MA’O Organic Farms

mission:

to build a future of māʻona, of plenty, by connecting youth and land through the daily practice of aloha ʻāina, empowering youth to succeed in college and secure sustaining careers, and growing organic produce that yields individual and communal vitality.

MAʻO Organic Farms is structured as a revenue-generating nonprofit organization. This allows them to take a systemic view and work with partners to make critical investments that benefit youth, their future employers and the broader community, now and for the future.

MAʻO is an acronym for Mala ʻAi ʻOpio, which translates to youth food garden and is an affirmation of the belief that when we restore the relationship between youth and ʻāina, we restore our ancestral connection to the land and foster an interdependence that returns abundance and prosperity to the community.

In 2000 a group of community members founded the Waiʻanae Community Re-Development Corporation (WCRC) to grow two of the community’s greatest assets: the rich food producing traditions of the region and youth who were not achieving their academic potential. WCRC created a social enterprise called MAʻO Organic Farms (MAʻO) and began developing programming to mentor, education and empower youth. For twenty years, MAʻO has catalyzed educational and entrepreneurial opportunities around youth and land assets to redefine our community by our strengths and address the root causes of intergenerational cultural, social, economic and environmental poverty.