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Contact:
Tracy Warren
Phone: 703-907-5746
Mobile: 703-517-3411

Roger Yoder, CEO, accepting the Community Service Award for Union REC, Inc. Photo credit: Michael Lynch

ATLANTA, GEORGIA, February 15, 2010 — The National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) honored Union Rural Electric Cooperative, Inc. (URE) with the Association’s National Community Service Award in recognition of the co-op’s impressive economic development initiative that has brought jobs and growth to Union County and Marysville, Ohio.

In 2000, Union REC joined with municipal governments and local companies to create a new public-private economic development organization for Union County, Ohio. There are now 24 entities in the organization, generating $280,000 annually for economic development.

The cooperative made economic development a priority, incorporating both economic development and quality of life strategies into strategic plans, and invested both time and money -- $135,000 over six years – in the new organization.  

The economic development organization focused on retaining businesses as well as attracting new businesses. In 2008, 359 jobs were retained with assistance from the partnership and 80 new jobs were created. Grants have been given to projects ranging from site preparation an industrial park to a mural and even a historical marker.

This initiative has helped make Union County the fourth fastest-growing county in Ohio. The total number of businesses has grown from 764 in 2000 to 1,023 in 2007, while the average annual wage increased from $45,042 to $54,293 over that same period.

“By making community development a part of the its mission and strategic plan, Union Rural Electric Cooperative has been able to mitigate the effects of this severe recession in one of the states that has been hardest hit,” said F.E. “Wally” Wolski, president of NRECA’s Board of Directors. “They have set the standard for the seventh cooperative principle: working for the sustainable development of the community.” 

The National Rural Electric Cooperative Association is the national service organization that represents the nation’s more than 900 private, not-for-profit, consumer-owned electric cooperatives, which provide service to 42 million people in 47 states.

More than 9,000 representatives from cooperative electric utilities across the nation are attending the NRECA Annual Meeting, February 15-17, at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta, during which they will set NRECA’s legislative and organizational agenda for 2010. In addition to considering and acting upon policy resolutions, delegates receive reports from NRECA officials, hear addresses by key public figures and business experts, and attend panel sessions on major issues affecting electric cooperatives and their consumer owners.

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