Trio being inducted into Cooperative Hall of Fame - Newsline

Rural Cooperatives, Jan-Feb, 2004 by Patrick Duffey

A trio of outstanding cooperative leaders will be inducted into the Cooperative Hall of Fame this spring. Honorees are Henry Schriver, Ohio fanner and cooperative educator, who has motivated thousands of young farmers in speeches and workshops to become active in cooperatives; Ralph Paige, executive director, Federation of Southern Cooperatives/Land Assistance Fund, and Allen Thurgood, founder and CEO of 1st Rochdale Cooperative.

The award, the most prestigious in the cooperative community, is a tribute to the inductees' outstanding efforts on behalf of cooperatives. The presentations will be made April 28 at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.

Schriver is a true believer of the cooperative model whose career as an active volunteer ha local farm credit, farm supply and dairy cooperatives spans 61 years. Schriver left his mark as an exceptional volunteer, educator and advocate. Not only has he been a teacher of cooperative principles, but he also has been a motivator who has brought many people into cooperative organizations.

His success in teaching the basic principles of cooperatives, which spans more than 40 years, can be measured by the number of young farmers he has motivated to get involved in cooperatives in more than 3,000 speeches and participation in numerous workshops sponsored by farmer cooperatives, youth organizations and other farm groups. His cooperative legacy includes raising a family of true co-op believers. Six of his sons are currently farming and serving as members of a variety of cooperative organizations.

Paige has dedicated his life's work to proving that cooperatives can be used to enhance incomes and improve quality of life for black family farmers and rural, low-income families. Never deterred by scarcity of resources or organized resistance, he has been a fireless advocate, fund-raiser and teacher. Under his leadership, the federation has been the primary organization representing black fanners and fighting their precipitous decline in farm ownership and independence.

Among the federation's accomplishments under his leadership: more than 200 units of low-income housing developed; 18 community credit unions formed; 75 cooperatives started; and the federation's rural training center at Epes, Ala., was opened. He has put the federation at the center of national advocacy and legislative battles for public policy affecting farmers. He made the federation's model and cooperative development expertise available to international audiences.

Thurgood has a well-earned reputation at the state and national level as an effective consumer advocate, community activist and government advisor. His clear, pragmatic understanding of the cooperative model helped him bring cooperative solutions to areas such as housing, health care, banking, issues of aging and energy. He led the metropolitan New York cooperative housing community as executive director of Cooperative Housing Services and as coordinator of the Coordinating Council of Greater New York. He formed a powerful coalition of diverse community housing cooperatives that have effectively worked together to address the common concerns of more than 500,000 New York families.

He helped secure passage of federal legislation to clarify IRS code exemptions for housing cooperatives and he played an important role in securing the funding for Naturally Occurring Retirement Communities that allow seniors to age in place. He led the New York community in its advocacy on behalf of credit unions as they competed with the commercial banking industry. And as New York restructured its electric utility industry in the 1990s, Thurgood developed 1st Rochdale as the nation's first metropolitan electric utility cooperative.