Mahi Ola is a program designed to be a Delancey Street style long-term substance abuse rehabilitation center on an organic, sustainable farm with a Nutritive Dehydration Center (NDC) and a gourmet restaurant.
Mahi Ola was formed for the purpose of providing comprehensive, holistic, accessible substance abuse treatment for the residents of Maui County—especially those in the most need: people caught in the criminal justice system, the indigent and the chronically homeless.
Mahi Ola is inspired by Justice Reinvestment’s report on the State of Hawaii’s criminal justice system and by the highly successful Delancey Street model of long-term peer-culture and vocational substance abuse rehabilitation. Mahi Ola seeks to, using the Delancey Street model, fill the gap that Justice Reinvestment chronicled: “community-based treatment programs”. (Please see attachment: “Mahi Ola: Need Justification” for details)
Mahi Ola will collaborate with local substance abuse treatment facilities. Standard protocol will be for local residents suffering from substance abuse disorder to first complete customary 60-day treatment program before transferring to Mahi Ola’s long-term life skills, vocational and optimal health rehabilitation program.
Additionally Mahi Ola’s is exploring a close working relationship with a national program known as the Regenerative Community Initiative (RCI) that would support the development of a high-impact locally owned Nutritive Dehydration Center (NDC) that may be owned by Mahi Ola and operated by RCI trained residents. The NDC will create at least 15 direct jobs within the facility and hundreds of farmer and farm related jobs through the creation within the NDC portion of this project of up to $4.3M in new market for organic local food in the first 27 months of the NDC’s processing operations, and up to $3.6M / year in new market thereafter. This will enhance the local economy and increase food security.
In addition to serving people with the single issue of substance abuse disorder, Mahi Ola will also serve as a diversion and re-entry from jail/prison, which will save the State on incarcerations expenses (please see, “Mahi Ola: Need Justification” insert). The gourmet restaurant; which will ensure ongoing financial sustainability, in addition to being a tourist destination, will be a model of an enlightened approach to drug abuse treatment and crime reduction.
Mahi Ola will also serve as a two to four year home and vocational rehab program for the chronically homeless. This will save State expenses on hospital emergency room visits and will save the County/State on homeless services (please see “Housing First” for more information on this concept)