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; [see Kauai Conservation Conference]
• identifying and supporting programs that develop decision-making processes to sustain rural values;
• assisting in developing youth programs; [see Koke`e Resource Conservation Program (KRCP);
• 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.