The Family Resource Center is a hub of resources, referrals, and information.

We provide community-based services that are free, confidential, and strength-based. From pregnancy through the adolescent years, we are here to support you.

When you join the Family Resource Center you have access to the following services at no cost:

Monthly:

• Diapers & wipes
• Children’s clothing
• Hygiene kit

As Requested:

• Parenting education
  • Our Parenting Education services work to create positive, nurturing relationships. Our staff work with families wherever they call home. We can also connect utilizing virtual tools such as Zoom.

• Therapy services
  • Counseling services are provided to families with underage children to increase overall health, resilience, and wellbeing.

• Assistance connecting to housing resources
  • For families experiencing homelessness or at-risk of homelessness

• Community referrals & connection

Times:

The Family Resource Center is open

Monday and Wednesday 8am-4pm

Drop-in Therapy:

Tuesday from 8am-4pm

Would you or a love one like to participate in free services?

Email family@neighborhoodplace.org, or apply now by clicking the button below.

Ho`ōla Pilina `Ohana Program

The Hoʻōla Pilina ʻOhana program offers culturally based counseling services families living in Puna and South Hilo.  These counseling services are provided bilingually — in ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi  and/or English, as appropriate — to families with underage children to increase overall health, resilience, and wellbeing of entire ʻOhana in addressing issues arising from day-to-day life stressors, multigenerational trauma, cultural identity issues and how it affects the pilina (relationships) within the ʻOhana and itʻs overall pono (proper) functioning.

Hoʻōla Pilina ʻOhana literally translates into “there is life in relationships and family.” The term Hoʻōla Pilina ʻOhana for this specific project was created from a kaona (hidden meaning) perspective, given the hidden translation to preserve overall well being through all relationships that connect us. These relationships could be those more obvious to the human eye like the connection between keiki (children) and mākua (parents) or ʻohana (family) and kaiāulu (community); these relationships could also refer to the connections between kanaka (individual) and moʻomeheu (culture), kanaka (individual) and the ʻāina (land), as well as ʻOhana (family) and ʻaumākua (ancestors) and everything else in between that connects us. Native Hawaiians were very much connected to one-another, to the culture, language, the land, all living beings etc. It is almost entirely innate for Native Hawaiians to have various healthy connections and relationships to keep them grounded, balanced and secure.  Hoʻōla Pilina ʻOhana program vision is influenced by the generational and historical trauma native Hawaiians have experienced through colonization, creating various obstacles related but not limited to historical trauma and cultural loss, educational barriers, and socioeconomic and health disparities.

Hoʻōla Pilina ʻOhana is a free professional clinical therapeutic offering available in both English and ‘Olelo Hawai’i.

Would you, a friend or a client you serve benefit from participating in the Ho’ola Pilina ‘Ohana Program? Apply online now. For more information about Hoʻōla Pilina ʻOhana program, call (808)965-5550 or email ohana@neighborhoodplace.org

Ending Family Homelessness

In the summer of 2019 Neighborhood Place of Puna was blessed to work in partnership with other non-profit  agencies, communities of faith and government to open the first and only family emergency shelter in Puna. Hale ‘Iki Family Assessment Center consists of nine small homes that can accommodate up to four family members. This housing first based program provides emergency shelter to families experiencing homelessness.  Families at Hale Iki are provided housing navigation, tenancy skills training, and case management to help move them from homelessness and into stable housing as quickly as possible.

Neighborhood Place of Puna is committed to ensuring that no family – and certainly no child – experiences homelessness in Hawaii County.

Homelessness can have lifelong negative developmental and health impacts on a child. Children who experience homelessness are more vulnerable to child abuse and neglect. The longer a child remains homeless, the more bleak the outcome. Children raised in persistent poverty, including periods of homelessness, are less likely to finish school. They are at higher risk for incarceration, teen pregnancy/parenthood, substance abuse, and a life of poverty.

Neighborhood Place of Puna believes that we can end family homelessness in Hawaii County and that doing so is a moral imperative!

To this end:

1. We work directly with homeless families to connect them with emergency shelter, permanent housing, and the supports they need to remain housed. 
2. We work with local churches to identify emergency short term shelter and support to homeless families who have nowhere else to go. 
3. We work with Communities of Faith, businesses, and Social Welfare groups to address the lack of affordable housing for families. 
4. We work to address the underlying causes of family homelessness and poverty. 

Neighborhood Place of Puna needs your help. Please make a donation today to support our homeless families and the work that we do to ensure that no child has to experience homelessness.

If you or a family you know are experiencing homelessness contact us at 965-5550 to see if we can support you with housing or family strengthening services.

More about Hawai’i and U.S. Homelessness

Honolulu Civil Beat Poverty persists among Hawaiians despite low unemployment

Splinter News They were there first, but now Native Hawaiians have nowhere to live

Daily Mail Homelessness in Hawaii has grown so fast that the eighth-smallest state in U.S. has the nation’s highest homeless rate per capita

Star Advertiser HUD: Hawaii still No. 1 in per capita homeless

Download the Aloha United Way’s ALICE Report. ALICE stands for Asset Limited, Income, Constrained, Employed.

Listen to Terri Gross’ April 12, 2018  interview with Pulitzer Prize winning author Mathew Desmond as they discuss America’s Eviction Crisis.

Download a simple graphic about the 2018 cost of housing in Hawaii Count.

Download the Touchpoints of Homelessness Report, which looks at Homelessness in Hawaii.

Donate to NPP

Make a monthly or one-time donation to Neighborhood Place of Puna. Your support helps us to build strong, healthy families in your community.

Your contributions help East Hawai’i families

When you donate to Neighborhood Place of Puna you are making a significant impact on keiki and families in your community. Neighborhood Place of Puna provides many family and community support services to the Puna community. Your tax-deductible donations make a direct impact in our community by increasing our ability to provide supportive services to families in need.

An ongoing monthly donation of $20 can provide a family with the opportunity to participate in our Family Strengthening Program. A $100 monthly donation covers maintanence costs for one family-of-four housing unit. Your ongoing donations can help support protective programs for local families we serve in Hilo and Puna.

Make a sustainable monthly donation to NPP to make the greatest impact to help families in need.

Select from one of our donations levels, or set your own amount-