Shareable: Rural Coops Show the Way to Urban Job Growth | Complex Insight  - Understanding our world | Scoop.it

Rural Coops started out as necessities for powering rural communities. Can they show a way forward for urban economies?

 

"Rural electricity and telephone coops are one of the great sharing success stories in American history - largely due to coordination by the federal government. In 1934, only 11% of farmers had electricity compared to 90% in Europe. Private electric companies refused to serve many rural customers or price gouged them when they did. The Rural Electrification Administration (REA) was formed in 1935 to fix the problem by providing technical assistance and loans to electric cooperatives. Less than 20 years later, practically all farms had power due largely to electric coops."...