Community and educational organizations have received a total of nearly $1.4 million in grants, according to several announcements:

» The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs gave a $610,000 grant to Catholic Charities Hawaii to provide housing assistance to veterans and their families who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless.

At a recent legislative briefing, Hawaii Department of Defense Deputy Adjutant General Brig. Gen. Joseph Kim said there are an estimated 1,500 to 2,000 homeless veterans in Hawaii. Additionally, a City and County of Honolulu report said there are more than 8,000 very-low-income veteran households on Oahu, Catholic Charities said.

Catholic Charities Hawaii was one of 85 grant recipients out of more than 400 applicants nationwide, the organization said.

» The City and County of Honolulu is giving $550,000 for the second phase of renovations to Kahi Mohala Behavioral Health, an 88-bed psychiatric hospital in Ewa. The facility is Hawaii’s only free-standing, community-based, nonprofit psychiatric hospital, the city said. It served more than 1,500 patients in 2010.

The city had earlier given $547,816 for the recently completed Phase I of renovations. The money is federal funding from the Community Development Block Grant program.

"I commend Kahi Mohala Behavioral Health for the vital work they do to help some of the most vulnerable members of our community," Mayor Peter Carlisle said in a news release. "This project highlights the importance of the CDBG program on Oahu."

The city Department of Community Services and the Department of Budget and Fiscal Services administer about $9 million in new CDBG funds each year from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

"We’re grateful to reach the end of Phase I and look forward to completing Phase II," said Leonard Licina, chief executive officer of Kahi Mohala. "When we’re done, rooms will be safer and offer our patients more privacy, and the facility will help us provide even better service."

» The National Science Foundation has awarded a $149,952 grant to Kenneth Hayes and Robert Cowie of the University of Hawaii at Manoa’s Center for Conservation Research and Training and other members of their research team from Texas, Uruguay and Brazil.

The researchers are trying to develop a research-training model using a group of aquatic snails commonly called apple snails. These snails are native to Uruguay and Brazil but are an environmental and agricultural pest in Hawaii, Texas and other areas.

The grant is through the NSF’s International Research Experiences for Students program.

Other researchers are Romi Burks from Southwestern University of Georgetown, Texas, Silvano Thiengo from the Instituto Oswaldo Cruz in Brazil and Mariana Meerhoff from the University of the Republic in Uruguay.

» General Atlantic Corp. has given Chaminade University a $43,000 grant to support cancer research and a $7,000 grant for the purchase of advanced instrumentation for its physics department, the university announced.

The grant will support research by Helen Turner, dean of natural sciences and mathematics at Chaminade, into the relationship of mast cells — specialized white blood cells — and various cancers, as well as extend her research on the links between immune dysfunction and obesity.

» Hewlett Packard Vietnam has given $30,000 to the University of Hawaii at Manoa’s Shidler College of Business to fund scholarships for students in the college’s Vietnam Executive M.B.A. program.

HP Vietnam selected the UH program for its ability to provide a quality business education and executive training for business and government leaders in Vietnam, a UH news release said.