Loren Lapow, founder and director of the Maui Hero Project (MHP), Inc., believes that everyone has a hero or heroine within. With a master’s degree in social work, Lapow founded MHP in 2000 and has been coaching adults, youth, families, and communities ever since. Using evidenced-based techniques and his exceptional capacity to guide people through life crises, he has helped thousands to transform their lives.
“We are all on a journey in life,” Lapow noted. “We can all learn how to take control and create positivity in our lives as well as to serve others. In fact, the main skill participants come away with is to be the person who steps up when something happens, to be more confident in taking the leadership role while others might not.”
Lapow integrated the Teen CERT (Community Emergency Response Team) Program with the Hero Project to create a Hawaiian-style disaster preparedness course. Meeting at the Paia Youth & Cultural Center, students in the program undertake 100 hours of training that follows the national CERT curriculum. “The students amaze me by how much they care about each other and the community they are part of,” Lapow said. “I think they find strength in the way they act as a team.”
The Teen CERT program fuses disaster-preparedness training with Maui cultural stories, then adds in the adventure, search and rescue components. By re-tracing the Maui myths, youth are experientially taught core skills, as well as appreciation for Hawaiian culture. Some graduates of the program bring their training when they join the new HEROEZ Junior Red Cross Club also housed at the youth center.
Program graduate Elizabeth Clark said, “I still reflect on and learn from my experiences with MHP. Lapow inspired me to go into human services to work with youth in the future.” Maui author Toby Neal added, “Lapow is a motivating communicator who forges new and unique connections among diverse groups of people in a way I have seldom seen done in social work. He teaches his students to have confidence in themselves and how to provide help in the community.”
Our mission throughout the global pandemic is to help youth find connection despite distance, through acts of service to their community and everyday heroism.
Loren Lapow, Maui Hero Project, founder and director
The Civil Air Patrol (CAP) Maui County Composite Squadron 057 is celebrating its 46th year of serving Maui County. The nonprofit organization is tasked by the U.S. Congress to help run programs that keep the country at the forefront of advanced air and space technology. With their adult and youth development program, CAP’s mission, to ‘Empower members with opportunities and resources to promote aerospace-related STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) education and careers’, provides all Maui residents with numerous ways to serve the community.
As the civilian auxiliary of the Air Force, cadets develop ethical leadership skills, embrace an active fitness lifestyle, and gain problem-solving techniques through character development lessons. “Today’s cadets are tomorrow’s leaders,” said Col. Chantal Lonergan, CAP Hawaii Wing Commander. “They are committed to a personal code of honor, and are ready to lead in a diverse society. A capstone of the cadet experience is in our Orientation Flight Program where cadets receive education and training in preparation for flight in gliders and powered Cessna aircraft. For cadets who are motivated, there is an opportunity to apply for various scholarships for flight academics and special CAP activities. CAP’s STEM education programs bring over 40 free fun and engaging products and programs to our members in squadrons and classrooms throughout Maui. The program’s motto describes what cadet flying is all about: ‘Safe, fun, educational’.”
Cadet Lexie Galam added, “We are learning basic laws of physics and how they apply to aircraft and flying. Pilots explain how to perform basic flight maneuvers and the manner in which control surfaces are manipulated during roll, pitch, and yaw. For example, we learned about climbing turns with an emphasis on collision avoidance; how shallow climbs and descents affect vertical velocity and airspeed indicators; turns using magnetic compass and possible compass turning errors—variation, deviation, magnetic dip, and oscillation error; medium and steep bank turns; and how proper rudder coordination and control stick requirements keep the nose up. Volunteer services with CAP allow us to do good for other people. Even as kids, we can make a difference.”
Serving adults and youth in pre-K-12 grades, we offer aerospace courses and teacher training to increase comprehension of and enthusiasm for STEM topics.
Rainbow Jo, a dynamic upcountry clothing company, offers original artwork on clothing by Maui resident and designer Michele Joy Thornton. Since 1986, Thornton has served wholesale and retail customers throughout Hawaii and beyond with innovative and updated resort wear. Headquartered in Makawao, with a factory in Indonesia and her own building with a retail store and an Airbnb in historic downtown Hilo on the Big Island, Thornton manages both her Hawaii and overseas production staff.
Creating all of her own fabrics, Thornton’s designs and colors are complex, with each design requiring seven different screens for the process. She works out the color theories, doing the print designs and working with silk screeners to turn her artistic ideas into technically perfect realities.
“At Rainbow Jo, all of my original artwork is hand silk-screened onto natural fiber rayon clothing and steam set, using no chemicals to set the dye,” Thornton explained. “Plus, the highest quality French seams are used to ensure that the clothing from Rainbow Jo is always perfectly made and easy to care for. The ideas for my prints are inspired by nature and Maui’s beauty. I believe the continued successful growth of the company comes from my strong retail background, and my love of color and design.”
Thornton started selling clothing at age 16 and through the years her work led her to Hawaii. In 1982 she received a degree in marketing from Indiana University School of Business and after years of working in the clothing industry she was ready to begin her own venture.
Thornton reflected, “My ambition was to own my own business and Maui was the perfect location. Currently, the pandemic has changed normal business routines. At Rainbow Jo we have stayed resilient with an online business and now many of our island-wide retail stores have re-opened. My plan is to stay flexible enough to know when to make changes and follow new trends and procedures. My hope is that careful planning and the hard work that built Rainbow Jo will see us through the Covid crisis. Persistence and resilience are everything!”
We feel blessed at Rainbow Jo to be resilient in an economic climate that has hit small businesses hard.
Michele Joy Thornton, Rainbow Jo, owner and designer
Maui Economic Development Board’s (MEDB) STEMworks™ Solutions program brings month-long industry-based challenges to 7th-12th grade STEMworks students. The participants use STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) tools and the entrepreneurial mindset to develop innovative solutions for real problems. During the February 2021 challenge, Hawaii students learned about NASA’s Artemis Program to return us to the Moon, and cubesats from experts at the Hawaii Space Flight Laboratory (HSFL). The second challenge was to create an Artemis mission patch design. “We are so proud of all of the submissions we received,” said Katie Taladay, STEMworks Program Manager. “The selection for the best mission patch design award went to Jadynne Zane, MJ Dinong, Jenna Payba, and Erinrose Salacup of Maui High School. The team featured a simple design that incorporated the moon as the bow and the line in the A of Artemis as the arrow. We will print this design on a patch for all participants who completed the challenge.”
The HSFL payload design winner was “Exploring the Potential of Solar Winds as a Power Source” by Jalen Matsuda Williams, Derek Takeno, and Justin Paul Alejo, also from Maui High. In addition to a $500 prize, this team will have a chance to work with a real Artemis CubeSat kit to bring their idea to life under the guidance of HSFL scientists during the MEDB STEMworks Summer Internship.
“Our team used the cubesat to determine the viability of a new power source on a lunar base, using solar winds,” said Williams. “This will help NASA’s Artemis mission to determine and investigate the viability of a Dyson-Harrop Satellite (DHS) as a power source. The DHS has a wire at the end of the satellite which points at the sun and creates a cylindrical magnetic field. The charged wire can divert electrons from the initially charged plasma, which then get funneled into a metal sphere receiver, and creates an electric current. With this is mind, our satellite will give the mission valuable information, possibly enabling astronauts to have an abundance of energy that can be used to power a lunar base outpost, space vehicles, and more.”
We appreciate the opportunity from MEDB to share our research with the STEMworks students. Inspiring the next generation and building Hawaii’s aerospace workforce is so important for diversifying Hawaii’s economy.
Amber Imai-Hong, HSFL Avionics Engineer and Outreach Specialist
In celebration of Women’s History Month, Maui Economic Development Board (MEDB) partnered with Oahu’s YWCA Minority Business Development Agency’s (MBDA) Women of Color Business Center to present a ‘Women in Business’ seminar series. In the introductory seminar, “Getting Small Business Administration (SBA) Certified as a Woman-Owned Small Business (WOSB): Opening New Doors of Opportunity”, business owners heard about the benefits of becoming certified, such as the opportunity to qualify for grants specified for women-owned businesses.
MEDB was joined by guest speakers, Shan Wirt, MBDA Director; Gary Albitz, Business Consultant with MEDB; Wayne Wong, Maui Director, Hawaii Small Business Development Center (SBDC); and others. The panel shared how certification as a WOSB will open doors for businesses, how to access contracts and grants exclusive to WOSB, and highlights of the steps in the process.
“These workshops help business owners understand the benefits of becoming WOSB certified,” said MEDB President and CEO Leslie Wilkins. “Our MEDB team will also help participants evaluate which projects to pursue, from farm loans to government contracts to research grants, to name a few.”
Albitz added, “It is not about the journey to get certified but what benefits are available once you get there. The SBA provides the training and the certification, and MEDB would like to encourage business owners to take the steps so that they can open doors to new projects.”
The MBDA Enterprising Women of Color Business Center at YWCA Oahu is funded by the U.S. Department of Commerce. It is one of five new business centers established across the nation in September 2020 to help minority women-owned businesses grow through financial and business counseling, workshops and other resources.
Wirt noted, “We are excited to work with MEDB and SBDC to expand our reach across the state and promote the significant opportunities that certifications offer to women-owned businesses. This series is the perfect complement to our focus, which is to help minority women-owned businesses grow through business analysis, market access and access to capital. Opportunities are abundant. We are here to level the playing field.”
Further workshops will help participants use their SBA certification to take advantage of the opportunities with various agencies. All presentations are online and registration is free. Sign up at medb.org for updates.
