Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 27, Number 11, 1 November 2010 — MAʻO Farms growing food-- and young leaders too [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

MAʻO Farms growing food-- and young leaders too

n organic gardening, a well-prepared and ferthe soh is the medimn in whieh good fruits (and vegetables) grow. MA'O Organic Fanns in Wai'anae yields a double crop - the produce from its 16 acres of gardens and the maturing of young people in its farming and leadership programs. MA'O, an acronym for Māla 'Ai 'Ōpio (Garden of Youth), is a project of the Wai'anae Conununity Re-Development Corp. The Office of Hawaiian Affairs has nurtured the West O'ahu nonprofit with a total of $184,000 in grants to date, beginning with a collaborative grant with Wai'anae Intennediate School to start a gardening and healthy eating program there in 2003. Since that time, the MA'O harvest has grown eaeh year. A lot of the youth who began with MA'O seven years ago have moved through its expanding programs as they grew up, says Kukui Mau-nakea-Forth, MA'O Executive Director. "One youth just completed a degree at (the University of Hawai'i's) Shidler Business School," Maunakea-Forth says. "Another is finishing a degree in Hawaiian Studies." MA'0's " 'āina-based programs for leadership training" have created a "youth fann-to-college pathway" that allows West O'ahu youth to learn about their connection to the land through fanning. Though all program graduates "are fanners when they leave," some may ultimately take other career paths, Maunakea-Forth says. MA'O youth began attending Leeward Conununity College in 2005, with the estabhshment of conununity food systems certificate, consisting of many courses that the MA'O program initiated. A new option is a digital media track. Youth working on MA'O Fanns help raise fresh produce for restaurants, fanners' markets, conununity-supported agriculture subscribers, and customers who buy direct from the fann. "All profits from the fann go to create more capacity in our young people to get college degrees," Maunakea-Forth says. "If they have degrees, they ean have better quality of life for themselves and their conununity." About a dozen new students enter the youth enterprise training eaeh year and there are 30 in it now, Maunakea-Forth says. — Diana Leone M

I Cheryse Sana graduated from FMA'00rganic Farms Youth Leade'rship Trainirig withher i associates of arts and cērtifi-J ; cate in Community Food SysMen^ from Leeward Commu-"" | nity Collegeand nowl/orks I full-time as Co-Mana'ger at the I farm while pursuing a degreel I in Hawaiian Studies. - Photo:l \Courte'sy ofMA'0 Farms. u