Justin Maxson,
Executive Director

433 Chestnut Street
Berea, KY 40403

Incorporated: 1976

The name of Kentucky comes from a Native American word meaning "dark and bloody ground." The Northern, Western, and Southern tribes never settled here because the land was the site of many battles between them. So, when John Finley, the first white adventurer, “discovered” the territory in 1767, he found no settlements. He did find beautiful landscape, fertile ground, large forests, and lots of game animals.

When he returned across the Appalachian Mountains and told his tale, a young pioneer named Daniel Boone decided to investigate. Setting off in 1769, he found eastern Kentucky so promising that he returned with a party of settlers a few years later. The first permanent settlements were made at the beginning of the Revolutionary War, and in 1790 the area was made a U.S. territory, and in 1792 it became a state.

Present-day impressions of eastern Kentucky are still dominated by these images from the past: rugged natural beauty, wooded hillsides, and pioneers. However, another stereotype holds for many non-Kentuckians: the poverty-stricken and barefoot mountaineer. While this is untrue, it is true that eastern Kentucky residents have had a long history of exploitation by companies for timber and coal. This abuse, including the introduction of “company towns,” did not profit the local residents as the money never stayed in the area. Consequently, the state’s economic, social, health, and educational indicators are near or at the bottom for all fifty states.

The Mountain Association for Community Economic Development (MACED) was created by ten community development organizations in Central Appalachia to provide technical assistance to the region. Over the last three decades, MACED has worked on one mission: to improve life in mountain towns through community and business development. MACED has three core program areas: business development, sustainable development and new strategy development.

Business development and sustainable communities are two fundamental approaches to MACED’s mission. With $4.3 million in assets, MACED makes loans to small businesses, typically at competitive rates as part of a package that involves other lenders. One of the other lenders is the Appalachian Investment Corporation, a 501(c)(4) corporation created and staffed by MACED. AIC has $2 million in assets available for loan packages that MACED develops. MACED and its wholly-owned subsidiary, Ridgecrest Enterprises, have lent $3.65 million, leveraging $15.1 million.

MACED has always engaged both business development and community development, working closely with actors ranging from grassroots community organizations to bankers. MACED’s Business Development Program finances projects which have the potential to provide jobs to low-income people but which private banks typically do not finance. Enterprises employ from two to 300 persons in industries ranging from concrete contracting to technically advanced tool and die manufacturing. MACED has lent and leveraged more than $24.7 million, creating more than 2,000 direct jobs. MACED has demonstrated its ability to conceptualize, plan, and carry out many innovative projects over its 24-year history. Projects have ranged from researching coal companies’ commitment to local communities to issuing a $43 million mortgage revenue bond issue.

For more information, please visit www.maced.org.