The seeds for future harvests lie in the fruit from seasons past.

About	Collecting Seeds	Planting Seeds	Setting Seeds
\ mä · hōʹpĕ \ n [Hawaiian] loc. behind	learning from the past	acting in the present	building for the future
	Honoring place-based knowledge and multiple ways of knowing through research and education.	Perpetuating educational and social practice that builds equity, educational opportunity, and community.	Advocating praxis and policies that advance equity, justice, biocultural diversity, and community wellbeing.
	research	praxis	policy

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Ma Hope Institute (mä · hōʹpĕ) is a place-based and community-engaged research institute in Western Montana working to foster and ensure healthy futures for children, youth, and communities by honoring, perpetuating, and extending placed-based knowledge and bio-cultural diversity through research, education, youth development, and social action/advocacy.

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I ka wā ma mua, ka wā ma hope.

(Hawaiian proverb)

In the time that is in front, the time that is behind.

In Hawaiian, the past is referred to as Ka wā mamua, or “the time in front or before.” Whereas the future is Ka wā mahope, or “the time which comes after or behind.” It is as if the Hawaiian stands firmly in the present, with his back to the future, and his eyes fixed upon the past, seeking historical answers for present-day dilemmas.

Lilikalā Kameʻeleihiwa, 1992

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Places of Hope

Successful inner-city organizations present themselves in relation to no social institution or social problem. They explain themselves simply as “for youth.” We call them places of hope.

Our research shows that a variety of neighborhood-based programs work as long as there is an interaction between the program and its youth that results in those youth’s treating the program as a personal resource and a bridge to a hopeful future.

Milbrey McLaughlin, Merita Irby, and Juliet Langman. Urban Sanctuaries:

Neighborhood Organizations in the Lives and Futures of Inner-City Youth.

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Ma Hope Institute