CooperationWorks!

History

The roots of CooperationWorks! go back to 1989 when the National Cooperative Business Association led a coalition of 90 cooperatives and other rural organizations in ensuring that cooperative development would become a key component of federal rural development policy.

In 1990, President Bush signed legislation authorizing grants to establish a network of rural cooperative development centers around the country. Seven years later, the centers transformed their informal network into a formal professional organization, CooperationWorks! Since 1993, federal appropriations and matching funds from the cooperative development centers have brought more than $35 million for cooperative business development to rural America. Each year, NCBA seeks increased federal funding for the Rural Cooperative Development Grants program at the Department of Agriculture, the core source of funding for the centers. To find out how you can help support the grants program, click here.

CooperationWorks! members have helped develop 388 new businesses in rural communities, owned and controlled by their 47,160 member-owners, and created more than 5,800 new jobs. Investment in these cooperative businesses exceeds 901 million dollars.