Announcements: January 3, 2023

FOLK Book Club meets Jan. 24

The Friends of the Libraries, Kona (FOLK) Book Club meets at 12:30 p.m. Jan. 24 on the Kailua-Kona Public Library lanai. This month’s selection is “Caste” by Isabel Wilkerson.

For more information, visit folkhawaii.com.

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HDOA awards $2.68M in grants

The Hawaii Department of Agriculture has announced the award of 579 grants, totaling $2.68 million for small-scale agriculture; including home gardening, herding and livestock operations in areas that are food insecure.

More than 7,400 applications were received this fall under the Micro-Grants for Food Security Program. The applications and project proposals were evaluated and ranked by HDOA’s Market Development Branch and final approval was received last week from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Funding for this grant program is provided by the USDA under the 2018 Farm Bill. Grant amounts ranged from $750 to $5,000.

“There was unprecedented interest in the micro-grants program this year,” said Phyllis Shimabukuro-Geiser, chairperson of the Hawaii Board of Agriculture. “Those who were awarded the grants submitted proposals that were well thought out and most likely to achieve the grant purpose of increasing the quality and quantity of locally grown foods in areas where access to food is limited.”

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