Community Development

Goal
To empower community groups, in cooperation with public agencies, to build the capacity for participation, self-determination and decision-making so that they may uphold, with some measure of authority, the rural values the people of Kaua`i and Ni`ihau hold dear.

The Garden Island Resource Conservation & Development, Inc. supports this goal in a variety of ways including:
• implementing sufficient educational and developmental programs to empower community organizations to promote rural solutions;
• identifying and supporting programs that develop decision-making processes to sustain rural values;
• assisting in developing youth programs; a shining example of this is the Kaua`i Planning & Action Alliance [632-2005, www.kauainetwork.org; dzachary@kauainetwork.org] that creates results through collaborative community problem solving;
• supporting Hawaiian programs that empower the Hawaiian community and involve them in planning and decisions relative to ceded lands and water rights; and
• assisting and supporting the growth of small businesses.