Age-Friendly Honolulu
Age-Friendly Honolulu changes mindsets about aging by empowering kūpuna, promoting intergenerational engagement, and supporting accessibility and a sense of belonging for all. It is a public/private initiative, collaborating with both city departments and community organizations, and member of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Global Network of Age-Friendly Cities and AARP National’s Network of Age-Friendly Communities. AFH strives to support healthy aging and opportunities for people of all ages to engage and participate in community activities that contribute to one’s health.
Hawaiʻi Youth Food Council
Founded in 2019 and launched in February 2020, the Hawaiʻi Youth Food Council (HYFC) is a group of motivated students from public, charter, and independent high schools from across the State of Hawaiʻi. HYFC’s mission is to engage youth in policy and systems change efforts that result in a just local food system for a healthier Hawaiʻi. HYFC envisions a Hawaiʻi where youth are engaged and empowered in creating healthy, local food systems that instill a sense of place and purpose for all people in connection with the ‘āina.
Kūpuna Food Security Coalition
The Kūpuna Food Security Coalition was formed to address the immediate and urgent food needs of Oahu’s kūpuna who were facing empty grocery shelves and fearing to venture outside their homes during the outbreak. The Coalition was composed of public and private sector groups, food providers, funders, University of Hawaiʻi and businesses, and led by the Honolulu Elderly Affairs Division who was being inundated by calls for help. Within a few weeks after the COVID outbreak, massive feeding and food distributions were systematically organized and coordinated by the Coalition to serve kūpuna in need. Work has continued for over 8 months and resulted in over 1.2 million meals, serving about 8,000 kūpuna each week. The KFSC is comprised of over 40 agencies and led by HIPHI.
Transforming Hawaii’s Food System Together Initiative
HIPHI serves as the “backbone” organization for this collaborative statewide project by coordinating, facilitating and convening key activities. The Transforming Hawaii’s Food System Together Initiative is working towards lasting changes to Hawaii’s current food system which involves all of its functioning sectors, including producers, processing/delivery/transportation, marketing, consumers/purchasing, and waste management. This investment in Hawaii’s community-based food system includes strategies to change the agricultural economy that integrates sustainable economic development, climate change resilience and biocultural restoration with community health.
- Design, coordinate and deliver an Integrated State Food Policy Framework that will guide the development of a food system strategy reflecting the perspectives of local and community producers.
- Inform the statewide planning process with 4 key knowledge products: i) Food Systems system map; ii) Vulnerability Assessment, iii) Review of Policy; and, iv) Social Network Analysis
- Build state capacity to purchase local food for schools, hospitals and jails and other large scale purchase institutions, by conducting an assessment of opportunity, sharing best practices, weaving farm to institution in project activities, and vetting the readiness for large scale purchasers to adopt the Center for Good Food Purchasing model.
- Statewide food systems project coordination, communications, and convening Advisory Committee quarterly
