Livelihoods Knowledge Exchange Network (LiKEN) is a left-of-center environmental and economic policy advocacy organization. LiKEN is a self-described “link-tank” that works to connect communities and local-level organizations with non-profit groups and government agencies to influence public policy. 1 The organization is most involved on economic and environmental issues, but also does work on social, cultural, and political issues. 2 It focuses on communities in Central Kentucky, Central Appalachia, and certain Native American populations. 1
LiKEN was involved in the crafting of and supports the Green New Deal, a U.S. House of Representatives resolution comprised of various radical environmentalist legislative proposals. 3 The organization is also a member of the U.S. Climate Action Network, an environmentalist advocacy organization that uses tactics such as protests, policy advocacy, and smear campaigns to support environmentalist causes. 4 LiKEN has hailed the Black Lives Matter movement as an “extraordinary gift…to our country.” 5
Beyond nonprofit work, LiKEN rents out part of its office space as a bed and breakfast on AirBNB. In addition to three guest bedrooms, the organization rents out community event and business meeting spaces. 6
Founding
The Livelihoods Knowledge Exchange Network, originally entitled the Kentucky Environmental Foundation, was incorporated in 1990 by a number of Madison County, Kentucky residents to support the safe disposal of chemical weapons at the Blue Grass Army Depot located in Richmond, Kentucky. 7 While the organization rebranded to LiKEN in 2018, the Kentucky Environmental Foundation is maintained as a project of LiKEN, but retains a website and non-profit status. 8
Leadership
Betsy Taylor is the executive director of LiKEN. Taylor is also a founding director of LiKEN. Taylor was previously the co-director of environmental studies and research director at the Appalachian Center. Taylor served on the steering committee of the U.S. Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative from 2013-2017. 9
In 2017, Taylor coauthored a report calling for and outlining a “Green New Deal” for Appalachia. 10
Julie Maldonado is the associate director of LiKEN. Maldonado has consulted for the United Nations and World Bank on climate change. Maldonado has also worked for the U.S. Global Change Research Program and is an author on the 3rd and 4th U.S. National Climate Assessments. 9
Maldonado is also a lecturer in University of California-Santa Barbara’s Environmental Studies Program. All of the interns at LiKEN are students at University of California-Santa Barbara. 11
In 2020, Maldonado signed an open letter and call to action urging Congress to pass an environmentalist-friendly stimulus package. 12
Craig Williams is a program director at LiKEN and the Kentucky Environmental Foundation. Williams was previously a founding member of the Kentucky Environmental Foundation and served as its director until 2008. Williams is a charter member of the Kentucky Governor’s Chemical Material Demilitarization Citizen’s Advisory Commission and serves as co-chair of the Kentucky Chemical Destruction Advisory Board. 9
Danielle Brian is a board member of LiKEN. Brian is the executive director of the Project On Government Oversight, an investigative nonprofit in Washington, D.C. that is a vocal critic of the U.S. military and partially funded by left-wing foundations and donors. Brian is also a member of the board of Taxpayers for Common Sense, a Washington, DC based advocacy group that receives financial support from major left-of-center foundations. Brian previously served on the U.S. Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative Federal Advisory Committee. 13
Projects
LiKEN is heavily involved in the Appalachian Land Study, a community and scholarly collaboration to provide accurate data on land ownership, mineral rights, and public revenues in Central Appalachia. 14 Other organizations involved in the project include the Mountain Association for Community Economic Development, a left-wing economic development association and advocacy group, and Clean Water Expected in East Tennessee, an left-wing environmentalist and community development organization. 15
LiKEN supports the Central Appalachian Folk and Traditional Arts Program Survey, a project of the Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation to study and promote the traditional art practices of Appalachian communities in Ohio, Virginia, and West Virginia. 16
LiKEN works on the Appalachian Mother Forest project which seeks to study the biodiversity, climate resilience, and spiritual values provided by the Appalachian forest region. 17
LiKEN is a fiscal sponsor to the Kentucky Student Environmental Coalition and Lexington Community Markets, two environmental justice organizations based in Kentucky. 18
Federal Funding
In 2019, LiKEN was granted money by the Environmental Protection Agency to address environmental issues in Martin County, Kentucky. 19
In 2018, LiKEN, in partnership with the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research and the National Center for Atmospheric Research, received nearly $450,000 from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to fund climate change research and Native American advocacy. 20
Other research projects to which LiKEN has contributed have been funded by the Department of Agriculture21 and Federal Emergency Management Agency. 22
All-time grants received statistics from Candid dataset:
Total Grant Value:$1,485,213
Number of Grants:43
Number of Funders:25
Selection of highest value grants received from the last seven years:
Amount
Year
Funder
Subject
$304,864
2024
Center for Heirs' Property Preservation
Provide heirs' property landowners in West Virginia with education and technical assistance to address their heirs' property issues and to provide landowners with forestry technical assistance, and support to access USDA and other programs, and technical assistance. Through this program, LiKEN will offer direct legal and forestry services to help heirs' property owners clear title and create sustainable livelihoods from the land.
This action approves an award in the amount of $30,000 to livelihoods knowledge exchange network incorporation to support their efforts educating, empowering, and engaging residents in collecting quantitative and qualitative data about water vulnerability in eastern kentucky.
Just Transition is woven into all of The Kentucky Student Environmental Coalition’s work, and our Just Transition Working Group has been funded by the Chorus Foundation since its inception. We are guided by Movement Generation’s Framework for A Just Transition.
Just Transition is woven into all of The Kentucky Student Environmental Coalition’s work, and our Just Transition Working Group has been funded by the Chorus Foundation since its inception. We are guided by Movement Generation’s Framework for A Just Transition. We seek to model the new world with our horizontal leadership structure and bottom up decision-making. We are always learning best practices for this model, by building deep relationships with our members. As we move forward in 2020, we will continue to learn how to best meet the needs of our members in a way that is anti-oppressive, intersectional, and moves Eastern Kentucky and Appalachia toward collective liberation. Recently, KSEC leaders have called for us to do better. We have heard from them that the Just Transition Working Group is too broad, and creates the misconception that KSEC’s Just Transition work is siloed. KSEC leaders are ready to transition from resisting to building and from education to action. They have asked us to stand up and more explicitly and intentionally live our values. To answer that call, KSEC has redeveloped our programs and updated our policies. We have transformed our Just Transition Working Group into a Mutual Aid Working Group. Our new working group is in its infancy, but will provide opportunities for KSEC members to engage directly in long-term community care and reparations work. Many of the members of this new working group are from and/or live in Eastern Kentucky. Second, KSEC is redeveloping our state network to provide more opportunities for leaders who are not students, who are organizing with other groups, and have lower capacity to engage. This will be more inclusive of Eastern Kentucky members who have struggled to engage because of our high membership in Central Kentucky and face a hostile atmosphere on Eastern Kentucky campuses. Finally, KSEC is developing a new strategic plan which reflects these changes and uses stronger language about our commitment to justice. Funding from the Chorus Foundation will be used to continue our Eastern Kentucky Organizer position which supports the Mutual Aid Working Group, Eastern Kentucky campuses and membership, and ⅓ of our statewide programming. Our Eastern Kentucky campuses include Eastern Kentucky University, Berea College, Morehead State University, Hazard Community & Technical College, Alice Lloyd College, Union College, and the University of Pikeville. Our Eastern Kentucky organizer makes campus visits, supports campaigns, and provides trainings for our membership in Eastern Kentucky. This organizer also ensures that our state network and statewide events have equal representation from Eastern Kentucky.
Just Transition is woven into all of The Kentucky Student Environmental Coalition’s work, and our Just Transition Working Group has been funded by the Chorus Foundation since its inception. We are guided by Movement Generation’s Framework for A Just Transition. We seek to model the new world with our horizontal leadership structure and bottom up decision-making. We are always learning best practices for this model, by building deep relationships with our members. As we move forward in 2020, we will continue to learn how to best meet the needs of our members in a way that is anti-oppressive, intersectional, and moves Eastern Kentucky and Appalachia toward collective liberation. Recently, KSEC leaders have called for us to do better. We have heard from them that the Just Transition Working Group is too broad, and creates the misconception that KSEC’s Just Transition work is siloed. KSEC leaders are ready to transition from resisting to building and from education to action. They have asked us to stand up and more explicitly and intentionally live our values. To answer that call, KSEC has redeveloped our programs and updated our policies. We have transformed our Just Transition Working Group into a Mutual Aid Working Group. Our new working group is in its infancy, but will provide opportunities for KSEC members to engage directly in long-term community care and reparations work. Many of the members of this new working group are from and/or live in Eastern Kentucky. Second, KSEC is redeveloping our state network to provide more opportunities for leaders who are not students, who are organizing with other groups, and have lower capacity to engage. This will be more inclusive of Eastern Kentucky members who have struggled to engage because of our high membership in Central Kentucky and face a hostile atmosphere on Eastern Kentucky campuses. Finally, KSEC is developing a new strategic plan which reflects these changes and uses stronger language about our commitment to justice. Funding from the Chorus Foundation will be used to continue our Eastern Kentucky Organizer position which supports the Mutual Aid Working Group, Eastern Kentucky campuses and membership, and ? Of our statewide programming. Our Eastern Kentucky campuses include Eastern Kentucky University, Berea College, Morehead State University, Hazard Community & Technical College, Alice Lloyd College, Union College, and the University of Pikeville. Our Eastern Kentucky organizer makes campus visits, supports campaigns, and provides trainings for our membership in Eastern Kentucky. This organizer also ensures that our state network and statewide events have equal representation from Eastern Kentucky.
REGRANT TO KENTUCKY STUDENT ENVIRONMENTAL COALITION, FISCALLY SPONSORED BY LIVELIHOOD KNOWLEDGE EXCHANGE NETWORK: GENERAL OPERATING SUPPORT FOR BASE-BUILDING WORK
21. Climate Change and Indigenous Peoples: A Synthesis of Current Impacts and Experiences.” Department of Agriculture. October 2016. Accessed September 22, 2020. https://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/pubs/pnw_gtr944.pdf
