Maui Business

The Hawaiʻi State Department of Labor & Industrial Relations reported today that the unemployment rate (not seasonally adjusted) for Maui County in April 2015 is 4.1%.

Aloha United Way has allocated $3.6 million dollars in community impact funding to 45 local nonprofits organizations in the areas of education, poverty prevention and safety net.

Event organizers say 200 people planted 100 coconut trees and over 2 acres of taro, sweet potato and yams, as a statement that “the community can and will feed itself without Monsanto.”

The US Department of Health and Human Services will be awarding Maui Economic Opportunity with a $2.01 million grant for its Head Start services for eligible children and families in Maui County.

Free Marcus Mariota “Be Your Own Role Model” posters are being distributed at all branch locations of First Hawaiian Bank (limit one per customer while supplies last).

Five Maui County seniors were awarded $22,000 in scholarships by the Wailea Community Association at a reception held in their honor at Tommy Bahamas Restaurant in The Shops at Wailea.

A Veterans Memorial Service will included in the activities on Saturday, May 23, at the 46th Annual Barrio Fiesta at the War Memorial Soccer Field. The Barrio Fiesta begins on Friday evening at 5 p.m.

Maui County ranked a bit higher than the state unemployment average at 4.1%, with individual Maui County Islands weighing in at a wide range of rates. Molokaʻi was at the top of the county’s unemployment rate at 7.7%. Maui Island was next highest at 4.1%, followed by Lānaʻi at 3.8%.

Wailuku’s average gas price is $3.38–two cents more than last Thursday’s price, 16 cents more than on this date last month and $1.07 less on this date last year, according to the AAA Hawaiʻi Weekend Gas Watch. Prices remain well under the all-time high of $4.98 per gallon, recorded on May 9, 2011.

OCEAN Organic Vodka’s new bottle design was selected for an international design award from a field of thousands of submissions.

Today Walmart announced that it is creating more job opportunities for transitioning US veterans in Hawaiʻi by guaranteeing a job offer to any eligible veteran who was honorably discharged from active duty since the original launch of the Veterans Welcome Home Commitment on Memorial Day 2013.

AARP Hawaiʻi and state agencies leading the fight against fraud will offer free public awareness Scam Jam workshops in Kīhei and Kahului on Saturday, May 30.

Skyline Eco-Adventures, the state’s award-winning zipline company and operator of the first zipline course in the US, has been recognized as a TripAdvisor Certificate of Excellence Hall of Fame winner.

According to the third edition of United Health Foundation’s America’s Health Rankings Senior Report: A Call to Action for Individuals and Their Communities, Hawaiʻi ranked fourth for senior health this year.

Maui Nui Botanical Gardens will host a Hawaiian Sugarcane Workshop–Nā Kō O Hawaiʻi Nei– on Saturday, May 23, from 9 a.m. to noon.

On April 1, 2015, Whole Foods Market partnered with Mālama Maui Nui (formerly known as Community Work Day Program) for a “5% Community Support Day.”

The Maui AIDS Foundation will receive $1,441,159 to provide tenant-based rental assistance to 45 households.

You may think that it’s a little crazy to swim with manta rays in the ocean, but lots of people think it’s a good idea. In fact, it is said to be a life-changing experience!

Skyline Eco-Adventures partnered with Trilogy, Cool Cat Cafe and Manaʻolana Pink Paddlers to support Trilogy’s Blue ʻAina campaign.

Participants from this year’s Startup Weekend Maui held over the weekend, May 15 to 17, proved it is possible to create a start-up business in just 54 hours.