No Panic, Go Organic! Established in 2001, the Waiʻanae Community Re-Development Corporation- WCRC- is a native-controlled 501c3 nonprofit organization located in the moku of Waiʻanae on Oʻahu. WCRC created the MAʻO Community Food Systems Initiative (MAʻO) to empower our youth, families and community to work toward a just, healthy, self-reliant, sustainable and resilient food system for Hawaiʻi. MAʻO is the acronym for mala ʻai ʻopio, which translates as 'the youth food garden', a movement to develop a comprehensive and living local food system–educating youth, fighting hunger, improving health and nutrition, growing the organic agriculture industry–to empower our community to move towards self-determination and self-sufficiency.
MAʻO Organic Farms currently partners with Searider Productions and Mākaha Studios to model the vitality and resilience of social enterprise through the implementation of the Kauhale Youth Leadership Training program or YLT. The YLT is a culturally rooted, communally informed and entrepreneurially innovative program in which youth leadership is cultivated to create greater health and well-being in our moku. Their mission is to train the next generation of mea mahiʻai and moʻolelo- farmers and storytellers – that would simultaneously attain a post-secondary education while producing quality organic fruits and vegetables and quality digital media products for local, national and international consumption.
