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The Hawaiʻi Good Food Alliance focuses on collaborative statewide projects that increase local food access
“DA BUX Double Up Food Bucks” is a statewide program administered by The Food Basket in partnership with the Hawaiʻi Good Food Alliance. How it works: Participating DA BUX retailers discount their locally grown produce by 50% for customers paying with federal SNAP food dollars (formerly known as food stamps).
The Hawaiʻi Farmers Market Association (HFMA) was established in 2020 to strengthen and promote a vibrant and sustainable local food system and economy by supporting farmers markets and direct-to-consumer farm marketing statewide. Launched under the fiscal sponsorship of Sustʻāinable Molokaʻi, the HFMA is now a primary project of HGFA, where we are working to promote the acceptance of SNAP-EBT and WIC at farmers markets, as well as provide technical assistance to farmers market managers to support their growth and financial viability.
The Hawaiʻi Food Hub Hui (HFHH) was established in 2017. The group initially consisted of five of the leading food hubs in Hawaiʻi and grew to represent 14 food hubs focused on aggregation and distribution of produce and other local foods from small family farmers, challenged with accessing markets, to marginalized customers, with limited buying power. Currently, these food hubs support 1,051 family farms and approximately 6,000 local customers per week in all Hawaiʻi counties. In 2021, HFFH via the Hawaiʻi Good Food Alliance received a $1 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Regional Food Systems Partnership (RFSP) and The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation in a project entitled “Hawaiʻi Food Hub Hui–a statewide partnership for value-chain integration.”
The Hawaiʻi Good Food Alliance is building a rubric to assess different components of our local food system. Drawing on various existing frameworks, the overall content is specific to the conditions and circumstances of our island home. Categories include; justice, fairness and thriving local economies, strong communities and healthy people, vibrant farms and sustainable ecosystems, and pilinahā cultural connections. Indicators take into account the historical, social, economic and cultural factors that have and continue to affect production and access to food, jobs and a sustainable future. It is our hope that this rubric will support efforts to both assess current situations while helping to plan for the futureʻ
Local food system stakeholders have identified a clear need for additional capital resources to support enterprises across the value chain that provide equitable access to quality food, increase community health, and stimulate community-based economic development. A Hawaiʻi Good Food Alliance working group is researching and designing a collaborative organizational structure to provide information and technical assistance to make available funding streams at both early growth and scaling stages. The range of available products might include: loans from the CDFI sector; catalytic capital that reduces risk to conventional investors; equity investment; matching funds for programs such as Double Bucks, Specialty Crop, Community Food Systems, and foundation grants. The working group’s goal is to launch a Hawaiʻi Good Food Fund (tentative name) by early 2024.
The Hawaiʻi Good Food Alliance is building a rubric to assess different components of our local food system. Drawing on various existing frameworks, the overall content is specific to the conditions and circumstances of our island home. Categories include; justice, fairness and thriving local economies, strong communities and healthy people, vibrant farms and sustainable ecosystems, and pilinahā cultural connections.
Local food system stakeholders have identified a clear need for additional capital resources to support enterprises across the value chain that provide equitable access to quality food, increase community health, and stimulate community-based economic development.
