A letter from our new staff 💌

Dear KY RUX Network,

Having followed the Kentucky Rural-Urban Exchange’s trajectory from the outside, we have long been impressed with your work. Having the opportunity to see it from the inside, it is abundantly clear that RUX is creating a new Kentucky. 

Throughout the interview and training process, we have seen that the last ten years of growth have been transformative to RUX participants and to the landscape of Kentucky’s nonprofit network. We feel very  fortunate to start this journey as your newest champions, and are excited to introduce ourselves today.

My name is Maggie Goodman, and I am an educator and writer from Fulton County, Kentucky. I’ve previously worked with the Museum of Science and Industry-Chicago, the Rural Organizing Project, and Kaplan. I also spent many years as a comedian, writer, and director with UCBNY and as a house ensemble member at The Second City. One of the best gifts that working on different stages throughout the country gave me was recognizing the power of a collective with a shared vision and good hearts. It is a rare thing to experience and an even harder thing to build. I am so grateful to have found that again as a new person in your community.

My name is Grace Rogers, and I am a musician and writer from Owingsville, Kentucky, currently living in Louisville, Kentucky. I have spent the last five years working in farm-to-table restaurants, nurturing relationships within the Kentucky music community, studying East Kentucky banjo music, and volunteering in social justice movement spaces. I am energized by the strides RUX has taken to connect Kentuckians across socio-economic and geographic divides and build cross-sector partnerships. This work is aligned with the multi-layered practice I have been moving towards throughout these early years of my career.

Much like you, we carry our places with us. As we have been getting to know one another, it has become apparent that we share the experience of coming from a rural place where we hold dear connections with friends and family. Additionally, we have both spent a significant amount of time living and working in urban spaces where our experiences of home are distant from the reality of our urban community members. For both of us, this has yielded an ability to connect with people from all walks of life on whatever common ground we are able to identify. Not all interests and experiences will be relevant to every connection we make, but it is still possible to build relationships that – in the RUX spirit – are strong enough to hold this complexity. 

Because of Maggie’s roots in far western Kentucky, and Grace’s in northeastern Kentucky, we are able to fill the gaps in each other's networks to meaningfully collaborate with host communities and cohort members throughout the state. These connections combined with a commitment to the civic health of our Commonwealth will help us to empower Kentuckians to tell their stories. We are committed to supporting their need to impact change in their communities. It is energizing to step into established work that hits close to home for us and help RUX expand its organizational capacity. 

As we make our way through ten years of the RUX archive, we cannot wait to start the work of supporting this program. It is important to us to honor the collective vision that has formed over the last ten years. We are energized and inspired by the power in the work that has come before us – and we are ready to expand that work.

RUX’s mission of growing relationships across divides to build a more collaborative and connected Commonwealth ripples out to places even beyond our home state. RUX’s network of 300 alumni representing 65 counties uplift each other's work in every corner of the state which has garnered attention from national voices including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Christian Science Monitor. RUX, by working through the "Currency of Connection" curriculum and place-based education, has also brought $300,000 in revenue to our host communities and $400,000 in grants to Kentucky. We know that at every level, community is the cure.

We embrace the opportunity to help grow RUX, and we are honored that you have chosen to trust us with this work. We are eager to build strong relationships with the RUX Alumni Network, Steering Committee, and existing staff. Thank you for letting us be a part of what you have built. 

In solidarity,

Maggie Goodman, Network Manager

Grace Rogers, Communications & Development Coordinator