Out Of The Shadows: Native Hawaiian Nonprofit Is Suddenly In The Spotlight … The Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement is emerging as a business and political force in Hawaii.
When Hawaii’s Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement holds its annual Native Hawaiian Convention starting Tuesday, the event will mark a significant inflection point for the organization – a coming-of-age party for a 21-year-old nonprofit that started with the modest vision of bringing Hawaiian advocacy groups together.
Now, in one demonstration of its burgeoning power, the council is preparing to host one of the landmark political events of the election season: Thursday night’s televised debates among the major candidates for governor and lieutenant governor.
In another coup, the council is on the verge of taking over Hawaii’s tourism marketing contract for the mainland U.S., the state’s flagship travel promotion, worth $34 million over two years. The council built a team of marketing, research and media firms and snatched the contract from the venerable Hawaii Visitors and Convention Bureau, which has marketed Hawaii for more than a century.
