Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 33, Number 7, 1 July 2016 — Aloha mai kākou, [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Aloha mai kākou,

There's a loud crack of the bat and a baseball soars majestically through the air and lands beyond the fence for a home run. It's a thing of beauty. But to have a winning season, you can't rely only on home runs. You are better off hitting singles and doubles and sometimes bunting. In fact, you ean win a lot of games without hitting very many home runs if you take care of the fundamentals, get timely hits, field the ball cleanly and pitch well. Everyone loves a home run. But I take a lot more pride in the process — the singles and doubles that set the foundation so when we do hit a home run, we score two, three or even four runs at onee. When I think about what we've been able to accomplish at the Office of Hawaiian Affairs over the past few years, I think about these base hits that are beginning to set the foundation for a very bright future. For instance, we recently passed a policy on water, whieh guides the way for how we advocate and engage the community. It also sets the foundation for how OHA deals with water on our properties. It demands we find the most culturally appropriate, cutting-edge technologies to cut down on the amount of water we need to use. Where we engage in construction, we will pursue LEED water efficiency. The way we treat water ean heeome a model for everyone so we ean ensure Native Hawaiian traditional and customary practices are respected, while allowing for the responsible use of water. In addition, we fought to get the state to promote traditional Hawaiian farming systems and traditional crops such as kalo, 'uala and 'ulu.

Taken together, these are laying the foundation for a thriving Hawaiian community and a thriving Hawai'i community. In the area of finances, we are taking our Mālama Loan programs to the next level. We just got approval for our three-year business plan from the federal Administration for Native Americans. If we are successful, in two years we will have the opportunity to go independent from the

federal government. We were also able to get the state to set up a process to negotiate for increased payments for the state's use of Puhlie Land Trust land. It sets the stage to allow us to do mueh more for i the Hawaiian people. When I decided to take on the ehallenae of heina the Pou-

hana of OHA, it was my intent to elevate us as an institution so we would look less like a state entity and more like a Hawaiian institution, that is an institution founded on Hawaiian values and beliefs. I wanted to provide strong * pono leadership and brina renewed hope and vision.

We have set a strong foundation and in the weeks, months I and years to eome, you will see the fruits of our labor. ■ 'O au iho nō me ke aloha a me ka 'oia'i'o, V (f\*. C*~mSL&-C Kamana'opono M. Crabbe, Ph.D. Ka Pouhana/Chief Executive Officer

ĪAKI N G PRIDE IN THE PROCESS

'ŌLELO A KA LUNA HO'OKELE MFRRAf!F FROM THF OFO