Co-op Weekly – At briefing on Capitol Hill, lawmakers and co-op executives shed light on USDA’s critical Rural Energy Savings Program

Jay OwenGreen Prosperity, Reforming Global Finance

At briefing on Capitol Hill, lawmakers and co-op executives shed light on USDA’s critical Rural Energy Savings Program

The Rural Energy Savings Program has strong champions on Capitol Hill, including Rep. Clyburn, center, speaking at last week’s briefing.

“The goal is [to put] more money back in the pockets of people in rural communities and to catalyze rural development,” NCBA CLUSA president and CEO Doug O’Brien said last week during opening remarks at a briefing on Capitol Hill.

 

The July 16 briefing, called “Equitable Solutions to Rural Energy Burdens,” highlighted NCBA CLUSA’s Partnership for Advancing an Inclusive Rural Energy Economy (PAIREE) with the Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI) and shed light on innovative utility programs that are working to alleviate energy burdens faced by rural households in the U.S.

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ROC USA® is working to scale cooperative ownership of manufactured home communities. 

At IMPACT 2019, learn about innovations in scaling co-op development from ROC USA®, Start.coop and the Center for Family LifeWith the ever-widening wealth gap in the U.S., the need for more distributive business models to scale is pressing. Three co-op innovators in this space—ROC USA®, Start.coop and the Center for Family Life—are addressing that challenge head-on, and they’ll be speaking at the 2019 Co-op IMPACT Conference.

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Even when they’re not published, Letters to the Editor can be a powerful way to get an important issue on a publication’s radar.Have you submitted your #CoopsFor2020 Letter to the Editor yet? Check out this thoughtful example from a readerThis week, we’re highlighting a Letter to the Editor submitted to the Los Angeles Times by Co-op Weekly reader Shirley Aldana. Click through to read her letter, and consider submitting your own. Customize our sample letter template, or craft your own message!

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Katie Waeldner shares why she believes the world can end hunger by 2030 at the Congressional Hunger Center Leadership Awards.Zero Hunger Intern Katie Waeldner reflects on her internship with NCBA CLUSANCBA CLUSA is pleased to host Katie Waeldner at its headquarters in Washington, DC this summer as a Zero Hunger Intern through a partnership with the Congressional Hunger Center, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that works to make issues of domestic and international hunger a priority to policymakers in the U.S.

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Fewer, larger co?ops have changed the competitive landscape in agriculture, and have affected the role of co?ops in rural communities.While the number of ag cooperatives continues to decline, co-op influence in rural America does not, new CoBank report says

Agricultural cooperatives have been in a steady state of consolidation for decades. But despite the decline in the number of cooperatives, the influence of co?ops in rural America is not shrinking. However, it is changing.

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