School Food Services Branch
Hawaii State Department of Education
Albert Scales III, Program Administrator
Earlyn Worley, Executive Assistant
Laureen Oda, Supervisor
Core Non-Governmental Partners
- The Kohala Center
- Kōkua Hawai‘i Foundation
- Hawai‘i Farm to School Hui
- Hawaii Cattlemen’s Council
- Hawai‘i Farm Bureau
- Hawai‘i Farmers Union United
- Hawaii State Teachers Union
- Hawaii Government Employees Association
- United Public Workers
Pilot Project Partners & Members
- Anna-Lisa Miller, Co-Coordinator
- Jayson Watts, Co-Coordinator
- Dexter Kishida, Farm to School Coordinator
- Sherie Char, Supervisor
- Lindsay Rodrigues, Dietitian
- Office of the Lieutenant Governor
- Kohala Elementary, Middle, and High Schools
- Mililani High School
- Beyond Green Sustainable Food Partners
Core Governmental Partners
- HIDOE Procurement & Contracts Branch
- Hawaii Department of Agriculture
- Hawaii State Department of Health
- State Procurement Office
- Hawaii Health Systems Corporation
Pilot Project Funders
- Hawai‘i Appleseed Center for Law and Economic Justice
- Hawai‘i State Department of Education
- Hawaii Department of Health
- HMSA Foundation
- Johnson Ohana Foundation
- Kaiser Permanente
- Kōkua Hawai‘i Foundation
- The Dorrance Family Foundation
- The Kohala Center
- Ulupono Initiative
- United States Department of Agriculture
What We Do
An idea initially born in the office of then-Lt. Governor Shan Tsutsui in 2015, ‘Aina Pono is now transforming school cafeterias across the state. Under the direction of the Hawai‘i Department of Education and with generous support of non-profit donors like the Kohala Center, the program brings together public and private resources to create healthy local meals kids want to eat, connect the keiki to the ‘aina, and enhance local sustainability and food security across the state.
It all started by asking the right questions to the right people.
“We asked the kids what they want to eat. We asked cafeteria workers what they like to make. And we asked farmers what they have.”— Jayson Watts, Project Coordinator
