Recipient Organization
'AINA HO'OKUPU O KILAUEA
3000 KILAUEA RD
KILAUEA,HI 96754
Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
The Kauai Local Food Systems Supporting Vulnerable Populations project is designed to be a 3-year extension and transformation of an existing locally-grown mixed produce box aggregation and delivery system into a sustainable self-funded program, while providing 200 produce boxes per week to those in need. Aina Hookupu O Kilauea's (AHK's)produce box delivery system has its roots in the COVID-19 emergency response and was quickly supported by the USDA Farmers-To-Families Food Box Program. Since then, AHK has continued to secure philanthropic and governmental support to keep the system operational.This local food systems project provides a wide variety of positive impacts including: jobs and economic growth for small local farmers and Native Hawaiians in the County of Kauai, increased food security and improved resilience for one of the most remote islands in the world, maintaining and strengthening a network of nonprofits that work together to provide for the community, and delivering healthy fresh food to some of the most vulnerable and food-insecure populations - of which Native Hawaiians are disproportionately represented.
Animal Health Component
(N/A)
Research Effort Categories
Basic
(N/A)
Applied
(N/A)
Developmental
(N/A)
Goals / Objectives
AHK's "Kauai Local Food Systems Supporting Vulnerable Populations" project is designed to be a 3-year extension and transformation of an existing locally-grown mixed produce box aggregation and delivery system into a sustainable ongoing program. AHK has planned and budgeted to create and deliver at least 186boxes of mixed produce per week on average, targeting deliveries for50 weeks out of the year, for a total primary goal of providing at least 9300 produce boxes per year for free to nonprofit partners, for each of the 3 years of the proposed project. Each box will include 8 lbs. of produce by weight on average, for a total annual poundage of 74,400. This translates into Goal 1 of providing 9300 of these produce boxes per year to support an actual estimated 500+ low-income households (1,500 unique people) across the island of Kauai in improving their health, food security and economic situation. Goal 2 is to support at least 6 external for-profit local small farmers in diversifying their markets via AHK's direct produce purchases. Goal 3 is to promote increased usage of Hawaii SNAP federal food assistance by facilitating 80 new household enrollments in the program. Goal 4 is to provide jobs, job skills and economic opportunity - especially to Native Hawaiians and other disenfranchised groups. AHK currently employs 12 people and has 5 interns of which 4 employees (33%) and all 5 interns (100%) are Native Hawaiian; this is a substantial overrepresentation compared to the base island demographics of 9.1% Native Hawaiian, and our ratio has been even higher in the past when we had 20 employees. We expect this project to provide these employees valuable training and skills in farming, aggregation, communications, and a host of other facets of professional life. Goal 5 is to develop a mixture of revenue streams to make the project sustainable beyond the end of the project period. Our facilities and assets have proven sufficient to successfully perform our produce box delivery system over the past 2 years of the size and scope proposed in this submission. This project will provide a wide variety of positive intended outcomes that are aligned with the goals of the Community Food Projects Competitive Grant Program including: jobs and economic growth for small local for-profit farmers and Native Hawaiians in the County of Kauai, increased food security and improved resilience for one of the most remote islands in the world, maintaining and strengthening a network of nonprofits that work together in emergencies to provide for the community, and delivering healthy fresh food to some of the most vulnerable and food-insecure populations on island.
Project Methods
A typical weekly box delivery operational process is as follows:- On Monday AHK reviews and finalizes its on-site farm harvest plan with types and quantities of produce, and it develops the purchase plan to procure supplemental types and quantities of produce from other farmers to be able to make the 200 mixed produce boxes at 8 lbs. each. In doing so AHK ensures that there are a reasonable variety and quantity of root, leaf, fruit and specialty produce available per box to provide a family a balanced offering. AHK contacts the external farmers to place purchase orders so that they have time to harvest and deliver their goods. The delivery schedule is confirmed with nonprofit partners including locations and quantities. This weekly planning session takes 5 staff 1 hour each.- On Wednesday and Thursday AHK harvests, washes, packs, receives and stores their on-site produce. AHK also receives and stores produce from external farmers which is typically paid immediately upon receipt and inspection of goods. AHK does not bill the project for any produce growing or harvest/wash/pack time, instead it "reimburses" itself an average of $2.00/lb. earned for produce generated on-site just as it pays $2.00/lb. on average to external farmers for their produce; in this manner it is reliable and fungible to adjust the amount and type of produce harvested vs. purchased week-to-week to meet the operational realities of the system. The typical actual ratio of produce grown on-site to produce purchased from external farmers has been about 50:50, although we anticipate swings of up to 80:20 or 20:80 on a week-by-week basis depending on the myriad of factors that affect small farming operations and the need to generate an appropriate mix of produce. Logs are then updated and invoices are generated. The delivery schedule is re-confirmed, and box construction and delivery forms are printed. Receiving the produce takes 3 staff 1 hour each.- On Friday morning AHK aggregates the produce and records the actual produce mix and representative sample weight on the box construction form which is signed off by a manager and one of the Co-PD/PI's. The boxes are loaded into the refrigerated truck and delivered to nonprofit partners who sign off on the delivery receipt forms.These nonprofit partners are grouped by area of the island in Table 1 in order to deliver more efficiently to one region of the island at a time on a rotating weekly schedule. Constructing and filling the boxes takes 3 staff 3 hours each. - It is approximately 40 minutes drive time from AHK's location at the Kilauea Community Agricultural Center (KCAC) counterclockwise to the northwestern end of the road at Haena; it is approximately 1 hour 30 minutes drive time clockwise around the island to the east and south to Kekaha the furthest southwest town area we can serve. These endpoints are due primarily to the island's unique geography and also a function of its distribution of population. Delivering the boxes takes an average of 1 staff 3 hours.- In addition to the core box construction processes, AHK will conduct and record regular safety checks and update logs in accordance with GAP and USDA standards including but not limited to items such as lighting checks for breakage, bleach testing, sanitation and storage procedures including refrigeration condenser coil drip and cleaning, and other typical safety and procedural items as indicated in the USDA Farmers To Families Food Box Program audit.In addition to the box delivery program operations, AHK will meet quarterly with nonprofit partners to assist them in outreach with their constituencies to identify potential eligibility for federally-supported nutrition assistance programs (with an expected focus on but not limited to Hawaii SNAP) and helping guide their recipients into signing up for such programs to be able to use a portion of this funding to purchase fresh produce boxes. If any recipients are identified as already having active Hawaii SNAP benefits we will encourage them to devote a portion of those funds towards purchasing their produce box if it will not cause undue hardship on their overall food budget. To enable this process AHK will develop streamlined flowcharts to simplify determination of eligibility. AHK will rely on the close local relationships the nonprofits have with their constituents to influence them to consider signing up for federal assistance benefits while also working to remove any barriers that may be present. We anticipate this will be a delicate case-by-case process that may take many quarters to realize from initial identification to new enrollment which is why most of our new signups are projected for year 3. This activity is projected to take 2 staff 1 hour per week on average.AHK has utilized its resources to develop and maintain reporting and tracking systems for its existing program efforts. We have collected extensive data for our produce box delivery system thus far including daily tracking of small farm vendor suppliers, internal harvest logs, produce types and quantities purchased, number and type of boxes constructed with sample weights and included produce lists, and number of boxes distributed to each partner with signed and dated logs. We intend to use these same systems along with our existing financial systems to manage our reporting capability and ensure the government has a complete picture of all aspects of performance.AHK intends to employ both process evaluations and outcome evaluations. AHK will develop and use process evaluations in order to better identify potential best practices and lessons learned throughout the course of the project as well as to verify progress toward outcomes. AHK will use outcomes evaluations in order to determine to what extent the proposed goals and outcomes were ultimately achieved. AHK will also endeavor to determine unexpected benefits and seek to identify whether any innovative new evaluation methods could be brought to bear throughout the course of the project as the data materializes and the actual results inform new ways of analyzing the project.This data will be used as part of our final report and educational materials to share with other stakeholders upon completion of the project. We expect this will be particularly valuable for other Hawaiian Islands and U.S. island territories. AHK intends to share its exemplary findings and lessons learned with anyone the USDA-NIFA would suggest.