Email: max@rurallivelihoods.org
Title: Community Programs Coordinator
Organization: Center for Rural Livelihoods
Community: Cottage Grove
Population: 10,713
County Served: Lane County

Meet Maxwell Baker (he/she/they):

Maxwell Baker is the Community Programs Coordinator at the Center for Rural Livelihoods (CRL). Originally from Long Beach, California, Max holds a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science from Cal State Long Beach, where they cultivated a deep interest in using public policy to address complex societal challenges. Max is serving as a second year Resource Assistance for Rural Environments service member.

Community and Organization:

The Center for Rural Livelihoods (originally Aprovecho) is an organization founded in the late 1970’s meant to develop technologies and social structures that could be resilient in the face of natural and social disasters. The campus, located on 40 acres of forestland a short trip Northwest of Cottage Grove, was purchased in 1981 and placed in a trust to act as a rural center focused on ecological forest stewardship. Over the years the campus has been used to aid in stewardship experiments, innovate construction techniques, and incubate projects that align with the overall vision and mission of Center for Rural Livelihoods. The vision of Center for Rural Livelihoods has expanded to not only include its ability to utilize its space for education and innovation but to model a vision of a way that we can rehabilitate our social and economic relationships with each other and with nature.

Projects:

Max leads the development and implementation of the organization’s strategic plan, ensuring that current and future initiatives align with the Center’s goals. Their efforts focus on key projects, including the Residential Fellowship Program, marketing sustainably harvested lumber from the CRL’s forest, and supporting the Coast Forks Public Market development among other. Max is supporting the creation of an agroforestry planning and design handbook tailored for the Pacific Northwest aimed at supporting local landowners in adopting sustainable land management practices. Max also contributes significantly to the Lane County Communities Organized in Active Disaster (COAD).