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DOGE in Hawaii 🤙

@dogeinhawaii

Jul 28

🧵The Big Island Homelessness Grift —
Part 1: HOPELESS: Millions In, Nothing Out
How HOPE Services Hawai‘i became a revolving door of cash, cronies, and contradictions

For over a decade, HOPE Services Hawai‘i has branded itself as a leading voice on homelessness on the Big Island. With photos of food distributions, press releases about shelter openings, and a warm glow of Catholic nonprofit credibility, the public story is simple: "We're helping."

But when you dig into the numbers, leadership, and financial flow of HOPE Services Hawai‘i, a different story emerges.

This isn’t just a struggling nonprofit. It’s a multi-million dollar public-private machine with growing revenue, rising executive salaries, politically connected partners, and very little to show in terms of results.
_____________________________

✨ The Core Problem

The Big Island’s homelessness crisis is worse than ever.

Year after year, homelessness statistics rise. The Big Island now has one of the highest per-capita homelessness rates in the country. Yet HOPE Services Hawai‘i has seen its annual revenue triple since 2014, while its leadership collects ever-larger paychecks.

This isn’t just inefficiency.

It’s institutionalized stagnation funded by state, county, and federal grants with no visible accountability.
_____________________________

📈 Financial Overview: 2014–2023

From 2014 to 2023, HOPE Services:

● Increased annual revenue from $4.5M to $10.9M
● Accumulated $4.98M in net assets (as of 2023)
● Raised executive compensation by over 70%

Despite this, homelessness on Hawai‘i Island has:

● Stayed flat or risen
● Seen little to no permanent housing expansion
● Remained reliant on temporary shelters and transitional programs
_____________________________

🚩 Red Flags in the Financials

Let’s break down what doesn’t add up:

● In 2023, HOPE reported $10.9M in revenue, yet spent $5.1M on salaries alone

● The organization ended 2022 with a $548,000 deficit

● Executive Director Brandee Menino’s total compensation reached $171,767 in 2023

● A share of grant income came from external NGOs — including a Texas-based Women’s Fund, raising serious questions about fund purpose and targeting
_____________________________

🤝 The Brandee Menino Factor

Menino isn’t just a local nonprofit leader. She’s a 2023 Omidyar Fellow, plugged directly into the elite network that influences nearly every major policy sphere in Hawai‘i.

She also sits on multiple county and state homelessness advisory panels.

That makes her both a grant recipient and policy gatekeeper.

It’s a classic conflict of interest structure that ensures HOPE Services continues to receive funding, regardless of outcomes.
_____________________________

🚨 The Big Picture: HOPE Isn’t the Exception—It’s the Model

What we’re seeing with HOPE Services isn’t a one-off case.

It’s part of a broader nonprofit-industrial complex on the Big Island:

● Centralized funding with little oversight
● Overlapping roles across nonprofits and public committees
● State insiders determining grant eligibility
● Rising pay, falling outcomes

This system is designed to sustain itself — not solve the problem.

⬇️ Coming Up in Part 2: "Boardroom Hawai‘i"⬇️

The Big Island Homelessness Grift —
Part 2: Boardroom Hawai‘i: The Overlap Economy

Now let’s talk about who’s actually running the show behind HOPE Services Hawai‘i and its nonprofit allies.

The same crisis managers who claim to fight homelessness sit on the boards of the same organizations receiving housing and health grants. They sit on public advisory councils, fund each other’s programs, and present themselves as community voices.

But what they really are is a tight-knit web of recurring players, entrenched in a taxpayer-funded nonprofit economy with no competition and no consequences.

🏛️ HOPE Services Hawai‘i Board & Leadership — Cross-Affiliation List

1. Brandee Menino
◦ CEO of HOPE Services Hawai‘i
◦ Director, Community First
◦ Director, Bay Clinic Inc
◦ 2023 Omidyar Fellow
◦ Member of county/state homelessness advisory panels

2. Charlene Iboshi
◦ Vice President, HOPE Services Hawai‘i
◦ Director, Community First Inc
◦ Former County Prosecutor (Hawai‘i County)

3. Patrick Hurney
◦ Secretary, HOPE Services Hawai‘i
◦ Executive Director, Habitat for Humanity Hawai‘i Island
◦ HOPE board member while receiving housing-related grants through another nonprofit

4. Peter Hoffmann
◦ President, HOPE Services Hawai‘i
◦ Board Treasurer, The DeGood Foundation

5. David Kurohara
◦ Director, HOPE Services Hawai‘i
◦ Board Member, Catholic Charities Hawai‘i
◦ President, Hawai‘i County Economic Opportunity Council (HCEOC)
◦ Treasurer, Hospice of Hilo

6. Janet Taaffe
◦ HOPE board member
◦ Program Manager, Bay Clinic Inc
◦ Bay Clinic board overlaps with Community First and Menino

7. Kaleo Takamine
◦ HOPE board member
◦ Prominent union leader in Hawai‘i
◦ Linked to local political campaigns and fundraising

8. Toby Taniguchi
◦ HOPE board member
◦ President, KTA Super Stores
◦ Trustee, Parker Ranch Foundation Trust
◦ Parker Ranch is financially linked to Iole Stewardship Center (co-founded by Micah Kāne) and Omidyar

9. Kimo Alameda
◦ Director, Community First Inc
◦ Director, Alu Like Inc
◦ Former Director, Bay Clinic Inc
◦ President/CEO, Hawai‘i Primary Care Association (2022)
◦ Mayor of Hawai‘i County (2024–present)

10. James Takamine
◦ Treasurer, Community First Inc
◦ Director, Boys and Girls Club of the Big Island
◦ Treasurer, Kohala Center
◦ Former CEO, Hawai‘i Community Federal Credit Union

📌 Why This Matters
When the same individuals:
● Sit on multiple boards
● Serve as public policy advisors
● Lead or influence grant-making bodies
● Receive government contracts
...they control every stage of the pipeline — from policy creation to funding decisions to project execution.

There’s no independent review. No dissent. No pressure to deliver results.

🕸️ Boardrooms as Battlegrounds

Each board seat gives these individuals power to:
● Approve funding to each other’s organizations
● Create advisory panels to recommend their own programs
● Coordinate media narratives about housing, health, and “equity”

This is not public service. It’s governance by echo chamber.

And because so many of these individuals are unpaid on paper, it’s even harder to track influence and accountability.

💥 Who’s Left Out?
You are.
Regular citizens, Native Hawaiian families, and taxpayers are left with the illusion of community-based leadership, when in fact the same dozen names recycle through every major nonprofit and public body related to homelessness, housing, and health.

There’s no room for new ideas, new leaders, or real transparency. Just a feedback loop of insiders, writing each other grants while homelessness grows.

⬇️Coming Up in Part 3: “Community First, Accountability Last” ⬇️

The Big Island Homelessness Grift —
Part 3: Community First... Or Community Capture?

The nonprofit quietly guiding policy while connected to Omidyar, Parker Ranch, and government insiders.
If HOPE Services Hawai‘i is the face of homelessness response, Community First Inc. is the invisible hand.

It presents itself as a humble health nonprofit — but behind the scenes, it’s a hub of insider influence, financial anomalies, and donor-linked capture.

🧬 Modest Budget, Big Control
Community First reports modest annual revenue:
● $1.4M to $1.6M per year from 2020–2023
● BUT: Executive compensation hovers around $135,000 — nearly 9% of total annual revenue
● No full-time staff listed for years

That’s high pay for minimal operations, especially given its massive strategic influence in housing, healthcare, and resilience planning.

🧠 Overlapping Power Structure
The board of Community First includes leaders from HOPE Services, Bay Clinic, and HSRHA:
● Brandee Menino — CEO of HOPE, Board Director at Bay Clinic, Omidyar Fellow
● Charlene Iboshi — HOPE VP, former Hawai‘i County Prosecutor
● Kimo Alameda — Former Director of Bay Clinic, now Mayor of Hawai‘i County
● James Takamine — Treasurer, also Treasurer of Kohala Center and former bank CEO

These are not disinterested volunteers. This is a centralized governing body — accountable to each other, not the public.

🏔️ Parker Ranch & Iole Ties
Community First is deeply tied to Parker Ranch and its philanthropic arm. Key founder Randy Kurohara served in roles connected to:
● Hawai‘i Community Foundation (HCF)
● County economic development
● Iole Stewardship Center (backed by Omidyar, Micah Kāne, and Parker Ranch Trust)

These ties point to state-backed consolidation of housing, health, and “resilience” policy under one ideological framework.

🔥 Conflict of Interest? IRS Says Maybe
Community First’s IRS Schedule L disclosures show related party transactions — but with limited detail. This includes:
● Grants and contracts with overlapping board organizations
● Shared service vendors
● Noncompetitive partnerships across nonprofit roles
It’s a closed circuit — and it’s receiving public funding.

⬇️ Coming Up in Part 4: “Bay Clinic’s $27 Million Disappearing Act” ⬇️

Read 5 tweets

DOGE in Hawaii 🤙

@dogeinhawaii

Jul 26

I suggest you all take a quick look at this document.... it's Hawaii's 2025 Voluntary Local Review from the UN Summit earlier this month...... isn't it just great being the ONLY state in the USA participating "voluntarily" in this globalist event for the 3rd time! 🙄

"It provides a comprehensive update on progress achieved over the past five years and reflects Hawaiʻi's collective journey at the midpoint toward the Aloha+ Challenge, Hawaiʻi’s 2030 localized sustainable development goals aligned with the global SDGs. As indicated in the report, Hawaiʻi’s youth have not only embraced this important commitment, but champion innovative solutions and a place-based vision that aligns with indigenous values."

I screenshot the non profits that were included too so we are aware...there are 5 of them...so next post has the rest ⬇️

I'll post the link in the comments...⬇️

alohachallenge.hawaii.gov/items/557246e8…

Read 4 tweets

DOGE in Hawaii 🤙

@dogeinhawaii

Jul 16

🧵 Why Pierre Omidyar is the King of Narrative Change
This isn’t philanthropy. It’s behavioral control.

Here’s how Omidyar is rewriting reality — and why Hawai‘i is ground zero.

With quotes. Receipts. And no sugarcoating.
👇

✳️ 1/ Narrative Change: What It Really Means

“Narrative” isn’t just storytelling. It’s a system of control. Narratives shape the boundaries of what is politically possible.”
— Narrative Initiative (Omidyar-funded)

“Culture is upstream of policy.”
— Pop Culture Collaborative

It’s not about facts. It’s about changing what you believe before facts even matter.

✳️ 2/ Omidyar’s Strategy Documents — the Blueprint

These are the key papers that define how Omidyar’s network builds narrative power:
🔹 “Reimagining the Economy” (Omidyar Network)
🔹 “New Public Narrative” (Narrative Initiative)
🔹 “Narrative Power & Collective Imagination” (Funder Collaborative)
🔹 “Shifting the Narrative” (Pop Culture Collaborative)
🔹 “Narrative Systems Design” (Luminate)

Each document outlines the same idea:
Society is shaped by imagination, and billionaires can fund the “right stories” to shape public behavior.

Read 14 tweets

DOGE in Hawaii 🤙

@dogeinhawaii

Jul 16

🧵I’ll probably be writing multiplethreads on this topic…

But for now, I’m just going to copy and paste every single question I asked — and every answer ChatGPT gave me.

No edits. No filters. Just raw curiosity and research.

Join me on this investigation to figure out why things in Hawai‘i are the way they are.

Thread title:

🧵 HAWAII DEMOCRATS SAY “NO KINGS… UNLESS HE’S WEARING A STETHOSCOPE AND COLORFUL BANDAIDS” 🩹
👇

🧵1/ After digging into the mBloom/Elemental Impact scandal, I was left seriously confused…

1. Taxpayer money went to HSDC — the Hawai‘i Strategic Development Corporation.

2. HSDC is a subdivision under DBEDT — the Department of Business, Economic Development & Tourism.

3. After the mBloom controversy, HSDC was quietly dismantled… after taking public funds.

❓No press, no investigation, no accountability. Just—poof—gone.
❓How is that legal?
❓How can a state agency just vanish after misusing public money?
❓And why wasn’t DBEDT held responsible — especially since the whole mBloom mess was a “partnership” between DBEDT and HSDC?
❓Also… what even is DBEDT?

The deeper I looked, the more my head started to hurt.
So I Googled DBEDT... and found this chart.

👇

🧵2/ So I took that organizational chart and put the logos to the office and I got this!

And the more I looked at it...I thought...

🔹Josh Green decided recently to just make the entire tourism board resign (a bit shady) - i looked and they got something like 30 M in recentl years...
🔹HSDC (from the mBloom controversy) USED TO be in this chart. But it was erased as if it was never there to begin with even though our tax money was wasted.
HOW IS THIS OK?

🔹and the HHFDC is something I looked at and is the center of corruption for every single housing project.
🔹and then there is agriculture, energy, the Aloha Stadium ($$$), Hawaii green growth....
IT SEEMS LIKE EVERYTHING THAT IS BEING FUNDED LATELY AND ALL BIG FEDERAL GRANTS IN THE PAST 5 YEARS GOES HERE....TO THE DBEDT.

So I uploaded this chart and asked my first question:

“ Is this a normal organizational strucure for a state...
Does the Office of the Governor = DBEDT?
This seems like a lot of power under Josh Greens Control and I don't know if this is a normal situation for how states are organized. I am a bit confused on how the state goverment is organized and if this is a normal situation or not. Can you help me understand.....”
👇

Read 12 tweets

DOGE in Hawaii 🤙

@dogeinhawaii

Jul 10

The Obama Foundation is a global recruitment machine — with 7 different programs training “values-based leaders” in activism, identity politics, and narrative control.

Let’s break down each one and what it’s really doing.
🧵👇

1. Obama Foundation (The Mothership)

The central nonprofit hub behind it all. Based in Chicago, but its reach is global — funding programs, conferences, and content that trains activists in “community organizing” 2.0.

📦 Think Amazon, but for progressive operatives.

2. Girls Opportunity Alliance

Sounds wholesome. In practice: it trains girls as young as 12 to be “change agents” for climate, gender, and equity agendas around the world.

They don’t teach math — they teach disruption.

📚 Barbie, but make it ideological.

Read 11 tweets

DOGE in Hawaii 🤙

@dogeinhawaii

Jul 8

🧵 1/ Meet Tamara Paltin — the activist-politician who now controls disaster funds, ethics enforcement, and land use in Maui.

She wasn’t just elected. She was groomed, trained, and installed by the HAPA/Soros machine to push a radical, anti-American, anti-development agenda.

Let’s break it down. 👇

🧵 2/ Paltin holds an unusual amount of power:
🔹 Chair: Disaster, Resilience, International Affairs & Planning Committee
🔹 Vice-Chair: Ethics & Transparency Committee
🔹 Vice-Chair: Government Efficiency

That means she oversees:
✅ Ethics complaints
✅ Wildfire disaster funds
✅ Development plans

Conflict of interest? Oh yeah.

🧵 3/ She is a public face of Lāhainā Strong — the activist group that raised donations through ActBlue, spent on lobbying & salaries, and dodged scrutiny ever since.

Now guess who would oversee any ethics investigation into misuse of Lahaina fire relief?

Yup: Tamara Paltin. 👀

Read 15 tweets

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