The Honolulu Boy Choir, threatened with dissolution early this year, is staging a comeback. It is celebrating another piece of good news tomorrow with a ceremony at which the state Department of Human Services will award the organization about $150,000.

"It's a contract for services that will ... allow us get back on our feet, reorganize and operate for another year," said board of directors chair Gary Saito.

The choir applied for the grant through a state request-for-proposal program through which the Department of Human Services accepted funding requests from private, nonprofit organizations that provide programs for at-risk youths. In this case, the state was looking for programs with a performing arts component that involved parent participation and stressed positive behavior standards, Saito said.

"(The Honolulu Boy Choir) gives boys a chance to engage in an activity in an environment where all of the factors are positive, reinforcing, character building," he said. "It was a condition of the contract."

Lillian Koller, Human Services director, said Friday that the contract had yet to be signed and therefore declined to discuss it. But she did say, "We're excited that we can help them."

The state funding will be used immediately to stabilize the 32-year-old choir's financial base and rebuild its membership.

The choir's membership, once at about 75, dropped to 30 in the months following a March announcement by the former board that the choir would disband.

In an effort to revive the choir, parents of members organized and drafted a business plan, which was approved by the board in May.

One of the parents who helped put together the plan, Michelle Saito (not related to Gary Saito), called the state grant a miracle.

"With this money I really see an opportunity to strengthen the choir to assure a long-term existence," she said.

The choir provides boys with an alternative to sports, hanging out or simply watching television during their spare time, Michelle Saito said. And because it's free, it has given many children whose families could not afford lessons a chance to learn music, she said.

"We do have a lot of boys in the choir who would not be in any other activity had it not been for the Honolulu Boy Choir," she said.

Gary Saito and the board of directors hope to quickly raise membership to its former level with a long-range goal of recruiting a 100-member choir. The choir is open to boys ages 7 to 14.

The state funding also will be used to hire a new executive director.

Saito said the nearly $150,000 award from the state will cover the annual budget that the boy choir operated on in recent years.

In the coming year, the choir board will increase community fundraising efforts and seek donations from businesses and individuals to achieve financial stability beyond the state's contract award.

The presentation will begin at 4:15 p.m. tomorrow at the choir's Makiki Christian Church rehearsal space, at 829 Pensacola St. The presentation is open to the public. There will be a brief performance by the choir.

Reach Eloise Aguiar at eaguiar@honoluluadvertiser.com and Derek Paiva at dpaiva@honoluluadvertiser.com.