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The Sacramento Bee and Nehemiah Leaders Programs are celebrating this year’s 60 Change Makers. Join them at our gala at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 13 at the Grand Sheraton in downtown Sacramento. Buy tickets at sacramentochangemakers.com.
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The best part of her job, said Lisa Hafoka, is giving out scholarships.
The money, typically $1,000 each, could go toward something important to a student’s life, such as utility bills or a new laptop.
“We already know it’s hard to stay in school,” she said. “So whatever they use that money for, we just want to meet you where you’re at.”
Her organization, TOFA, has given out more than 150 so far to Pacific Islander students.
The organization’s name — To’utupu ‘oe ‘Otu Felenite Association, or TOFA — translates to “the youth leaders of the Pacific.” Hafoka has served on the organization’s board since 2000, when it was founded by her mother, Catherine ‘Ofa Mann.
The group also runs an “ambassador” program, where school-age children meet weekly from January through May. They elect a youth president, and learn about financial literacy, career development, civic engagement and cultural arts.
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Mann funded some of TOFA’s programs out of her own pocket, with “whatever money she could throw at it,” Hafoka said. And Mann got involved in civic engagement, with Asian Pacific American Public Affairs.
“She was a solo giant, walking the halls of the Capitol, representing our people,” Hafoka said.
After Mann died in 2021, Hafoka was voted president of TOFA.
Hafoka moved to Sacramento in 1996 from Auckland, New Zealand, and in her day job works as an analyst for the California Parks and Recreation Department. But in her work with TOFA, she’s seen the organization through a smattering of different programs over the course of its existence, from counseling to scholarships to an annual education conference. Some of its members were part of a women’s football team, the Sacramento Sirens.
Over that time, Hafoka said she has figured out what programs TOFA does well, and chosen good leaders to run each of them. Now her mission is to help them expand those programs further.
“It’s to support those leaders,” she said, “and give them a way to continue to build out their programs.”
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