For the first time in history a national briefing on co-operatives was held at the White House last month. One hundred and fifty co-operative leaders from across the US attended the special session with the Obama administration to discuss the future of co-operatives. Dame Pauline Green, ICA President, represented the international movement at the discussions. In the room with White House officials in Washington D.C. were representatives of 29,000 co-operatives that serve one in three Americans and report US$652 billion in sales and support over two million jobs. On behalf of President Obama, Chief of Staff Jack Lew welcomed co-operators to the open discussions. He said: “It is an honor to have so many of you here and that as part of the co-operative community you are building our American economy and creating jobs.” As a member of a credit union, Mr Lew praised the sector for being a fundamental source of banking services to so many Americans. Members of the President’s policy team listened to participants during the three-hour session, which covered every co-op segment including agricultural, consumer, credit unions, health, housing, mutual insurance, rural electric and worker co-operatives. Liz Bailey, Interim President at National Cooperative Business Association, said “It was impressive to observe the White House staff taking notes as they learned new information and gained new awareness of the co-op footprint in the US economy. “It's a meeting that put co-operatives on their radar screen and laid the groundwork for a multi-faceted ongoing dialogue. NCBA will take the leadership to expand that dialogue with the White House and to turn it into a nationwide conversation between the co-operative community and public officials at all levels of government.” Paul Hazen, Executive Director, US Overseas Cooperative Development Council, commented: “In true co-operative spirit, the entire co-operative movement benefited from the White House meeting and this is just the beginning of more co-operation. The co-operators present were effective in pressing our case that co-operatives offer solutions to many of our nation's problems. The White House is looking for actions that will spur the economy. We offered a number of changes to Federal policy that will allow co-operatives to create jobs and increase incomes.” Martin Lowery, Executive Vice President, National Rural Electric Cooperatives, said of the meeting: “A number of the White House staff described their longstanding experiences with co-operative services, whether in agriculture, telephony, electricity or financial services through credit unions. In this International Year of Co-operatives, the freshly forged relationship with the White House is a matter of significance.” • Picture: Paul Hazen and Dame Pauline Green in the White House. Additional reporting by David Thompson.
