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.
Maui Economic Development Board’s (MEDB) 12th Annual Hawaii STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) Conference will be virtual this year. Employing the online Hopin conference platform, on April 28th-30th from 9am-12pm, the venue will allow students to experience real-world STEM training applications and see career availability throughout the islands. “STEM education has the power to improve all of our lives,” said MEDB President and CEO Leslie Wilkins. “Our hope is that by equipping our youth with the right skills, tools, and opportunities, we can inspire the next generation of innovators, ensuring a bright future for our community and our world.”
MEDB’s STEMworks™ students and teachers, along with community and business leaders across the state, are invited to celebrate the student’s service-learning projects, hear stories of inspiration, engage with some of the biggest names in the STEM field, and experience the excitement of a regional technology conference. The students will showcase their acquired skills, analyzing information and applying the latest high-tech industry tools in an innovative and successful approach to environmental and cultural issues.
“STEMworks initiatives focus on empowering students with 21st century skills to prepare them for the jobs of tomorrow while solving their communities’ problems of today,” said Wilkins. The students collaborate in teams to tackle an issue within their community through service learning.”
Jessica Salva, STEMworks Program Assistant, added, “This year, students and teachers can choose among 12 interactive professional development sessions. During the three days, they will have the opportunity to engage with over a dozen STEM Playground Vendors to learn about exciting new industry-related products and resources. There are seven STEM competitions, with a chance to win the famous STEMMY award and prizes. The contests include: Creative Media Moguls, STEMworks Solution Student Spotlight, STEMworks Designer, Game On!, STEM Tank, Shaka! in partnership with Bizgenics Foundation, AGOL StoryMap Competition in partnership with Esri, and a virtual Hackathon in partnership with NOAA. We hope that these experiences will encourage Hawaii’s middle and high school students to pursue a STEM education and discover the skills needed to strengthen the local economy.” For more information on conference attendance, go to http://hawaiistemconference.org
The Hawaii STEM Conference is honored to work with community partners and sponsors to create meaningful learning experiences to impact the lives of Hawaiian students today and into the future.
Mitzi Toro, owner of The Maui Cookie Lady, recently opened an incredible upcountry boutique bakery in Makawao Town featuring her original, six-ounce cookie creations. After two years of looking for a store front, she received a call from Barbara Tam, who grew up on the property where Toro’s current commercial wholesale kitchen is located in Makawao. She calls the luck of her new bakery location, “pre-ordained cookie destiny”.
In business since 2012, Toro started baking cookies as a fund-raiser for the ICU nurses who cared for her terminally-ill father. The next year, making cookies became a favorite hobby that transformed into a full-time business. Toro noted, “Hawaii has an array of beautiful agriculture, so I use high quality, locally sourced ingredients. Additionally, I sell other local specialty-food items in my bakery, as a way of supporting my fellow entrepreneurs.” Toro also gives back through community initiatives. One project, Maui School Slippah Solace, provided over 2,000 pairs of new flip flops to students on three islands.
Toro has gained fans from all over the world. Matching her company motto, ‘To make the world a smaller place one cookie at a time’, the demand for her cookies continues to grow rapidly. The cookies are now sold at select stores, hotels, restaurants, on ocean cruises, and are shipped nationwide and internationally. The Maui Cookie Lady brand is also partnering with the QVC shopping channel to share Hawaii-made cookies in home-shopping markets. Toro noted, “During the pandemic, my focus was the online market with holiday orders and gift purchases. This helped me through tough economic times.”
Toro recalled, “At the beginning, I had to learn about all the things that are not so fun, like budgets, profit margins, packaging, food compliance, business math, taxes and licensing, just to name a few. My receipts were in a shoe box and I really was not sure what the business was costing. One day I went by the Maui Economic Development Board office and the rest is sweet history!”
The support and love from the community for our little island bakery still makes me tear up. I feel like I am living the cookie-prenuer dream.
Maui Nui Marine Resource Council (MNMRC), a nonprofit organization founded in 2007, is recognized for working with the local community to create culturally appropriate and effective science-based solutions to serious threats facing Maui County’s reefs and environment. With unemployment at record levels because of Covid-19, MNMRC was recently a fiscal sponsor of a County of Maui Office of Economic Development (OED) Maui CARES (Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security) program.
“Our vision is healthy coral reefs, clean ocean water, and abundant native fish,” said Mike Fogarty, MNMRC Executive Director and a principal organizer of the program. “Our team is grateful for this wonderful opportunity to help coral reefs and the surrounding environment and to provide paychecks to unemployed workers on Maui and Molokai during this challenging time of Covid-19. We thank Mayor Victorino and the OED for taking the bold step to establish the Maui CARES program with funding through the Federal CARES Act.”
MNMRC managed the rapid employment of more than 70 Maui and Molokai residents to work for seven local conservation nonprofits. The unique collaborative employment and workforce training program had a great impact on the local environment. The projects and accomplishments incorporated traditional Hawaiian cultural practices and modern technology to prevent sediment pollution in the ocean and protect valuable cultural resources.
“Many problems facing the local reefs originate on land, which is why the MNMRC projects and programs are community-based and work from mountain to sea, mauka to makai,” Lindsey said. “All projects were rooted in Hawaiian traditions and values that serve as the foundation of the community. They are all of great importance; a celebration of all that was accomplished and learned by those who came before us. The employees put their heart and soul into these challenging and impactful tasks.”
The participating nonprofits included: Ka Honua Momona on Molokai; Kipahulu ‘Ohana in East Maui; Hawaiian Islands Land Trust in Waihe’e; Ke Ao Hali’i in Hana; Kipuka Olowalu in West Maui; Na Moku Aupuni O Ko’olau Hui in East Maui; and Na Mamo O Mu’olea in East Maui.
The MNMRC workers ensured that legendary places would endure for generations to come.
Mike Fogarty, Executive Director, Maui Nui Marine Resource Council
As we celebrate Women’s History Month across the nation, Maui Economic Development Board (MEDB) pays tribute to the late Maui-born Patsy Takemoto Mink, whose extraordinary achievements brought gender equality and other social justice issues to the forefront. Women’s History Month celebrates the contributions women have made to our country and recognizes their specific achievements over the course of American history in a variety of fields. In 1972, Time Magazine named Mink one of 100 women of the year who leveled the playing field, overcame oppression and worked to bring about changes in Hawaii and the world.
Representative Mink, rejected from numerous medical schools because she was a woman, also faced discrimination as a practicing lawyer. She then devoted her life to advocating for gender equality and educational reform. She was the first Asian-American woman to practice law in Hawaii and the first Asian-American woman elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. Mink said, “We have to build things that we want to see accomplished, in life and in our country, based on our own personal experiences, to make sure that others do not have to suffer the same discrimination.”
“As a champion for equity, Congresswoman Mink was one of the most influential voices in advancing women’s rights, civil rights, racial and social justice in the 20th Century,” said MEDB President & CEO Leslie Wilkins. Serving Hawaii and the nation for 13 Congressional terms, Representative Mink was the principal author of Title IX in the House of Representatives, with the late Senator Birch Bayh of Indiana writing the companion legislation in the Senate. Its enactment in 1972 mandated equal access for women’s academic and athletic programs in institutions receiving federal funding. Following her death in 2002, Title IX was officially renamed the Patsy Takemoto Mink Equal Opportunity in Education Act.
In October 1975, Mink told the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, “It is easy enough to vote right and be consistently with the majority, but it is often more important to be ahead of the majority. This means being willing to cut the first furrow in the ground and stand alone for a while if necessary.”
Representative Mink’s life-long advocacy for equality continues to inspire us to build upon her legacy.
As for many businesses during the worldwide pandemic, it has been a challenging time for small community pharmacies. Kimberly Mikami Svetin, the third president of family-run Molokai Drugs, Inc., is worried about what is happening state-wide in her industry and across the country. “Our small pharmacies are going out of business,” Svetin said. “It is tragic. With everyone shopping online or going to the major chain stores, all small businesses, including mine, are being affected. I am a vocal supporter for small businesses, and am involved in our community with legislative matters that affect them.”
Molokai Drugs was founded in 1935 by Svetin’s late grandfather, Richard Sakata, who was Molokai’s first pharmacist. Several members of the family have taken part in the growth of Hawaii’s oldest independent pharmacy since then, including her father, David Mikami, who became the island’s second pharmacist in 1969.
Svetin currently oversees a staff of 29 employees, most of whom work between the pharmacy and the family’s 48-flavor ice cream shop. In fact, one employee, Frank Maniago, Jr. recently celebrated his 32nd anniversary at the pharmacy. In 1988, Mikami hired Frank two days before Christmas and he has been their right-hand man since, helping with the pharmacy’s services, delivering hospital beds to hospice patients, fixing broken wheelchairs, delivering prescriptions to kupuna, and other pharmacy services in the community.
Svetin is responsible for all management, human resources, marketing, community relations, purchasing, finance, and legal matters. “My focus right now is also on training future employees,” she added. “I am encouraging internships through the Aloha Connection Innovation program by employing people who want to work in pharmacy. I have collaborated with Frank De Rego, Jr., Director of Business Development Projects at Maui Economic Development Board, on this new initiative to nurture and grow knowledge-based work opportunities. Our stores are also focused on giving opportunities to Molokai’s public school students.”
Svetin concluded, “My personal legacy here at the pharmacy is to be a good employer, offer exceptional customer service, mentor the future generation and advocate for local businesses. Please support your local shops. The mom-and-pop businesses make Hawaii special and unique.”
My parents and late grandparents placed a high value on community service. I recall them often returning to the pharmacy at night to fill an emergency prescription
Ho’oulu Maui Nui is an online resource directory that helps Maui County’s small businesses find local services and products during COVID-19. Ho’oulu means ‘to grow’ and the directory, launched as part of the 2020 Adaptability Fund, was created to help Maui County businesses grow and adapt in a new business climate. A partnership among the Maui County Office of Economic Development (OED), Maui Economic Development Board (MEDB), and various community organizations, the Hoʻoulu Maui Nui Business Directory is a one-stop, online resource for small businesses looking for local service providers, and businesses wanting to reach potential customers by publicizing their services and products.
“This business directory is a great opportunity for local businesses to connect and support one another as we take on the challenges brought by COVID-19,” said Mayor Michael Victorino. “Reinvesting in our local economy and vendors ensures we’re getting the most out of our CARES Act funds, while still getting quality work and products.”
Businesses listed are specifically geared towards retooling and responding to COVID, helping businesses to: conduct business safely, including personal protective equipment (PPE); adapt operations to alternate business strategies; and to invest in technology infrastructure to help businesses operate virtually. Many businesses have had to expand their online visibility with web-based marketing and increase their capabilities to sell online through e-commerce. Some of the types of business listed in this directory are Business Leasing, Business Finance Consultant, Cleaning Restoration, Commercial Printer, Design, Remodeling, and Construction, Employee Recruiter, Export Consultant, Food Scientist and Technologist, HVAC Filtration Expert, IT Consultant, Marketing, PR, and Social Media Consultant, PPE Provider, Photographer, Videographer, and other services. There is no cost to participate.
According to Leslie Wilkins, MEDB President and CEO, “We want to make sure that the companies know, through the Ho’oulu Maui Nui business directory, what resources are available here at home.”
You can learn more about the Hoʻoulu Maui Nui Business Directory, search for businesses or apply to promote your business at https://www.hooulumauinui.org/
Maui County-based companies interested in signing up and being included in the business directory can visit www.HoouluMauiNui.org. There is no cost to participate.
Maui Economic Development Board (MEDB) is administering the Adaptability Fund, a program to help local small businesses recover and survive the impacts from COVID-19. Funded by the federal CARES Act, and as proposed by the MauiCARES Task Force, the County has allocated five million dollars to the Fund. Businesses use the grants to modify operations and invest in technology infrastructure to expand virtual platforms, web-based marketing, and E-commerce.
According to Leslie Wilkins, MEDB President and CEO, “Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and the mandatory closure of many Maui County businesses and visitor-industry activities, health and safety protocols have required costly investments by Maui County businesses to operate safely, re-tool operations, and expand customer markets. The Maui County Adaptability Fund was established to help our local businesses adapt to this new economic environment.”
Malia Bohlin, Aloha House Development Director, said, “With funds provided through the Adaptability Fund, administered by MEDB, our organization was able to address concerns due to physical and technical limitations. We set up socially-distanced workstations, so clients could log-in from our facility, and we improved our technical capabilities to provide better content. Our staff are thrilled with the new tools, and are better able to provide necessary programs with more engagement and progress for the clients. We have also retained many clients who previously may have had technical barriers to treatment via telehealth. Thanks to the Adaptability Fund, clients at Aloha House’s outpatient drug treatment program have been able to participate safely in group and individual treatment settings.”
Aloha House, founded in 1977 as a treatment program for individuals struggling with substance abuse, makes it possible for adults on Maui to change their lives and the lives of those closest to them. “We help participants rediscover their strengths, learn from their experiences and create new pathways forward in health and wellness,” Bohlin added. “Since its beginnings, the Aloha House mission has expanded to include comprehensive, person-centered behavioral health interventions for the prevention and treatment of individual substance abuse and other disorders. Our staff members are passionate about helping people achieve lasting recovery.”
We appreciate MEDB’s work with the County of Maui to quickly manage the application and award process during this critical time.
Jocelyn Romero Demirbag, Ed.D., Director of Development at the University of Hawaii (UH) Maui College, works to expand the college fundraising efforts through the UH Foundation. The Foundation, a private 501(c)(3) non-profit, was established in 1955 to encourage private support for the university. Today, it is the central fundraising organization for the UH System. “Our work is to unite donors’ passions with UH aspirations,” said Demirbag, “We raise philanthropic contributions and manage private investments to benefit UH, the people of Hawaii, and our future generations. The university is supported by numerous individuals from Maui Nui, the state and the mainland, as well as a diverse range of organizations and businesses that include non-profits and foundations, hotels, and cultural groups.”
“UHMC welcomes contributed support of all types,” Demirbag noted. “Funding is needed for scholarships, endowments, faculty development, and instructional resources including facilities, equipment and technology upgrades. Our vision is to inspire giving and partnership by fostering UH pride among donors, alumni and the community.”
Demirbag pointed out, “One gift is all it takes to make a difference in the life of a UHMC student. With one gift, Maui residents can complete a degree and provide for their family, retool for a more satisfying career, or apprentice in the field of their dreams. One gift can be a game changer for both the college and students.”
Recently, the Wailea Community Association became a UH Foundation community partner. The Association felt that the Maui health issue is critical for everyone. They realized that when you directly help a nurse you are improving the care that any patient is going to be receiving. “Not only did they pay for the licensure of our nursing class that graduated in May 2020, but they are also funding the costs associated with taking the examination for the May 2021 graduating class,” said Demirbag. “We are so grateful to Wailea’s Community Association and to all our supporters! We hope other potential community partners will learn more about the program and other ways they can support us. These partnerships are so needed during these challenging times.”
Community partnerships allow UH to provide more career-related opportunities that might otherwise never happen.
Jocelyn Romero Demirbag, Ed.D., Director of Development, UHMC
