Maui County’s Community Action Agency, Maui Economic Opportunity, was praised as a “second government” for its far-reaching work assisting county residents in need by Maui County Council members, who declared May as Community Action Month.
“They are like a second government here because they can get things done and touch many lives,” said Council Member Yuki Lei Sugimura in Council Chambers with about 15 MEO staff and board members, most wearing the agency’s signature pink, on Thursday, May 1.
The proclamation, which was introduced by Council Member Shane Sinenci and passed unanimously, noted that MEO has been assisting residents on Maui, Moloka`i and Lana`i for the past 60 years, one of a thousand Community Action Agencies across the nation chartered as part of President Lyndon Johnson’s War on Poverty and the American Opportunity Act of 1964.
Formed on March 22, 1965, with two programs – Head Start preschool and a community organizing arm that led to the creation of the kupuna-led Maui County Planning & Coordinating Council – MEO has grown to more than 30 programs assisting low income, kupuna and youth residents and persons with disabilities.
Those programs fall under the agency’s five departments – each of which could stand alone as a nonprofit – Transportation, Early Childhood Services, Community Services, Business Development Center and Youth Services.
The resolution noted that MEO steps in during crises, such as the 2023 wildfires and COVID-19 pandemic, because the nonprofit agency can quickly set up programs to meet the needs of the community.
“MEO’s mission of Helping People, Changing Lives, is a guiding thing that has been carried out through the success of their human service programs and advocacy efforts,” the resolution says.
While praising MEO’s programs on Lana`i, especially the Human Services transportation, “which is so loved,” Council Member Gabe Johnson pointed to federal spending cuts that may impact MEO programs and exacerbate income inequality in the county and the nation.
“Head Start is one of the programs they run,” said Johnson, a former MEO board member and Lana`i residency council member. “As you know, the federal cuts are coming to Head Start, and I think now more than ever we need Maui County to partner with folks like MEO.
“MEO is doing a great job, and I really think we should be the ones working side by side with them in the trenches.”
Council Member Keani Rawlins-Fernandez, the Moloka`i residency member, also lauded MEO transportation services on her island.
“We don’t have bus service on Molokai,” she said, while also praising the agency’s array of programs from housing to Head Start. “MEO is our bus service on Moloka`i, and transportation is critical on our island.
“Without transportation, it’s hard to have a job. . . . They provide transportation for students to get to and from school, to give them an opportunity to participate in sports and other afterschool programs.”
Council Member Tasha Kama, a former MEO board member, said the agency is “definitely a Community Action Program,” offering assistance in education, economic development, agriculture, reintegration of recently released inmates into the community, and housing.
“They do action programs for the community,” she said. “They can only do better when we who sit here help them to do better on behalf of our community.”
Council Member Tom Cook said, “MEO touches the community’s lives in so many different ways from keiki to kupuna. . . . All the people that I’ve had the opportunity to interact with at MEO are just like whole heart and soul engaged.”
“Everywhere we went during our budget district meetings, we heard numerous testimony in support and praise of MEO services from their early childhood to kupuna programs and everything else in between,” said Sinenci. “It is truly a testament on how far reaching your services go to all of our individual communities.”
Maui County council members declared May as Community Action Month in Maui County on Thursday, May 1, in Council Chambers. The members posed for a photo with staff and board members of Maui Economic Opportunity, Maui County’s Community Action Agency.
MEO Board Vice President Bard Peterson receives a lei from Maui County Council Chair Alice Lee.
MEO CEO Debbie Cabebe thanked Maui County Council members for their support of the nonprofit agency and for declaring May as Community Action Month.
Community Services Director Cassi Yamashita addressed council members.
Early Childhood Services Director Debbi Amaral offered testimony.
Transportation Director Patty Copperfield.
Chief Administrative Officer Maggie Batangan
MEO staff and board members, most wearing MEO’s signature pink, attended the Maui County Council’s ceremonial proclamation, declaring May as Community Action Month in the county.