The Native Hawaiian Organizations Association (NHOA) was founded in March 2007 to support the NHO Program, active NHOs, and their 8(a) subsidiaries. To that end, it is the mission of the Association to: protect, promote, and advance the Native Hawaiian Organizations Program. As the program was designed to create long-term community economic viability and each NHO is charged with the responsibility to principally serve Native Hawaiians, NHOA’s vision is an economically self-sufficient and culturally thriving Native Hawaiian community.

NHOA is dedicated to supporting the long-term success of the NHO program and the community impact it achieves. To that end, NHOA works closely with its members, congressional delegation, affiliate organizations, community partners, and federal agencies to ensure full program compliance and encourage self-monitoring.

The economic opportunities provided through the Native Hawaiian Organizations Program include:

• Job Creation: through each contract opportunity captured by an NHO, jobs are created within Hawaii’s economy, stimulating economic opportunities and strengthening the capacity of Hawaii’s high-tech job market. NHOs are encouraged to develop training and mentorship programs, which allow young Native Hawaiians to challenge and develop their skill sets, while ultimately being prepared to meet customer needs;
• Business Opportunities: many of the current and potential contracts sought by NHOs have opportunities, possibly even requirements, for partnering and subcontracting with other small businesses. NHOs are dedicated to seeking out small business partners within the Native Hawaiian community as well as Hawaii’s small business community. By partnering with Native Hawaiian-owned and local-owned firms, the overall economic impact to the State is much greater and the long-term community capacity is strengthened; and,
• Direct Beneficiary Streams: the truly innovative concept of social enterprise is at work through this program; ultimately, each 8(a) participant must be majority-owned by a non-profit NHO, principally serving the Native Hawaiian community. Thus, profits generated and dispersed by the 8(a) firm have a direct streamline straight to the NHO, which disseminates programs to the community ranging from health, social services, and education to business promotion, legal advocacy, and legislative activity.