Due to the hazards from the winter storm, MEO has rescheduled the Open House to 8 to 9 a.m., Tuesday, Feb. 4.
Maui Economic Opportunity is holding an open house from 8 to 9 a.m. Friday, Jan. 31, in the first of a series of public events to mark the nonprofit Community Action Agency’s 60th anniversary this year.
Maui County Council members and state legislators are expected to attend with Council Chair Alice Lee and state Rep. Justin Woodson, a former Head Start parent and MEO Board Member, offering a few remarks.
MEO’s five department directors will be giving a short overview of their programs, and there will be a video and old photos of the agency to view.
MEO was established on March 22, 1965, as Maui County’s Community Action Agency, one of a thousand formed nationwide as part of President Lyndon Johnson’s War on Poverty. The agency began with two programs: Head Start preschool and a community organizing entity.
Today, MEO hosts more than 30 programs in five diverse departments – Transportation, Early Childhood Services, Community Services, Business Development Center and Youth Services. Staff assist low income residents, kupuna, youth, persons with disabilities and disenfranchised members of the community.
In the 2023-24 fiscal year, MEO assisted 18,000 individuals and 12,500 families. This included 6,500 individuals and 700 businesses impacted by the Aug. 8, 2023, wildfires, who received assistance with housing and utilities, vehicle, appliances, clothing and school supply purchases and employment.
The agency has a staff of nearly 250 on Maui, including Hana; Lana‘i and Moloka‘i with a budget of nearly $40 million.
MEO has grown and evolved through the years, shedding programs that no longer addressed the top community needs, which are assessed every three years. In some cases, MEO ceded programs to other nonprofits that performed the same service. Housekeeping, basil growing, AmeriCorps are programs that have come and gone.
“Please help us celebrate and mark our 60 years of Helping People. Changing Lives. in Maui County,” said CEO Debbie Cabebe. “Our predecessors have helped engrain MEO in the community and to establish our reputation as the place to go when life takes a turn for the worse. Through the years, new generations of leaders have adapted to the changing needs and times and expanded our reach, building on the foundation laid by the past.
“Our hope and goal is to remain relevant to the needs of the Maui County community.”
Don Medeiros and Agnes Groff manage a patient transportation service in this vintage photo. MEO no longer provides this service but does operate The Maui Bus ADA paratransit service.
MEO used to hold a swap meet on its grounds in Kahului, across the street from Sears at the Queen Ka‘ahumanu Center.
