The power of grassroots activism—why your voice matters

By Emma Sut­ton

For an elec­tric coop­er­a­tive, “grass­roots,” car­ries pow­er­ful mean­ing. In fact, elec­tric co-ops can trace their his­tor­i­cal suc­cess back to this sin­gle idea. Since the 1930s, the indus­try has relied on grass­roots efforts to bring pow­er to rur­al com­mu­ni­ties and secure poli­cies that ben­e­fit their mem­bers.

One of the most pow­er­ful grass­roots efforts in Amer­i­can his­to­ry was the push for rur­al elec­tri­fi­ca­tion in the 1930s. At the time, nine out of ten rur­al homes lacked elec­tric­i­ty, rely­ing instead on kerosene lanterns for light, wood­stoves for cook­ing and wash­boards for clean­ing. With­out elec­tric­i­ty, rur­al economies were depen­dent on agri­cul­ture, while urban areas, with read­i­ly avail­able pow­er sup­plies, received new busi­ness­es and indus­tries. For rur­al com­mu­ni­ties, no solu­tion was in sight. Pow­er com­pa­nies deemed it too cost­ly to serve them, argu­ing that run­ning wires to sparse­ly pop­u­lat­ed areas wasn’t prof­itable.

But rur­al Amer­i­cans refused to be left behind. Farm­ers, ranch­ers, com­mu­ni­ty lead­ers and co-op orga­niz­ers lob­bied for fed­er­al sup­port to bring elec­tric­i­ty to their com­mu­ni­ties. They pooled their own labor and resources to build the infra­struc­ture need­ed to pow­er their homes, farms and busi­ness­es.

The sign­ing of The Rur­al Elec­tri­fi­ca­tion Act of 1936 pro­vid­ed loans and grants to estab­lish elec­tric coop­er­a­tives. This move­ment not only elec­tri­fied rur­al Amer­i­ca. The wide­spread act of neigh­bors help­ing neigh­bors instilled a spir­it of coop­er­a­tion still present in the indus­try today. What began as a push for elec­tric­i­ty has evolved into a broad­er move­ment to ensure elec­tric coop­er­a­tives and the com­mu­ni­ties and lives they pow­er con­tin­ue to thrive.

Near­ing a cen­tu­ry lat­er, grass­roots activism remains essen­tial to elec­tric coop­er­a­tives’ suc­cess. The rur­al com­mu­ni­ties that once found­ed, built and now own their coop­er­a­tives still reap the ben­e­fits of their com­mu­ni­ty engage­ment. Today, elec­tric coop­er­a­tives have brought broad­band Inter­net ser­vice to under­served areas, and they cre­ate steady, well-pay­ing jobs for their com­mu­ni­ties. As a York Elec­tric mem­ber, you’re not just a par­tial own­er of a util­i­ty, you are part of a net­work with the pow­er to change your neigh­bors’ lives for the bet­ter. Just as your co-op relies on your engage­ment to shape its direc­tion and pri­or­i­ties, elec­tric coop­er­a­tives also depend on their mem­bers to engage in the polit­i­cal process to com­mu­ni­cate co-ops’ val­ue and inter­ests to pol­i­cy­mak­ers.

That’s where Voic­es for Coop­er­a­tive Pow­er (VCP) comes in. This ini­tia­tive ampli­fies the voic­es of mem­bers on issues impact­ing the avail­abil­i­ty of safe, reli­able, and afford­able pow­er. Gov­ern­ment poli­cies play a major role in shap­ing the ener­gy land­scape, from the leg­is­la­tion that cre­at­ed elec­tric co-ops to mod­ern poli­cies affect­ing pow­er gen­er­a­tion. As the S.C. Gen­er­al Assem­bly con­sid­ers poli­cies that will impact the avail­abil­i­ty of elec­tric­i­ty we gen­er­ate as a state, it’s more impor­tant than ever for co-op mem­bers to get involved.

York Elec­tric invites you to make your voice heard. Join VCP, share the issues that mat­ter to you, and help shape poli­cies that impact us all. Togeth­er, we can con­tin­ue the lega­cy of grass­roots activism that has pow­ered our com­mu­ni­ties for gen­er­a­tions.

Join VCP

We invite you to join Voic­es for Coop­er­a­tive Pow­er (VCP), a new nation­wide com­mu­ni­ty designed to help co-op con­sumer-mem­bers just like you share your sto­ry with elect­ed offi­cials. We know that one size doesn’t fit all when it comes to ener­gy poli­cies, so as an elec­tric coop­er­a­tive con­sumer-mem­ber, speak­ing up on issues that impact your elec­tric co-op sends a mes­sage to elect­ed offi­cials about the unique needs of our communities—and their con­stituen­cies.

VCP makes it easy to have a say in pol­i­cy deci­sions that impact you, because you can cus­tomize your expe­ri­ence by choos­ing the issues most impor­tant to you, from access to broad­band tech­nol­o­gy and ener­gy effi­cien­cy, to renew­able ener­gy and rur­al devel­op­ment, and much more. VCP mem­bers will receive updates on those issues, and when need­ed, infor­ma­tion on how to con­tact elect­ed offi­cials and gov­ern­ment agen­cies on pro­posed leg­is­la­tion or reg­u­la­tions.

It’s quick and easy to join VCP. Sim­ply vis­it voicesforcooperativepower.com or check out Voic­es for Coop­er­a­tive Pow­er on social media (@voices4coops).