How Booz Allen Hawaii is Giving Back

Booz Allen has had a presence in Hawaii since 1961 when the firm worked with Kamehameha Schools to develop a strategy for the future. Now, decades later—with a brand-new office and continued on-island investments—Booz Allen Hawaii leads the way in meeting critical Indo-Pacific missions with clients like U.S. Indo-Pacific Command (USINDOPACOM) and supports U.S. government, Department of Defense (DOD), and civilian agencies in the islands.

Client impact aside, the key to the firm’s longstanding presence on-island is a focus on community betterment, engagement, and support. In the years since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, driven by the firm’s $100 million pandemic resilience program—Booz Allen has continued to invest time and resources to on-island organizations, helping them pivot programming, enhance benefits, or go virtual to meet evolving community needs.

With over 50 employees contributing to dedicated pro bono projects over the last year in Honolulu alone, the office was among the top three of all Booz Allen locations that are leading and staffing impactful pro bono work around the country. Read on to learn where our team is making an impact in Hawaii’s communities. 

The Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum is the largest caretaker of the cultural and natural heritage of Hawaii and the Pacific, with over 25 million collection items and natural science specimens. Bishop Museum’s Digital Futures Initiative aims to modernize the museum’s IT infrastructure and expand its digital operations, with the goal of dramatically increasing digital access to its knowledge and collection.  

Booz Allen’s Honolulu office worked closely with the firm’s corporate Community Impact + Philanthropy team to provide consultation services. The comprehensive, cross-disciplined consultation assessed the current state of Bishop Museum’s IT organization, including cybersecurity and change management. Booz Allen then provided a summary of its findings to assist the museum with creating a roadmap to modernization and identified high-priority areas to update first.

“Booz Allen has a long history and presence in Hawaii, and the opportunity to work with the Museum, one with such historical and regional significance, is truly an honor,” said Booz Allen Vice President Ed Barnabas.

Since 2018, volunteers in Booz Allen’s Honolulu office have supported the nonprofit organization Ho’ōla Nā Pua in its mission to shine a light and raise awareness about child sex trafficking in Hawaii. Ho’ōla Nā Pua also offers progressive solutions within its community programming and trauma-informed, comprehensive care at the newly opened Bromley Family Pearl Haven Campus, a residential treatment center offering healing for this vulnerable population.  

As COVID-19 spread, traffickers sought to exploit the growing number of isolated children online. Never before has grooming, recruitment, and exploitation been more accessible for perpetrators, and never before has technology been more needed to protect and advocate for the most vulnerable.

Booz Allen’s pro bono team partnered with Ho’ōla Nā Pua to develop a data strategy that compiles disparate sources of data on commercially sexually exploited children in Hawaii. This platform and analytics strategy helps Ho’ōla Nā Pua and stakeholders across Hawaii visualize the problem and work toward data-driven solutions.

“We need to use data and advanced analytics to our advantage to combat this very serious issue in our community,” said Booz Allen Vice President Bob Lietzke, head of the Honolulu office.

As the largest and oldest women’s membership organization in Hawaii, YWCA Oahu provides valuable programs and services to women and girls that help them develop social, economic, leadership, and community-building skills. Yet disconnected data systems were hindering the organization from telling its story.

To help YWCA Oahu capture data about its mission and impact, the Booz Allen project team interviewed key stakeholders, identified key areas of inefficiencies, and created a plan for data management—led primarily by Booz Allen’s Women in Data Science network. 

FIRST Robotics introduces students from ages 6 to 18 to science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) projects and careers, with an aim to keep tech talent in Hawaii, grow the state’s innovation ecosystem, and make STEM more inclusive.

Booz Allen Hawaii has been working with FIRST for over a decade, volunteering for events and helping plan the annual FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) Hawaii Regional. In 2020, the firm strengthened its support with three $2,000 team grants. 

In their grant applications, FIRST teams explained what diversity and inclusion mean to them, how their team promotes these ideals, and what initiatives they would implement if granted an award to advance diversity and inclusion with their team and community.

The winners planned to make a difference in their communities by purchasing LEGO parts and robotics kits and covering FIRST registration fees for those in need, and conducting outreach events across the islands. Those events included demonstrating robots, elevating STEM, recruiting new students to FIRST Robotics, and hosting a camp specially geared to inspire girls in technology.

“The FIRST partnership is an example of what we can accomplish when we combine creative, smart kids; strong community partnerships on the island and beyond; and a committed industry partner with a desire to empower people to change the world,” said Booz Allen Principal Michael Collat.