OVERVIEW

The Maui Recovery Funders Collaborative is a collective of Hawai‘i funders with defined funding priorities, goals, and principles that we believe, woven together, are essential for a thoughtful collaborative initiative and recovery funding process. The Maui Recovery Funders Collaborative is seeking applications from organizations providing urgent, time sensitive needs or are supporting longer-term, systems level efforts that move recovery forward. The Collaborative seeks out programs that are providing mental health supports for individuals and households that were impacted by the fires.

The Economic Research Organization at the University of Hawai‘i (UHERO) has conducted the Maui Wildfire Exposure Study (Maui WES) since 2023 of fire survivors. UHERO has provided on-going results based on feedback from a cohort of 1,800 participants. As of January 2025, Maui WES shares that “41% of adults through January 2025 echoes last year’s findings and reveals the long arc of recovery. Overall, 41% of adults report worse health compared to the previous year. Half show depressive symptoms, 26% report moderate-to-severe anxiety, and 4.2% have had suicidal thoughts in the past month.”  With regard to children, the study shows that they are showing “signs of physical healing, but their emotional well-being raises serious red flags. Over half (51%) of children ages 10–17 screen positive for depression, with 22% in the severe range. About 30% report anxiety symptoms, and nearly 45% still show signs of PTSD—4.3% at severe levels. One in four report low self-esteem, and many are experiencing functional challenges at school and home.”

A recent study by the Hawai‘i State Rural Health Association, “Maui Together Wildfire Assessment 2024,” provides insight into the mental health crisis with feedback provided by 1,105 fire-impacted individuals. The report shares that the experience of recovery has taken a toll on survivors particularly noting that 59% have moved at least three times and 33% have moved four or more times. Nearly 58% of these respondents saying the uncertainty of the future and housing (40%) are the hardest things to face since the fires, closely followed by the difficultly of navigating the system (30%) and the emotional and mental impacts (32%) of the losses they have faced. About 64% of fire survivors note that they have noticed a deterioration of their mental health over the last year with a general concern for there not being enough providers.

Considering this data, this request for proposals (RFP) is meeting a community priority of increasing access to mental health resources to support the recovery of households and individuals directly affected by the Maui fires of August 2023.

Program priority areas are a reflection of feedback from the State of Hawai‘i Office of Wellness and Resilience as well as consistent feedback from community members, providers, agencies, and nonprofit organizations that have been active in the disaster recovery efforts over the last two years. The Maui Recovery Funders Collaborative agrees that mental health support should be accessible and community centered. This RFP seeks to curate a cohort of organizations providing programs within a spectrum of activities, services and treatment to address mental health needs. Activities shall be accessible and relatable to those seeking resources.  Programs seeking funds should fall into these noted priority areas. Priority areas include:

• Youth Mental Health Access (Priority areas of ages 0-5 & intermediate school age)

• Kupuna Mental Health Supports and Wellness Activities

• Workforce Well-Being support – mitigating burnout & secondary traumatic stress for mental health providers, first responders, and service providers working 1:1 with households in recovery

• Cultural/ʻĀina-based Wellness Programming

• First Responder and Educator Peer Support Activities

• Pro-social events for young children and/or school-aged youth – evenings and weekend events to gather

• Wellness and therapeutic treatments that provide proven health benefits, particularly post-trauma health benefits