Common Ground Collective

The foster farming harvesting project: launched in 2019, the foster farming harvest project addresses food waste and empowers landowners to transform their properties into productive land, fostering economic opportunities. Cgc provides on-site education, crop harvesting, data collection, distribution to nonprofits and schools, marketing to local outlets, and ongoing consultation. Through this initiative, cgc supports landowners in donating or selling surplus produce. In 2023, the foster farm program conducted 338 harvests across 187 properties in maui, yielding over 50,000 pounds of fresh produce. Of this, approximately 32,750 pounds were donated to nonprofits feeding food- insecure residents, while 17,300 pounds were sold to local businesses, reducing reliance on imported goods and strengthening the local food economy and helping to support our organizations programs and mission. The program also onboarded 47 new harvest clients, helped 40 farms find new markets, and diverted over 5,100 pounds of inedible produce to local composters to keep it out of the landfill.

This garden project is possible through a partnership with the haiku house of maui and specifically grows food to donate to help feed residents in need. In addition to increasing the local food supply for maui's food- insecure residents, cgc hosts weekly work days providing a way for residents and tourists alike to get their hands dirty, clear their minds and help feed those who need it most. The garden produces nutritious crops and allows us to distribute even more fresh produce through local partnerships, such as feed my sheep and maui food bank. In 2023, the garden yielded thousands of pounds of food, addressing the need for healthy food in emergency distribution networks.

Local food promotion project: this project strengthens maui's food system by connecting local producers to markets and reducing food waste. In the first year, cgc has facilitated 45 new partnerships between producers and supply networks,provided valuable market knowledge to 69 producers, and effectively reduced on-farm food waste for 24 local ag landowners. Moreover, 15 new producers ventured into local food production on maui, with 14 being beginning farmers or ranchers and all 15 representing family farms or ranches. These outcomes underscore cgc's pivotal role in educating and empowering local residents while fostering market connections through the local food promotion program.

Education and outreach: cgc provides educational resources on agriculture, environmental stewardship, and regenerative farming. Through community engagement, we inspire and assist with local food cultivation, support food security, and promote agricultural practices to increase resilience. In 2023, we hosted school groups, offered internships, and participated in community events to promote education and awareness. In response to the maui fires, cgc launched multiple relief initiatives: holiday turkey & meal giveaways: thanks to the generosity of unfi and its various partners, cgc successfully acquired 1,000 turkeys and 24 pallets of dry groceries in addition to our other efforts, for maui's relief efforts over the holidays. Through this effort cgc was able to distribute 1,000 turkeys and 300 prepared hot family size meals to maui displaced families and individuals on thanksgiving. Dometic cooler giveaways: in a cool collaboration, Common Ground Collective teamed up with dometic for a maui fire relief effort. Thanks to connection via Hawaii community foundation, cgc was able to connect with dometic and ended up distributing 736 coolers. We distributed 564 20-quart coolers to individuals and families being housed in hotels or directly outside the burn zone to help people store their necessities, including food and medication. Many of these individuals and families were housed in hotels with no kitchens and only mini fridges, with limited space to store food, medicine, snacks and drinks. We also distributed 352 larger coolers to families who were camping and to organizations transporting food for fire victims. Hot meal program: in the fires' immediate aftermath, Common Ground Collective initiated a transformative hot meal program aimed at providing swift relief and comfort to those affected by the disaster. This cgc- spearheaded program ended up being the first mass feeding effort launched for this disaster. This program fed thousands of fire victims over the span of eight weeks at university of hawai'Hawaii'i maui college, as well as supporting localized community efforts at numerous locations throughout the rest of the year. Through this program cgc helped with the logistics, funding, procurement and distribution of over 240,000 hot meals, to help ensure that no fire victims went hungry. Produce boxes: the Common Ground Collective's food box program launched during the pandemic when we began providing thousands of produce boxes to community members. We remained dedicated to this effort over the years and in october 2023, after the phasing out of the majority of our hot meal programs for fire relief, cgc transitioned to expand this initiative to address the urgent need for food security in the wake of the disaster and to address the secondary impact of the massive loss of market connections for our farmers, food producersandlocaldistributor. To do this cgc purchased produce and other food products from more than 10 local farmers and food producers, as well as entering into partnerships with local distributors to fill the boxes. During 2023, Common Ground Collective curated and helped distribute 15,432 food boxes. Community-led resource hub support: in the aftermath of the maui fires, Common Ground Collective demonstrated unwavering support for community-run hubs, emerging as a cornerstone of grassroots recovery efforts. Understanding the pivotal role these hubs played in providing essential services and fostering a sense of solidarity among residents, Common Ground Collective extended a helping hand to ensure their sustained operation. Through the purchasing and logistic coordination of things like refrigerated trucks, equipment, shelving, strategic partnerships and direct assistance, cgc helped to bolster the capacity of these hubs that serve as vital lifelines for the community, offering everything from supplies and resources to emotional support and networking opportunities. Through these partnerships, cgc was able to provide hundreds of thousands of dollars in local produce, dairy, meat, eggs, bread and other various essential food and household supplies. Maui emergency feeding task force (meft): born out of need from the maui fires of 2023, cgc was asked to spearhead the maui emergency feeding taskforce (meft) to help address the critical issue coordination to prevent food insecurity in our community in the wake of the fires. The mission being to help support the immediate relief needs of individuals and families facing hunger and food-related challenges by helping coordinate with the people and organizations doing the work within the maui community. The task force, which began meetings in october of 2023 is composed of community hub leaders, local businesses, restaurants, chefs, and nonprofits. The collaborative has worked to build a network of support for organizers and groups who've been dedicated to feeding maui, in addition to beginning to draft recommendations for community plans to strengthen the local food system and more quickly respond to residents' needs during crises in the future.