resources & announcements

EPA Solar for All Grant Projects

In collaboration with McAllister & Quinn and Hua Nani Partners, Skog Rasmussen LLC is humbled to have been able to contribute to $1.2 billion in EPA Solar for All grant projects touching almost every state—including Hawaiʻi!—and two territories. Overall, 60 selected applicants will create new or expand existing low-income solar programs to enable more than 900,000 households in low-income and disadvantaged communities to benefit from distributed solar energy. Read more about the commitments here.

Hawaiʻi Community Foundation Regional Water Infrastructure Environmental Finance Center

Skog Rasmussen LLC is glad to be a part of the team for a new Hawaiʻi Community Foundation Regional Water Infrastructure Environmental Finance Center (EFC). The EFC launched in January 2024 with Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) funding under the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to help communities across the state access federal funding for infrastructure projects that improve public health and environmental protection.

Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement Convention

Skog Rasmussen LLC, including Melissa Unemori Hampe, Kim Thayer, and Keapo Bissen, assisted Maui Economic Opportunity in its roundtable discussions on November 15, 2023, at the Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement Convention on “Recalibrating Maui’s Economy: What Lies Ahead?”

Federal Funding Panel webinar

Melissa Unemori Hampe led an open conversation with representatives from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and the Economic Development Administration (EDA) about proposed changes to the Uniform Grants Guidance. Read more.

Urban and Community Forestry Grant program

Congratulations to our clients who were awarded a total of $58 million through the Urban and Community Forestry Grant program through the U.S. Department of Agriculture, U.S. Forest Service. Skog Rasmussen assisted with three successful applications including those from Kupu in Hawaii ($20 million); Hennepin County in Minnesota ($10 million), and the Urban Sustainability Directors Network, operating across the United States and Canada ($5.6 million for organization, $22.4 million for subawards). Read more.

USDN 2022 Annual Report

Skog Rasmussen helped to design and continues to implement the Federal Funding Technical Assistance program for the Urban Sustainability Directors Network which has members in 270+ local governments in Hawaiʻi, across the U.S., and in Canada. Under this program USDN delivered hundreds of hours of coaching, technical assistance, and training and helped communities secure over $100 million in state and federal funding with proposal assistance. View the USDN Annual Report.

Morning Beat - Hawaii Farmers Could Use Some Help Landing Grants That Would Boost Farm Operations

The reality is that Hawaii does not have a full-fledged “grant culture,” and could be doing more on several levels, according to Melissa Unemori Hampe of the economic development consultancy Skog Rasmussen. “People need to understand the basics, the terminology, and they need help,” Hampe said. Read article.

Accessing IRA Funds for Public and Private Sector Buildings: New Incentives to go Green

Melissa Unemori Hampe’s presentation on a panel for the US Green Building Council Hawaii regarding , April 26, 2023.

Click here for Accessing IRA and IIJA Funds for Public and Private Green Building Projects slides.
Click here to access April 26, 2023 Recording of the Session (Passcode: c3#!3$ed).

Building State Capacity To Unlock Federal Climate Dollars

Through Hua Nani Partners State Funding Readiness Project, Melissa Unemori Hampe was a presenter on the panel  “Building State Capacity to Unlock Federal Climate Dollars” for ClimateXChange, May 16, 2023.

Funding Announcements February 2023

Congratulations to our national nonprofit client, the Urban Sustainability Directors Network (USDN), and local government participants in the USDN Proposal Assistance Program and American Cities Climate Challenge (ACCC) who received over $109 million in funding for sustainability projects in the first quarter of 2023.

U.S. DOT Safe Streets for All Program awardees include the City of Seattle, WA, who received $25.6M, the City of Portland, OR, who received $20M, and the City of Saratoga Springs, NY ($100K) who collaborated in a multi-jurisdiction project proposal that received $1.4M. Congratulations also to the City of San Jose who received $62.34M in grant awards for transportation safety projects that support walking, biking, and taking transit through the One Bay Area Grant and Active Transportation Program, and the City of San Diego who received $500,000 in broadband funding from the California Public Utilities Commission. The ACCC program was made possible by Bloomberg Philanthropies, the Natural Resources Defense Council, and USDN.

Nonprofit Logic Model Training

Melissa Unemori Hampe’s presentation on Grants and Logic Models for the County of Hawai‘i held on November 22, 2022. View videos: Part 1 and Part 2

Our Client HANO secures $4.1M in Federal Funding

For Nonprofits

Pacific Business News article, Oct 25, 2022, click here to read online article. For PDF, click here.

Vibrant Hawaiʻi Economy Stream Webinar

Melissa Hampe presented various national and local resources available to nonprofits to the Vibrant Hawaiʻi Economy Stream on February 3, 2022. Resources include a grant opportunity registry, data visualization tools, training, and forms of technical assistance. View the webinar and the PDF slides of Melissa’s presentation.

The American Rescue Plan Is A Boon To Hawaii's People And Nonprofits

But we must ensure that the funds are spent well, with the greatest impact for the public good. Click here to view.
Article dated September 15, 2021, by By Lisa Maruyama, Melissa Unemori Hampe,

Pandemic Education Program for Hawaii Nonprofits

Melissa Unemori Hampe conducted a training for the Hawaiʻi State Bar Foundation that draws the distinction between federal contracts and grants, then discuss the basics of federal grants compliance. The training is aimed at nonprofit organizations. Click here for information.

Lessons from the Field: Federal Grants Learnings Based on Hawaii Case Studies

Building off of HANO’s Federal Grant Writing Series in Fall 2020, Melissa Unemori Hampe of Skog Rasmussen on May 26, 2021, provided a deeper dive training focusing on federal grant prospecting and writing, using ground truthing from HANO’s Grants Technical Assistance Services Pilot program. Click here to view video.

Tracking the Money:
What is happening with Hawaii’s stimulus funds?

Melissa Unemori Hampe, as a former Congressional aide, brought the federal and nonprofit perspective to the discussion as a panelist on the Civil Beat IDEAS Live show, “Tracking the Money: What is happening with Hawaii’s stimulus funds?” on May 12, 2021, along with former state Senator Jill Tokuda, chief state economist Eugene Tian, and Beth Giesting from the Hawaii Budget and Policy Center. Click here to view video.

COVID and CARES Act:
Lessons for and from Hawaiʻi’s Nonprofit Sector
January 24, 2021

 Made possible by the Hawaiʻi Community Foundation, Melissa Unemori Hampe of Skog Rasmussen LLC led a project team in capturing lessons learned and resulting recommendations from nonprofit and government interviewees and their intersection with Federal CARES Act funding. Read report.

Hawaii Broadband Strategic Plan

Department of Business Economic Development & Tourism Office of Planning, State of Hawaii, October 2020 Edition. Read report.