The Urban Agroforestry Ahupua‘a Restoration Project seeks to educate and empower urban residents—particularly those from traditionally underserved groups—so that they can produce a portion of their own food. Far from merely creating a series of isolated “homesteaders”, however, the project aims to build a network of “backyard growers” and to stimulate trade between neighbors and communities. This will be accomplished by creating a series of small-scale, easy-to-implement agroforestry systems for backyard growers and by developing the Mea‘ai Trading Platform using a complementary digital currency to enable community members to easily buy and sell food products amongst themselves.

The aim is not only to increase individual productive capacity, but to increase the productive capacity of communities working together. The project will initially focus on traditionally under-served communities residing on the Waianae coast, in Waimānalo and in Kalihi. It will improve under-served communities’ access to fresh fruits and vegetables while strengthening their overall food security. The Urban Agroforestry Ahupua‘a Restoration Project will serve 600 underserved persons through three partner organizations that have served their communities in Mākaha, Waimānalo, and Kalihi for several decades.