A very small number of grants is also made. Since Consuelo Foundation's resources are modest in comparison to its programmatic goals, we focus on a limited number of program strategies and projects within these broad goals. A report on the Foundation's activities is published annually and is available on request. Before she died in 1990, Consuelo made it clear that she wanted her Foundation to pay particular attention to native Hawaiians, though not to the exclusion of work with people of other ethnicities. We found that affordable housing and safe neighborhoods were major concerns.
Children live in families, and families live in communities.
Without strengthening those communities, we would be unable to help children and their families forge better futures. Therefore, we decided to make community development our central approach in Hawaii. We also take an assets approach rather than a deficit approach to community building. In other words, we look for what is right in families and communities and seek to deepen that, rather than looking for what is wrong and seeking to treat that. We also believe that communities everywhere contain the talent and potential to solve their own problems if they adhere to common values and if they receive the kind of support they need to strengthen their capacity to work together.