line items for staff and personnel costs for the project; line items for things like Insurance, especially if you’re having work days or people coming to the site to participate in activities; you can include the cost of materials and equipment; instructor fees, if you need to hire a kumu to come and talk about how to engage in cultural practices at the site or if you want to provide a stipend, you can include that. You really need to think about what it takes to do this kind of activity, break it down as specifically as you can, and include that breakdown in your budget. Just keep in mind that any general overhead costs must be less than 10% of your total project budget.

The funding for this five-year program was provided through a long chain of partners and a portion of it was allocated to projects during the first cycle in 2021, so there is now $200K available during the current cycle. If there are any remaining funds at the end of this RFP process we will do a third cycle, but there are additional NATIVE Act funds available through other programs as well. The Office of Native Hawaiian Relations (ONHR) is also providing funding for NHOs through their HŌʻIHI grant program which is currently accepting applications. If ONHR decides to continue the NHO Stewardship Training Program with HFF after all of the funds are depleted there could be additional opportunities and future cycles, but as of now there is $200K left to allocate for the remainder of this program.

You cannot apply for the same project activities because that would be an overlap of Federal Funds which is prohibited by Federal Regulations regarding grants administration (2 CFR Part 200). For example: you could be conducting a project that has tourism and visitor engagement activities and then initiate a separate stewardship project, but you could not be using both funding sources for the same project. One of the required uploads for the RFP is the Duplication of Effort form that asks if you are applying for other Federal Funds to support the same activities because that is not allowed, but you can use other non-Federal Funds for the same project. If you have received an HTA Grant for example, or if you have other stewardship or preservation funds from different sources that you want to contribute to the project, that is allowed, but you cannot have any duplication of Federal Funds and that disclosure is one of the RFP requirements.

Yes, Kapapahuliau has basically the same requirements because that is also Federal Funds. In general, you can’t use Federal dollars for the same activities—there can’t be any overlap. We want to be good shepherds of Federal Funds, both as taxpayers but also as program administrators, to make sure we are able to continue funding all of our programs. If your organization has multiple programs, do an inventory of your program elements to see how they might apply to different types of funding opportunities because different programs might be eligible for multiple funding streams. Several organizations have been eligible for Kapapahuliau grants for their climate resiliency activities as well as HŌʻIHI or HHF funding for their engagement and stewardship activities, so look at all of your programs and how they align with different Federal Funding Opportunities.

The three projects that previously received funding through the Stewardship Training Program are on Historic Hawai‘i Foundation’s website.
These projects all shared public presentations last August and the recording of that program is also available on the HHF website so you can see where they are, what they did, what happened and lessons learned.

Only if your previous project is complete and you are proposing a different activity. If you have an open or incomplete project that was funded through this program then, no, your project must be complete. Once you have delivered your final report and closed out the contract, then you can reapply for expanding or adding to the project, building on your previous work, but it cannot be identical to what you already did. Open projects that were previously funded have to wait because we are also trying to ensure that other sites and organizations have a chance to be considered on their own merits as well.

Yes, that would be an allowed line item (see Question 7) because this is an education program to provide hands-on stewardship training. If program participants are summer interns, emerging professionals, or people who are doing this part time in addition to work or school—absolutely. We want to encourage that kind of participation from young people, lifelong learners and students of all ages so that would be appropriate here.

Question 14: Is funding for contractors allowed, such as an archaeological firm?

Yes, you can include contractor fees. That could include labor, materials, service—and not only for archaeological firms. Contractors could include cultural monitors, field crews, or another type of professional services your project requires.

No, you do not need to register with SAM.gov because this RFP is being offered through the HHF web portal and the Partnership Agreement will be between the Native Hawaiian Organization and HHF. You do not need SAM.gov at all for this RFP.

The NATIVE Act requires a visitation component but that doesn’t necessarily mean a visitor from outside of Hawai‘i. Visitors could be local residents who are new to the site, coming for an educational opportunity, they could be a school group, or a volunteer group coming to do some type of restoration work. The educational activity could be an orientation, protocol, or cultural awareness training—any means of engaging people and bringing them to the place to learn about and contribute to its stewardship. An important aspect of the visitor requirement is access. The Historic Property Information Section of the RFP form asks, “Is the Property open/accessible to the public,” and one of the answer options is “sometimes.” That could mean the site is open for seasonal activities, or available to people who have a reason to be there but not to the general public. If the site is in a State Park then it’s available to anyone comes but if it’s only available to people for a specific purpose, your proposal should describe who has access, when, and under what circumstances. This would not be appropriate for, say, a family cemetery in the backyard of a private home that is only accessible to ‘ohana. That would be a very legitimate stewardship activity but if it is not accessible to anyone else this program would not be the right fit. Your site should provide some kind of access for people to learn through hands-on experience and in-person engagement.

Question 17: Do you allow funding for indigenous wildlife restoration?

This program would not apply specifically to animals themselves but perhaps more to their habitat, if it has some significant cultural features. If there are native animals or plants in the place you are restoring then it might apply. It would be a bit of a stretch for the project to focus on rehabilitating indigenous plants or animals, it needs to focus on a significant site. Because this funding is coming through HHF it needs to support the preservation of places (sites, structures, objects, etc.)—it’s not explicitly intended for wildlife. Your proposal should focus on the cultural or historic significance of the site, but one component of its preservation need could be the management and protection of its wildlife. Many cultural sites do depend on wildlife or native plants to maintain features that contribute to their significance and that can be framed holistically, from the perspective of the place itself. If the focus of the proposed project is strictly on wildlife—as in plants, birds, fish, what have you—there are probably better funding opportunities than this program for those activities. The State Forestry and Wildlife Division or the National Park Service, for example, might have more appropriate programs.

Question 18: Would protection of burial caves or iwi kūpuna be considered preservation?

That would depend on how you frame your project and what it is you want to do in in terms of conservation or preservation of the iwi kūpuna. If the proposed project is to preserve and educate at a location that includes burials, including managed access, that could be considered. The proposal should clearly describe the overall historic property, the stewardship needs, the educational component and how visitor access is provided. This program is about visitation and education (see Question 17) which involves bringing people into that space or providing public access, but that may not be culturally appropriate in some circumstances. Funding opportunities for cultural preservation activities without visitor access requirements may be available through the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, the State, NAGPRA or the Native American Graves Repatriation and Protection Act provides funding through NPS for Native Americans (which includes Native Hawaiians) for stewardship activities so there are other funding programs available to help with burial protections that may be a better fit. The required components of this program are a Native Hawaiian Organization, a historic property, preservation need, education, and visitation. Your proposal must demonstrate all five of those to be eligible, and if education and access become a barrier then this is probably not the funding mechanism for that project. Tourism or even just Community Access or School groups might be kind of tricky for burial or iwi kūpuna stewardship projects.

PROGRAM BACKGROUND

In 2022, Historic Hawai‘i Foundation launched a new program to partner with Native Hawaiian Organizations on hands-on stewardship training for the preservation of historic and cultural sites that are significant to Native Hawaiian organizations and communities. The agreement supports building the capacity of NHOs towards historic preservation and stewardship with the goal of ensuring that their traditional cultural stories and places are being documented, preserved and shared in an appropriate manner with visitors and residents alike.

The five-year program is the result of a partnership with the U.S. Department of the Interior’s National Park Service and Office of Native Hawaiian Relations, with funding through the Bureau of Indian Affairs.  In September 2021, NPS added $450,000 to HHF’s on-going project for Historic Preservation Training in the Hawaiian Islands.  The additional funds were provided through the Native American Tourism & Improving Visitor Experience (NATIVE) Act that was passed by Congress in 2016 to establish a more inclusive national travel and tourism strategy with the potential to deliver significant benefits for Native Hawaiians, including jobs creation, elevated living standards and expanded economic opportunities.

The training units will be implemented in partnership with  the Native Hawaiian Organizations (NHO) for preservation of the selected cultural sites.  Field work at their respective historic sites to preserve and restore places that are significant to the culture, traditions, and practices of the Native Hawaiian Community will be included.

The selection process began in 2021 with initial program scoping and a development phase to establish NHO solicitation parameters, evaluation criteria, and regulatory compliance requirements. The first NHO solicitation, review and selection of the first three projects took place in 2022. NHO solicitations will occur on a recurrent basis and  multiple NHOs across the State will be engaged through 2026.

In the news…

Hawaii Public Radio’s Culture & Arts Reporter, Jayna Omaye, talks to NHO program stewards.

Listen (3:11)

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