For the first time in US history, the White House held a national briefing for the widest range ever of US cooperative leaders. The trigger for this historical event was the United Nations declaring 2012 as the International Year of Cooperatives (IYC).
Clearly, the extensive IYC efforts of the National Cooperative Business Association (NCBA) and its members have had national impact on the White House. Seeing co-ops as a particularly bright spot in the US economy, the Obama Administration asked Liz Bailey, the Interim President of NCBA to invite 150 co-op leaders to come to Washington, DC.
The White House wanted to engage US co-op leaders in a national dialogue around community development, job creation and economic opportunity.
Paul Hazen, former President of the NCBA and one of the early champions of IYC, remarked: “The IYC 2012 has provided a platform to raise the cooperative profile. We did that earlier this year with a Senate Resolution and now this event at the White House.”
That morning, it took what seemed an eternity for 150 co-op leaders to go through the security checks and mount the 50 steps to enter the White House’s Eisenhower Executive Building.
However, the 236-year wait would be well worth it. Just the conversations between cooperators waiting in line made the White House event a success. As Liz Bailey (interim NCBA President) said, “It was equally impressive to me to see the networking going on between members of our delegation.”
Courtsey:UNCOOP