On Friday, Jan. 10, a formidable yacht anchored off of the Kaunakakai Wharf – quickly raising concerns from many residents.
While the yacht stayed offshore, a dinghy with crew members landed at the wharf, where they were subsequently met by a group of Molokai residents eager to have a frank discussion about visitation expectations.
For a more indepth examination of Friday’s incident, make sure to check out next week’s issue of The Molokai Dispatch.…
Mo’oLono o Molokai News Release
Throughout time, our kupuna have marked the transition of Makahiki season with observations, ceremonies, competitions and festivities. Today, we continue to evolve and pull forward the most meaningful and appropriate traditions of the generations before us, while ensuring we remain relevant, inspiring and profoundly grounded as kanaka to honor our pilina to our kupuna, akua and Molokai.
In that spirit, the Mo’oLono of Molokai will once again commence a ka’ahele across the island, carrying the ki’i of Lonomakua from Halawa to Kaluako’i, and all are invited to join in.
Our goal is to recognize the abundance of blessings in our community, to honor the health of the land, ocean, air and water, to assess the needs that require political, social or physical interventions or remedies, to build aloha between people in our community, and to celebrate Molokai Nui a Hina.…
Maui Economic Opportunity, Inc., (MEO) is celebrating its 60th anniversary in 2025. The Community Action Partnership program, born of President Lyndon Johnson’s War on Poverty and the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964, was chartered on March 22, 1965.
MEO’s reach stretches from East Maui to Lanai City to Kaunakakai, Molokai, while offering most of the agency’s 30 programs in each location.
On Molokai, MEO offices and a Head Start preschool were completed in 1992 on 1.3 acres at 380 Kolapa Place in Kaunakakai. Prior to moving, MEO was located across the street from Kaunakakai Elementary and served as a “community hub,” recalled MEO Molokai Director Mahie McPh
erson, who leads a staff of 19.…
Winter sports continued into the last few weeks of their regular seasons. Girls basketball took on Seabury Hall in two games at home. In Friday’s game, where the basketball team celebrated senior night, the Lady Farmers took an emphatic 50-4 victory over Seabury Hall. Leila Hooper-Phifer dropped 19 points and Kaia Yamashita put up 12 points in the win.
Saturday was more of the same for the Lady Farmers, taking a 38-17 win. This time Khloe Bicoy led the scoring with 12 points. The Lady Farmers ended their regular season with a 9-1 record and will host the MIL tournament in two weeks.…
A new type of collaborative program highlights the ethics of food abundance on Molokai. The Barter and Trade event invites Molokai residents to bring excess food from their gardens to share and trade with their neighbors.
“It’s meant to build connections among community members, to celebrate our abundance, to extend generosity by sharing with others, to encourage self-sufficiency and steps toward reducing our dependency on imported goods,” explained event organizer Mercy Ritte.
The project is anchored in the theme “Ko Koa Uka, Ko Koa Kai,” meaning that those from the mountains share their crops and those from the sea share their catch.…
Four Molokai artists were selected for the prestigious 2024 Artists of Hawaii Biennial. The exhibition, which ran at the Downtown Art Center in Honolulu from Nov. 1 to Dec. 21, was a showcase of about 200 works chosen from over 2,000 submissions statewide. For Molokai, artists Arabella Ark, Kim Markham, Nena Evans and Patti Golebieski had work selected.
The Molokai artists submitted various forms of art. From pottery tablets to earthenware to tapestries, these women channeled their talents and years of practice to create unique, stunning works.
“It was a really great honor,” said Kim Markham, who had two pieces accepted into the exhibition.…
Hawaii Dept. of Human Services News Release
Hawaii families can have greater peace of mind when it comes to health care for their keiki, thanks to a new approval from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
Under this change, children in Hawaii can stay covered by Hawaii’s Medicaid program, QUEST, without interruptions, as follows: children under age 6 will have continuous coverage until their sixth birthday. Children ages 6 to 19 will receive coverage for two years at a time.
This means families won’t have to reapply as often, reducing paperwork and making it easier to focus on what matters most: their children’s health and well-being.…
Hawaii Dept. of Business, Economic Development and Tourism News Release
Right now, Molokai creatives have a chance to bid for funding for their film and media projects.
The Hawaii State Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism (DBEDT) Creative Industries Division (CID) Hawaii released on Dec. 31, 2024, a request for proposals (RFP) toward the development of small, mid-sized and microbudget film and creative media projects. Providing Phase I seed funding from the Hawaii Film and Creative Industries Development Fund, the solicitation is to support local filmmakers, media makers and content creators with the goal of supporting the growth of Hawaii-originated intellectual property (IP) for licensing, distribution and export.…
Applications for the popular Agricultural Micro Grant Program 5.0 – which offers up to $25,000 in grants to Maui County small farmers and ranchers – will be available starting Jan. 9, 2025.
The $2 million Maui County-funded program, administered by Maui Economic Opportunity’s Business Development Center, is open to select startup and operating farms on less than 12 acres, and livestock ranches up to 40 acres.
The farms and ranches must possess a county business or state general excise license as of July 1, 2024. Preference will be given to women and Native Hawaiian-run operations.
The grants may be used to directly impact the availability of locally-grown produce, livestock and poultry and other related products.…
The Global Citizenship Speaker Series will resume at the Molokai Public Library on Wednesday, Jan. 15 at 5:30 p.m. with special guest Dr. Austin Bowden-Kerby from Fiji speaking on coral reef conservation and regeneration. Sustaining coral reefs is an important issue for Molokai, which is dependent on its reef for food security.
This is the fifth iteration in the speaker series presented by the Molokai Bahá’í Community in collaboration with the Molokai Public Library. First running in January 2024, the goal of the series is to encourage conversations around global issues that are also of importance to people on Molokai.
In 2024, the talks ranged from food sovereignty, with Karen Mapusua from Fiji, President of the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements, to Hawaiian sovereignty, with well-known political scientist Keanu Sai.…
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