They devised a way to have the business pay for it, as an investment in the future of their business and likelihood. When they created their mission statement with a set of business principles to guide them, they included education about their business as a key guiding principle for future success. These are organizations such as state and national trade associations, universities, and government agencies, and professional associations. For example, we have a rejuvenated federal research and information service through the Rural Business Cooperative Service of USDA Rural Development and rejuvenated and expanded university centers for cooperatives and endowed chairs, with excellent leadership and staff. Foundation support of cooperative education has increased, new electronic technologies are being used for information delivery and increased coordination in the development of new or updated curriculum materials is improving communication efficiency and effectiveness.
Consumer cooperatives have similar educational programs.
One key area of cooperative education, leadership development, is being improved on several fronts, including programs such as GICL, and a new program for defined membership cooperatives created through a partnership between the Quentin Burdick Center and several other agencies, foundations and most importantly the cooperatives themselves. Other leadership development and support programs include the Future Co-op Leaders Program of the National Cooperative Business Association and the New Cooperative Leaders Scholarship program of The Cooperative Foundation, which supports professional development in cooperative education. Two new director training series are available, and young farmer programs emphasize leadership development. But this is only a part of the story. We need to take another look back, to see what we might need to do now.