Diocese-affiliated Big Island nonprofit marks 10 years fighting homelessness

By Anna Weaver
Hawaii Catholic Herald

To see the impact of HOPE Services Hawaii, you can count the number of micro-housing units it helped set up and now operates across Hawaii island. You can also browse the long list of programs it runs and the partner agencies with which it collaborates. But hearing stories like that of Kehau Fontes, a former drug addict who now works as a HOPE Services staffer, shows its true impact.

Fontes is a former drug addict who was in and out of prison. She’d fall back into bad habits after her release and end up reincarcerated. It wasn’t until Fontes spent a year in a reintegration mentorship program run by HOPE Services that she was able to get the support she’d lacked in the past to stay out of jail.

For a year, Fontes’ mentor met with her every week, helped her set short- and long-term goals and reconnected her to her family.

Another HOPE Services program covered her first month of rent and security deposit on a housing unit.

“And when they put me in that unit, I felt a sense of stability,” Fontes said. “Wow! I got my own place after all these years! And I took off and I ran with it.”

Fontes started off holding down two part-time jobs as she earned her associate’s degree. Brandee Menino, CEO of HOPE Services, helped her apply for college scholarships and grants, and cheered her along. Today Fontes has a bachelor’s degree in sociology and has worked for HOPE Services since 2018, first with disaster relief, then the outreach team and now as a housing locator helping find and place people in housing.

Fontes is a case study in HOPE Services “housing first” model, which it combines with support services. She’s an example of its tagline “Inspiring hope, changing lives,” said Menino, who has led HOPE Services since its founding in 2010.

As HOPE Services marks its 10th anniversary, it gets closer to its ultimate goal to make homelessness “rare, brief and nonrecurring,” Menino said.

“And then we’ll be able to shift our mission to do something else.”

From many to one

In September 2010, the Diocese of Honolulu spun off HOPE Services as a separate but associated non-profit entity of the Office for Social Ministry. It had formerly been known as the Care-A-Van Program, started in the 1980s under Carol Ignacio, the now-retired longtime leader of the Office for Social Ministry. Care-A-Van included outreach vans, homeless shelters, and services to the disabled, those recently released from prison, and families with children across Hawaii island.

Forming HOPE Services (HOPE standing for Homeless Outreach, Prevention, Education) as a separate non-profit allowed its programs to be more organized, visible and flexible in receiving grants and funding.

Since its founding, HOPE Services has gone from a staff of about 30 to 125, according to Menino. While it is still primarily centered on Hawaii island, there are connected programs in Maui and Kauai counties and Mercy House, a transitional program for incarcerated women, on Oahu.

HOPE Services lists its recent major accomplishments as establishing a street medicine program for the homeless and rapidly building the Sacred Heart Shelter in Pahoa after the 2018 Kilauea volcano eruption. It is currently working to buy 14.5 acres of church land there to build more modular housing, and has an ongoing goal to find and add to the number of affordable housing units on Hawaii island, Menino said.

In fiscal year 2019, HOPE Services reported that it moved 1,110 people into 633 permanent housing units and kept 78% of the formerly homeless housed for more than two years, according to “Bridging the Gap: The Continuum of Care for Hawaii, Maui and Kauai Counties Homeless Management Information System.”

Collaboration

Scott Morishige, the state Governor’s Coordinator on Homelessness, first partnered with HOPE Services a decade ago when he was Helping Hands Hawaii’s program director. He summarized the non-profit’s work as “a broad continuum of housing and homeless services, including street outreach, emergency and transitional shelter, a housing placement program for families, rapid rehousing, and permanent supportive housing.”

Morishige cites HOPE Services’ programs as helping lower Hawaii island’s homeless population from 1,395 individuals in 2016 to 797 as of January 2020, a 42% decrease overall and a 55% decrease in homeless families with minor children.

“Brandee [Menino] has been an adaptive leader and the organization’s ability to innovate and quickly respond to changing circumstances has ensured that there is a continued focus on permanent housing placement despite natural disasters, such as the 2018 volcanic eruptions or the current COVID-19 pandemic,” Morishige said in an email.

Pat Hurney, the executive director of Habitat for Humanity Hawaii Island, said that HOPE Services is considered “the leader in homeless services on the island,” and that Menino is “a go-to person for most executive directors for leadership and guidance.”

“I just think the trajectory of HOPE Services in the last 10 years has been amazing really, the amount of families and individuals they serve, just incredible, incredible work,” said Hurney, who recently joined HOPE Services’ board.

For her part, Menino thinks that HOPE Services has been so successful because it comes from a place of humility and collaboration.

“We know that we need to do this together,” Menino said. “It’s going to take more than just HOPE Services to do this work. We’re just asking for the partnership and the help. And the community often responds.”

Habitat for Humanity Hawaii Island and many other groups came together to work with HOPE Services on the Sacred Heart Shelter in 2018 when Kilauea volcano unexpectedly erupted and destroyed a large swath of homes in east Hawaii, leaving many houseless. The microunits are being transitioned into housing for the general homeless population as volcano evacuees find other living options.

Other recent collaborative efforts between the state, Hawaii county and HOPE Services are several emergency shelters: Keolahou emergency shelter in Hilo for men and Hale Hanakahi and Ka Lamaku emergency shelters in Hilo and Kona respectively to address those lacking housing after the COVID-19 pandemic.

“All of these programs would not have been possible without the hard work and advocacy of HOPE Services to not only directly administer the programs, but also in advocating for additional emergency shelter to address the needs of homeless individuals on Hawaii island,” Morishige said.

Blessed Sacrament Father Robert Stark, the Office for Social Ministry’s director enjoys seeing HOPE Services community celebrations after a project because he says it showcases just what the organization is about. At those events, HOPE Services staff, collaborator agencies, volunteers and the people served by the projects all come together to eat, socialize and celebrate their success.

“They really have a sense that it takes a community and at the same time, always that they are trying to serve with the most vulnerable not just for the vulnerable,” he said.

“They understand that sharing vulnerability actually gives you the chance to transform it into a sort of strength or solidarity,” Father Stark added.

Recognition

Grants and other recognitions have followed. One major recognition included a $2.75 million grant in 2019 from the Bezos Day One Fund, HOPE Services’ biggest-ever one-time donation.

Menino herself received the Hawaii Community Foundation’s prestigious Ho‘okele Award in 2019 along with a $10,000 personal development grant, which she is still working to take time off to use. A previous plan to celebrate with family and friends was delayed by COVID-19.

Kehau Fontes says Menino is a hero to many, including herself.

“I did have some struggles along the way,” Fontes said, including losing two of her nine children to addiction. “You know, in the past, any time something like this would happen. I totally would give up, screw everything and go back and use.”

Now that she has 20 grandchildren, she looks at them and knows she’ll never use drugs again.

“God is so good. I just keep pushing through, I just don’t give up.”

Fontes also has HOPE Services behind her.

“When I look at HOPE services and the mission, we bring to life the Gospel values of justice, love and compassion,” Fontes said. “HOPE Services envisions a world where those that face great challenges realize their self-worth. And I for one have realized my self-worth.”

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Founding HOPE

Carol Ignacio, the founding director of the Office of Social Ministry, answered a few extra questions for us in honor of HOPE’s 10th anniversary. Ignacio, while now retired, is still involved in HOPE.

As you’ve watched HOPE develop over the last 10 years, what has most impressed you about the organization?

What has impressed me the most has been HOPE’s leadership not falling into Mission Drift – away from who we are with our commitment to care for the most vulnerable in our communities. Many organizations chase money and stray from the mission of the organization. HOPE Services has stayed true to the mission – when times are hard and money is tight, this is a challenge – but as the 10th anniversary is upon us – the true mission lives on.

The other important thing is HOPE’s leadership with Brandee. She is a strong, smart, committed, dedicated leader and has always been able to hire and surround herself with a team that shares the organization’s values (and hers). From day one when I hired her with OSM, one of her strongest qualities has been that she never forgets why we exist and who we serve. She is as comfortable with those in the trenches as she is with national and local top guns. This is rare for leaders in my opinion.

Why has HOPE been so successful?

Brandee delivers. She walks the talk and people recognize this very quickly which has and continues to hold HOPE and its team to the highest esteem and respect. HOPE is credible, Brandee is credible – and through hard times and low times – HOPE and Brandee deliver. She lives and maintains a “can-do attitude” that is contagious and folks recognize this. She is tough, fair and empathic – and one can quickly recognize a team that resonates with these qualities.

HOPE’s Board is committed and dedicated to the mission.

What would you say are HOPE’s biggest milestones?

HOPE is recognized nationally and locally as the homeless provider that the government, other nonprofits and the community “go to,” without exception as making a difference with the population we serve. Without question.

The umbilical cord is still very much connected for me personally – to HOPE, Brandee and those we serve. It is with much gratitude and blessings to have the privilege and honor to be part of HOPE since its inception and throughout these 10 years. Our Lord continues to bless this work and will continue to for the next 10 years…or beyond. That’s for sure.