Heart of Pa'a Lima

Pa'a Lima was created with the idea of educating and supporting foster youth that are aging out of the system or being asked to leave once they have turned 18 years old. Majority of our island's foster youth, once aged out, lack the financial educational component, and are not financially responsible to understand the impact decisions make when it comes to housing.
Our program has two components: 1. Financial Education and Personal Guidance- aims to educate our island youth on the basics of housing and housing responsibility. Because majority of the youth that are aging out of care lack these skills, the goal is provide classes to teach them how to be financially responsible, credit and how it affects their future, responsible renters, vocational programs, life after foster care and other life skills program.
2. Kahua Palekana (Kah-who-ah Pa-lei-cah-na) or Bridge Housing - Means Save Heaven. This is a long-term goal and is a place where kids that are aging out or asked to leave can have somewhere to live without being homeless on the streets. Kahua Palekana offers these kids a place where they can learn how to be good renter, and create a rental history and still be supported, so if they make a mistake, they will be able to learn how to fix it without risk of being evicted. The program is designed to create a safe "real-world" learning environment for them, so they are better prepared when they are ready to move on. All kids residing in Kahua Palekana will receive the financial education and personal guidance as described in item 1.