The Office of Hawaiian Affairs is seeking applications from nonprofits that support Native Hawaiian communities to help address impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

OHA has released $2.92 million in grant funds — $1.67 million for a COVID-19 Response Grant to mitigate the impact of the pandemic on Native Hawaiian ‘ohana and communities and $1.25 million to an ‘Ohana and Community Based Program Grant to support programs specifically designed to bolster the family unit, OHA said in a news release Tuesday.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has heavily impacted our Hawaiian community from the loss of employment to our families’ ability to provide the necessities of life like food and shelter. These grants will assist with finances in a variety of areas in this time of great need,” said OHA Board Chairwoman and Maui Trustee Carmen “Hulu” Lindsey. “OHA is enacting a new grants structure that ensures every island will have a share of both of these grants so that there’s fairness in the distribution of these assets.”

OHA is offering $335,994 in grant funding on Maui, $48,731 on Molokai and $6,311 on Lanai. The office is looking for nonprofits that administer community-based projects designed to strengthen Hawaiian beneficiaries, families and communities. The application deadline is 2 p.m. March 19.

A prerecorded orientation session along with a PowerPoint presentation is available on the OHA Grants Program website.

According to The Native Hawaiian COVID-19 Research Hui survey of Hawaii residents last summer, 60 percent of Native Hawaiians reported a negative or very negative impact of COVID-19 on their ‘ohana mental or spiritual health, 51 percent reported a negative or very negative impact of COVID-19 on their ‘ohana physical health and finances and 38 percent reported a negative or very negative impact on their ‘ohana access to affordable healthy foods.

For more information about the grants and to access the online application, visit www. oha.org/grants.