Maui Economic Opportunity lauded in proclamation celebrating Community Action Month

The nonprofit Maui Economic Opportunity was praised as the county’s Community Action Agency in a proclamation declaring Community Action Month in Maui County.

The proclamation was read by County of Maui Director of Public Affairs, Mahina Martin during the nonprofitʻs general staff meeting Thursday, April 24.

“So for each of you who are doing the work… doing things most of us benefit from, please know when people say MEO, they know there is an army of MEO,” Martin told the room of staff wearing the nonprofit’s signature pink. “And when I hear MEO in the community, what I know is that our community is being taken care of. 

“When I hear MEO, people go ‘OK MEO is going to be there.'”

MEO has been “Helping People, Changing Lives,” on Maui, Molokaʻi and Lānaʻi for the past 60 years, one of a thousand Community Action Agencies across the nation and four in Hawaiʻi chartered as part of President Lyndon Johnson’s War on Poverty. 

Formed in 1965 with two programs, Head Start preschool and a community organizing arm, MEO has grown to more than 30 programs assisting low income, kupuna and youth residents and persons with disabilities. The agencyʻs largest program, MEO Transportation, provides rides through the Maui Bus paratransit and Maui Countyʻs Human Services specialized transportation, which takes residents to medical appointments, shopping, activities, employment and other destinations and offers public transportation in the rural Molokaʻi and Lānaʻi and in East Maui.

Head Start remains the agencyʻs second largest program. Other departments include Community Services (rental, utility, employment assistance), Business Development Center (small business planning and financial literacy classes, credit counseling, micro-agriculture grants) and Youth Services (drug/alcohol/smoking, bullying and suicide prevention programs for middle and high schoolers).

Martin, who was standing in for Mayor Richard Bissen, read a statement from the mayor, which lauded MEO for its work with those impacted by the wildfires. MEO administers programs that continue to provide housing, vehicle, utility, clothing, appliance and school supply help.

“Your work has gone far beyond providing immediate relief,” he said. “You are really building a future for so many.”

In addressing the staff, some of whom Zoomed in from Molokaʻi, Lānaʻi and East Maui, CEO Debbie Cabebe addressed worrisome news from Washington, D.C., about the possible termination of Head Start, the Low Income Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) and the Community Services Block Grant, the federal seed funding for Community Action Agencies.

“We are in for a fight,” she said, adding that plans to oppose the cuts and contingencies are being formulated. “I promise you, we are going to get through this… (and) come out of this better.”