Aloha mai,

I’m writing to share that I’ve decided to leave my role as Executive Director of Hawaiʻi Appleseed, transitioning out of the organization near the end of the year. 

We are an organization committed to change for a better future, and it’s my expectation that is where this change in leadership will take us. As Appleseed’s first staff member 20 years ago, I long felt like my destiny and Appleseed’s were inextricably intertwined. But some years ago, I realized there would be a stage in the organization’s evolution in which it would benefit from a different Executive Director, with a different background, perspective, and set of talents. I know that the time is now. 

We are in a strong position as an organization, with more clarity of purpose than we’ve ever had, better systems, solid financials, and the right staff and Board to provide stability and ensure that this transition seizes the opportunity for another leap forward for our work. If we hope to ever achieve a vision of Hawaiʻi where all our people have enough to live happy, healthy and creative lives, we need to continuously accelerate our understanding and progress toward economic justice. 

I am tremendously grateful for my time at Appleseed, for the progress I’ve been a part of, and most of all, for the people who I have had the privilege of getting to know and work alongside. Together, we have helped secure meaningful change for our community:

• Minimum wage increases that will lift incomes by $1 billion annually;

• Tax credits for low-income families exceeding $80 million annually;

• Hundreds of millions in increased funding for development of affordable housing;

• Millions of dollars in increases for food subsidies for Hawaiʻi keiki; and

• Litigation that helped ensure: foster children had adequate resources; children experiencing houselessness had sufficient access to education; immigrants to Hawaiʻi had access to healthcare and driver’s licenses; and families had safe and healthy housing.

These efforts have increased financial security for Hawaiʻi’s people and—more importantly—they have promoted human dignity, compassion and wellbeing. It’s been an extraordinary privilege to be part of it. 

Part of the important change we’ve fostered is our own. During my time with Appleseed, we’ve grown from an organization staffed by a lone, part-time attorney, not long out of law school, to a team of 13 staff with a broad spectrum of backgrounds, perspectives, talents and experiences.

We’ve embraced the understanding that “being the change we want to see,” isn’t just advocating for others to behave differently—it’s seriously examining our own behaviors. We’ve let go of a paradigm of nonprofit martyrdom in which noble ends justify the means of working unhealthy hours for poverty wages—moving instead toward a recognition that we need to do for ourselves as we would want for others; where good, hard work sustains a full life, but isn’t its center.

We’ve started the journey from a top-down policy think tank to an organization that is more connected to and driven by the people we serve. And we’ve come to recognize that, while individual policy wins are important, we also have a part to play in helping paint a broader vision of a thriving Hawaiʻi that reflects our deep, cultural values of social responsibility and care for community, people and place.

In the months to come, Hawaiʻi Appleseed will be releasing a series of publications that describe what this vision of thriving looks like in the context of housing, food security, transportation and tax policy. These pieces will examine the history of how we got to where we are today, articulate the change in thinking—the paradigm shift—that is necessary to get us to a thriving Hawaiʻi, and lay out a policy framework that supports that vision. It’s something that I’ve long felt has been missing, and I am deeply grateful for the team of thoughtful, talented and compassionate folks at Appleseed, and for our partners in the broader community that have gotten us to this point: a strong foundation to build upon. 

Our Board of Directors is leading the search for a new Executive Director who can build on that foundation and catalyze Hawaiʻi Appleseed’s next stage of evolution. They are searching for someone with a passion for justice, a commitment to equity, and a deep, abiding love for Hawaiʻi and its people—an apt description for a good number of people who I have been fortunate to partner with and who have been an inspiration to me during my time with Appleseed. 

This is not goodbye—I will not be departing from Appleseed until the end of the year, and I don’t intend to ever leave this community. But I do want to take this opportunity to express my deep gratitude to our many wonderful supporters and partners over the years. With that support and partnership, I look forward to the future of Hawaiʻi Appleseed with hope and confidence.

Mahalo nui loa,

Gavin