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Lead Entity: Ke Aupuni Lokahi (Leaders Working Together), Inc.

State: Hawaii
Counties (Census Tracts): Maui (317, 318, 319)
Community Population: 5,120
Poverty Rate: 26%
Net area: 260 square miles

• Average annual unemployment rate is 15.9%
• 24.4% of the Island’s resident population received food stamps
• 32.5% of the resident population received Medicaid
• 28% of the food for all families is acquired through subsistence fishing, hunting, gathering, and farming
• 20% of the population 18 years and over does not have a high school diploma

Moloka’i is the fifth largest of the eight inhabited islands of Hawaii. The Island is 38 miles at its greatest length and 10 miles at its maximum width, and contains approximately 166,000 acres. The Island’s current situation can be characterized as a post-plantation/under-developed economy. Its present legacy is the remnant of a departed pineapple growing and processing economy. In recent years, the State Government has supported the development of a diversified agriculture and tourism as a means of compensating for the departure of the pineapple industry.

With the implementation of its Strategic Plan, Moloka’i seeks to achieve economic growth and community development through environmental protection, the promotion of a diversified agriculture, encouragement of tourism, and the addition of new community facilities.

• Environmental Projects – Watershed Protection and Management Plans, erosion control, and windbreak planting, Moloka’i Electric Company Brownfield Clean-up and Development, historic sites survey and inventory.
• Economic Development – taro production initiative, aquaculture development, establishment of agricultural cooperatives, construction of a fruit disinfestation facility, establishment of a licensed slaughterhouse, Island visitor program. Fisheries Management Area Designation, Community Land Trust, warehousing, and business incubator.
• Housing – Self-Help Housing Loan Fund.
• Education – long distance learning centers, youth leadership projects,
• Health and Human Services – dialysis treatment center, multi-disciplinary human services complex, cultural park.

Partnerships include participation by Federal, state, and local governments, nonprofits, area businesses, public schools, and local higher education. The College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources of the University of Hawaii will be a task leader, funding source, and technical advisor in various projects involving taro production, including disease and insect control, nursery and tissue propagation, and training in cultivation.

The Service Council has identified a range of organizations at the federal, state, and local level where it proposes to leverage $10.4 million in funding from other sources. Administrative costs are projected to be less than 15%. Other sources identified are support from local organizations in terms of in-kind contributions.

Public participation in the planning process was extensive. Serious efforts were made in inducing public participation in terms of providing transportation, refreshments, and entertainment. There was extensive communication in printed form, in terms of press releases, newspaper reports, and newsletters.

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