Growing Resilience

Alicia Higa has spent nearly 20 years at the Waianae Coast Comprehensive Health Center (WCCHC), Hawaii’s oldest and largest Federally Qualified Community Health Center, where she has grown through various roles since starting in 2005. Driven by a strong commitment to community service, Alicia balanced her responsibilities as a young mother while earning a degree in Social Science and creating innovative programs to address disparities in her community. Today, she serves as the Chief Health Equity Officer at WCCHC and is the Executive Director of its newly established affiliate, ʻElepaio Social Services.

Raised in the economically challenged community of Waianae on Oahu’s west shore, Alicia has a profound understanding of her community’s needs. This insight has guided her in leading impactful initiatives, particularly in the areas of nutrition security and food sovereignty. By strengthening the community’s food system, she has contributed to a holistic and culturally relevant approach to improving long-term social determinants of health.

Alicia is an active leader beyond her roles at WCCHC. She serves on the boards of MAʻO Organic Farm, Hoa Aina O Makaha, and the Waiʻanae Moku Navigators. Additionally, she is a founding member of the Hawaii Good Food Alliance and a dedicated participant in the Hawaii Hunger Action Network.

Paula Daniels is Co-founder, Chief of What’s Next, and Founding Chair of the Center for Good Food Purchasing. The Center for Good Food Purchasing uses the power of procurement to create a transparent and equitable food system that prioritizes the health and well-being of people, animals, and the environment, through the nationally-networked adoption and implementation of the Good Food Purchasing Program by large institutions. There are now over 60 institutions in more than 20 cities across the US enrolled in this Program, including in Hawai’i. The program received a 2018 Future Policy award from the World Future Council, UN FAO and IFOAM Organics International.

Paula is a lawyer, and has held a number of senior positions in government in California and Los Angeles, including as Senior Advisor on Food Policy to Mayor Villaraigosa of Los Angeles. She has also taught food policy at UCLA (where she is currently a lecturer teaching a class in agroecology), UC Berkeley, USC, Vermont Law School, and is an Ashoka Fellow and a Stanton Fellow of the Durfee Foundation.

With more than 40 years of experience as a scientist, farmer, philanthropist, businessman, educator, and passionate advocate, Oran is a pioneer of the good food movement. He founded Fair Food Network in 2009; under his leadership, the organization has seeded and scaled food-based solutions that improve healthy food access for families and economic equity for farmers and food businesses, both in Michigan and nationwide. Working at the intersection of food, health, and economic justice, Oran ushered Fair Food Network into impact investing, fueling the success of food entrepreneurs through catalytic capital, wrap-around business services, and a commitment to place-based impact investing collectives. He is the author of Fair Food: Growing a Healthy, Sustainable Food System for All, an inspiring guide to changing not only what we eat, but how food is grown, packaged, delivered, and sold.

A former fellow in the Kellogg National Fellowship Program and the National Center for Food and Agriculture Policy in Washington, D.C., Oran has published more than 400 reports and articles on subjects that include crop rotation, the impact of philanthropy on food systems practice and policy, and trends in the good food movement, among others.

Oran serves on the board or in an advisory role for a number of national and Michigan-based organizations, including Fair Food Fund, Five Acre Farms, Groundwork Center, NextCycle Michigan, and Pardes Hannah Jewish Renewal Community. He participates in the Editorial Board of the Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development.