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Grantee Database
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| Maui Community College |
Don Ainsworth
Maui Community College
2530 Dole Street, Sakamaki D-200
Honolulu HI, 96822
Phone: (808) 984-3384 Ext:
Fax: ( ) -
donains@hawaii.edu
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| Vocational Education Center |
| Maui Community College (MCC) is constructing a new classroom and vocational shop building at MCC's Agricultural and Vocational Training Center (The Farm), MCC's satellite location on the island of Molokai. The facility is being built for a new vocational agriculture training program that MCC is developing for residents of Molokai, which is one of the three islands that make up the County of Maui in the Hawaiian Islands. Over 60% of Molokai residents are Native Hawaiian or part-Native Hawaiian.
The vocational agriculture training program includes small agribusiness training and training in the related trades. Small agribusiness development is one of the primary economic development approaches for the island. Molokai's agricultural potential lies in the availability of large tracts of flat agricultural land, especially in the Central Plains. The Department of Hawaiian Home Lands is a major landowner in this farming belt. The vocational agriculture training program covers new farm development, farm management, entrepreneurship and business development, cooperative marketing, value-added market development, and trade skills for farm operation and maintenance. The new facility also is being outfitted with equipment for classroom distance education.
Molokai once contained the largest pineapple plantation in the world. Over a third of the production occurred on Hawaiian Home Lands in Hoolehua through planting agreements with homesteaders. Pineapple was the largest employer and controlled over 60% of the jobs on the island. During pineapple's heyday, 75% of homesteaders worked for the pineapple companies. With the phase-out of pineapple starting in 1976, unemployment soared. Nearly 30% of Molokai's residents now receive some form of public assistance. After suffering double-digit unemployment for decades, rates as high as 14-16%, Molokai has, in the last six to eight months, seen the unemployment rate dip into single figures. The island rate, however, is still higher than that of the State. More than 25% of the island's residents are below poverty level or below 50% of the state's median family income. Two and a half times as many Native Hawaiian families live below the poverty line as compared to other ethnic groups. |
This activity is cross-listed under the following categories:
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community scholars
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economic development
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job training/microenterprise assistance
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Last updated: Sunday, June 07, 2009 |
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