Louisiana Environmental Action Network

What Louisiana Environmental Action Network does

Louisiana Environmental Action Network (LEAN) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit founded in 1986 and headquartered in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, with a staff of 11–50. Its mission is to create and maintain a cleaner and healthier environment for everyone, executed through community empowerment, technical assistance, education, and direct advocacy. LEAN serves low-income and minority communities across all 64 Louisiana parishes (organized into 7 regions) that bear disproportionate environmental burdens from Louisiana's industrial economy, with particular focus on the Mississippi River Industrial Corridor between Baton Rouge and New Orleans.

LEAN's core programs include the Louisiana Community Air Monitoring Network (developed with a 2023 EPA grant and launched December 11, 2023 with Aclima's mobile fleet covering ~300 linear miles, complemented by stationary solar-powered monitors and AQMesh sensors at sites including IMTT's St Rose facility), the Lower Mississippi Riverkeeper program (licensed by the Waterkeeper Alliance since 2001), the People, Places & Power K-12 environmental justice curriculum (developed with a 2022 National Academies of Sciences grant), the GC-HARMS research network on Deepwater Horizon health impacts, and campaigns such as Fix Our Coast and Save Our Water. Supporting assets include a physical Community Archive and Empowerment Center, the online Community Atlas, and a Citizen's Guide to Environmental Engagement.

LEAN's revenue model is nonprofit and donation-and-grant driven: individual memberships and tax-deductible donations at $10–$125/year tiers, supplemented by institutional grants (notably from the EPA and the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine - Gulf Research Program). Go-to-market is community-led, relying on listening sessions, workshops, direct community support, an email newsletter (E-Alerts), and the leanweb.org website rather than traditional product sales channels. The organization is led by Executive Director and co-founder Marylee Orr (30+ years tenure) and Technical Director Wilma Subra (1999 MacArthur Fellow, multiple EPA advisory committee service).

Name

Louisiana Environmental Action Network

Legal name

Louisiana Environmental Action Network

Website

https://leanweb.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1986

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Louisiana Environmental Action Network (LEAN) is a 1986-founded Baton Rouge-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit that empowers underserved Louisiana communities through environmental advocacy, air and water quality monitoring, and education.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Environmental Advocacy Services

NAICS

Environment, Conservation and Wildlife Organizations (813312), Social Advocacy Organizations (8133)

SIC

Services-Social Services (8300)

akta.pro primary industry

Environmental Justice & Community Environmental Health (BPAGAGAL)

akta.pro secondary industries

Pollution Prevention & Toxics Reduction (BPAGAGAJ), Environmental Education & Outreach (BPAGAGAH), Air Quality & Emissions Management (BPAHAJAI)

Keywords

• Environmental advocacy services
• Community air monitoring
• Water quality monitoring
• Environmental justice education
• Nonprofit environmental programs

Headquarters

HQ city

Baton Rouge

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Donations and Memberships: LEAN generates revenue through tax-deductible donations from individuals and members. Membership options include Student/Low Income ($10/yr), Individual ($25/yr), Family ($50/yr), and Group ($125/yr).

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

LEAN is a community-based nonprofit environmental advocacy organization that provides hyper-local air quality monitoring, water quality monitoring through the Lower Mississippi Riverkeeper program, community empowerment support, and environmental justice education to Louisiana communities, particularly underserved populations affected by industrial pollution.

Product overview

The Louisiana Environmental Action Network (LEAN) operates as a community-based nonprofit organization offering a portfolio of environmental advocacy programs and educational resources rather than a commercial product platform. LEAN's core offerings include the Community Air Monitoring Network, which uses mobile monitoring vehicles and stationary sensors in partnership with Aclima to collect hyper-local air quality data; the Lower Mississippi Riverkeeper water quality monitoring program; the GC-HARMS research project on Deepwater Horizon health impacts; and the People, Places & Power environmental justice curriculum. Additional programs include the Community Archive and Empowerment Center preserving environmental justice history, the Community Empowerment Program providing direct technical support to communities, and campaign initiatives like Fix Our Coast and Save Our Water. LEAN also provides the Community Atlas and Citizen's Guide as educational resources for communities across Louisiana.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Community Air Monitoring Network A comprehensive air quality monitoring initiative deploying mobile monitoring vehicles (via Aclima) and stationary sensors to collect hyper-local air quality data across Louisiana communities, particularly parishes along the Mississippi River Industrial Corridor, measuring pollutants including CO2, CO, PM 2.5, NO2, ozone, black carbon, tVOC, and BTEX.
• Lower Mississippi Riverkeeper A Waterkeeper Alliance licensed program that monitors water quality of the Mississippi River Basin throughout Louisiana, documents pollution incidents, and educates citizens about river stewardship.
• Community Empowerment Program Direct support services to communities addressing environmental challenges, including technical assistance, organizational support, leadership development, and communication services from initial listening sessions through resolution facilitation.
• Community Archive and Empowerment Center A multimedia archive preserving Louisiana's environmental justice history including articles, photos, videos, audio interviews, and maps documenting community environmental challenges over four decades, housed in a physical center with a public library and meeting space.
• People, Places & Power Curriculum An environmental justice education curriculum providing adaptable educational modules for teachers with Louisiana-specific content covering environmental justice history, community case studies, and interactive learning activities for K-12 students.
• Hands of Hope Disaster Relief Program Disaster relief program providing immediate assistance (food, water, protective equipment) following hurricanes and other disasters affecting Louisiana communities.
• Save Our Water Campaign A campaign addressing the sustainability of Baton Rouge's drinking water threatened by saltwater intrusion, advocating for a sustainable plan to protect this resource.
• Fix Our Coast Campaign A coastal restoration advocacy campaign addressing Louisiana's loss of over 2,000 square miles of coastline, focusing on responsibility and solutions related to oil and gas industry activities.
• GC-HARMS Research Project A collaborative research network characterizing health impacts and community resiliency factors related to the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil disaster, focusing on marginalized fishing communities in the Gulf region.

Quantifiable outcome

• Lower Mississippi River provides drinking water to over 1 million people in south Louisiana
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers6 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature1 record

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• AclimacoreTechnology or Integration · 11 December 2023Aclima operates mobile monitoring vehicles that collect hyper-local air quality data along approximately 300 linear miles along the Mississippi River. Their fleet began data collection on December 11, 2023, measuring pollutants including CO2, CO, PM 2.5, NO2, ozone, black carbon, TVOC, and BTEX.
• Waterkeeper AlliancecoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2001LEAN's Riverkeeper program became an official member of the international Waterkeeper Alliance in 2001, licensed as the Lower Mississippi Riverkeeper (LMRK) to monitor water quality in the Mississippi River Basin throughout Louisiana.
• Quapaw Canoe Company / John RuskeyminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerLong-term partnership with premier Mississippi River outfitter John Ruskey and Quapaw Canoe Company to support and educate paddlers along the Mississippi River about environmental responsibility and river stewardship. LEAN staff contribute to Rivergator.org, the first paddler's guide to the Lower Mississippi River.
• T. Harry Williams Center for Oral History at Louisiana State UniversityminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership to showcase the Women Pioneers of the Louisiana Environmental Movement oral history collection, preserving interviews with women heroes who changed the history of their communities.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Waterkeeper Alliance: LEAN's Lower Mississippi Riverkeeper is licensed by Waterkeeper Alliance, making them a direct peer/affiliate. Waterkeeper Alliance is the international umbrella for community-based water quality advocacy, with comparable member organizations across the U.S. and globally pursuing similar water-monitoring and pollution-documentation missions.
• Louisiana Bucket Brigade: A Louisiana-based nonprofit that uses fenceline air monitoring (via "bucket" sampling) to document industrial pollution in the same River Parishes corridor LEAN serves. Direct peer in mission (community-led air monitoring), geography (Louisiana industrial corridor), and beneficiary (environmental justice communities).
• Healthy Gulf (formerly Gulf Restoration Network): Gulf Coast regional environmental advocacy organization focused on industrial pollution, coastal restoration, and community organizing — overlapping mission with LEAN's Fix Our Coast and GC-HARMS work. Operates in adjacent geographies and often partners on Gulf-region issues like the Deepwater Horizon spill response.
• Earthworks: National nonprofit focused on oil, gas, and mineral extraction impacts on communities, with significant air monitoring programs using optical gas imaging. Highly comparable to LEAN in combining community-led air monitoring with environmental justice advocacy and grassroots organizing.
• Deep South Center for Environmental Justice: New Orleans-based environmental justice organization focused on the same Gulf Coast corridor and similar beneficiary communities as LEAN. Operates community-based research, training, and advocacy in the petrochemical industrial corridor — strong peer on EJ mission, geography, and beneficiary profile.
• Texas Environmental Justice Advocacy Services (TEJAS): Houston-area EJ nonprofit serving communities adjacent to and continuous with LEAN's River Parishes constituency along the Gulf Coast industrial corridor. Comparable in mission (environmental justice, community organizing, pollution advocacy) and beneficiary demographics.

Broad incumbents

• Earthjustice: National environmental law organization that litigates environmental justice and pollution cases, often overlapping with the communities LEAN serves. Broader in scope and capacity (legal rather than community-organizing focus), but pursues comparable outcomes (preventing harmful facilities, enforcing pollution standards) using different tools.
• Center for Biological Diversity: National environmental advocacy group using legal, scientific, and grassroots organizing tools — overlaps with LEAN's advocacy and community engagement approach. Broader in geographic and issue scope but pursues similar environmental protection outcomes.
• WE ACT for Environmental Justice: Pioneering environmental justice organization in Harlem, NYC — comparable in mission (community-led EJ organizing, education, advocacy) but with substantially larger scale and national policy influence. Useful benchmark for what LEAN could become at maturity with sustained funding.

Regional players

• National Association of River Cooperatives: Coalition-style organizations that aggregate community-based river stewardship across watersheds. While not a direct operator, comparable in mission and structure to LEAN's Riverkeeper affiliate model — useful for understanding peer scale in community-led watershed management.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/laenviro
• Facebookfacebook.com/LouisianaEnvironmentalActionNetwork
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/louisiana-environmental-action

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds1 record

Investors1 record

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Louisiana Environmental Action Network