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Home My WebLink AboutCOM 0099.008 2020-2022 P/Hc COMM.99 L E i R N . S E R "J E • R E S T O R E Testimony in Strong Support of the Ad Hoc Committee Recommendations for Nonprofit Grant Organizations for FY 2021-2022 Hawaii County Council Human Services and Social Services Committee . Submitted by Kupu CEO John Leong, hearing date April 20, 2021 . Aloha e Chair Susan L. K. Lee Loy and Honorable Committee Members, c7^ ' My name is John Leong, and I am the Chief Executive Officer and co-founder of Kupu, a 3 • youth-focused conservation nonprofit. On behalf of Kupu, I am pleased to testify in strong support of the Ad Hoc Committee Recommendations for Nonprofit Grant Organizationc,,5. ,, for FY 2021-2022.As proposed,this recommendation would award $2,500,000 to numerous nonprofits to support their programs and services to the communities of Hawaii Island. Kupu is honored to be one of the nonprofits recommended for funding as part of this measure. If awarded,this funding will support Kupu's efforts to launch the second phase of the Hawai`i Island Kupu `Aina Corps, a program that was highly successful in supporting displaced workers and struggling natural resource managers and farmers on Hawaii Island during the Covid-19 downturn in 2020. Kupu was established in 2007, in the early stages of the Great Recession. Today we are a statewide organization, developing youth and young adults through hands-on service training in conservation and natural resource management professions. Since 2007 we have trained close to 5,000 youth in conservation, sustainability, and environmental education.Young adults served by Kupu have provided more than 3 million service hours during this time,which included planting over 1 million native plants and removing over 100,000 acres of invasive species. This has created a cumulative $155+million in impact for Hawai`i with a 1:3 cost to benefit ratio. We believe more investment in the green economy- as this bill provides -would enable similar economic benefits to our state, create jobs in related fields, and help diversify our economy. For the majority of our history we have worked on Hawaii Islands and served its youth, and currently have staff based on-island as we expand our impact here. In the early stages of the pandemic,Kupu saw the economic devastation happening in Hawai`i and wondered what more we could do to help. We created a new program-- in concept--that would help unemployed and underemployed people of all ages work in the green economy during the pandemic. This program, called the Kupu `Aina Corps, received funding and partnership from DBEDT thanks to the foresight of the legislature and the support of Governor Ige, as provided by Act 9 (SLH 2020). With this program Kupu helped over 350 displaced Comm. No. NI Ref.To: P I EtSG$G Ref. Date APR 2 0 2D21 workers and recent graduates connect with work,training, and the dignity of helping themselves and their communities. We are humbled that our program was mentioned in the background portion of this legislation as an example of what a longer-term program of this nature could achieve. Hawai`i Island was one of the best represented counties in this program, with nearly one in four participants in the statewide program being based in Hawaii County with Hawai`i County employers.As the state continues to struggle with unemployment(still among the highest in the nation)Kupu thinks it is critical that efforts give special attention to Hawaii Island,which has historically had among the highest unemployment of any county in Hawaii. We believe that there is tremendous potential for job growth in natural resource management and other green fields, as well as other means of responding to and mitigating climate change. With this in mind, we have been working to re-launch the Kupu `Aina Corps on Hawaii Island,with a special focus on responding to urgent needs while also helping entrepreneurs and workers build up the green sector. We are ready and able to continue to support entrepreneurs and underemployed workers in their communities, and we have a recent track record showing what we can accomplish. Thank you again for including Kupu among the many nonprofit organizations recommended for funding. Sincerely, ]oh1 1eok.g John Leong, CEO Kupu