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Gary Maunakea-Forth has a mission to fulfill - to uplift the lives of those in his community.
In 2001, Gary and a group of community-active locals put together the MA'O Community Food Security Initiative which was geared towards economic development of Wai'anae through food security and job generation.
"We really wanted to create jobs in our community by starting a non-profit organization that got involved in agriculture and producing food. When we talk about community food security, we talk about returning to the older ways of growing the food we eat so we produce it ourselves," he said. "Within that we produce jobs, we understand how we eat and deal with the food; it's a pretty simple concept."
According to Gary, MA'O runs a 10-month long leadership training program for 16 to 25 year olds which centers on agriculture, entrepreneurship and personal development.
He said that it is only practical to focus on agriculture since it is an integral part of the Wai'anae economy. The organic farms management has conducted a research and ascertained that the combination of youth education and economic development would be viable through the promotion and implementation of agriculture - organic agriculture in particular.
The MA'O Organic Farm placed 5th in the 2005 Yale University Business Plan Writing competition, earning them $25,000 and free technical business writing consultation from Yale professors and leaders of successful non-profits. The winnings would be used as an investment capital to expand the youth training program and the seating capacity of its small café in Waianae.
June 27, 2006
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