Three post-election takeaways

Now is the time to reach out to your newly elected or re-elected officials.

Just over a week has passed since a seismic federal election. The ramifications are significant for every person in the U.S. For cooperatives, it means it is time to come together to advocate for better policy and resources so more people can use co-ops to address today's challenges. In short, people are looking for change; co-ops present real answers; and we as a co-op community need to come together to make it happen.

1. People are not satisfied with the status quo

It was another change election. Continuing a long-term slide, people's trust in institutions has cratered in the last decades, with the trust in big business falling from 31 percent in 1977 to only 15 percent in 2024. According to NBC's exit polls, people are extremely concerned with the economy and the direction of the country; of those, 68 percent have a negative view of the economy and 73 percent say they are dissatisfied or angry with the direction of the country. The exit polls also showed that people are very concerned about the state of democracy. Co-ops are positioned to answer this call for a better economic path and fulfill people's desire for meaningful participation in their businesses and economy.

2. Co-ops present an answer

People want better jobs in the U.S. and more control over their economic lives. They want access to decent, affordable housing and childcare, and do not trust the U.S. Government or big business to deliver. As a time-tested, nonpartisan solution, co-ops are equipped to answer this call.

Already, one in three people are members of cooperatives; of those, more than 140 million people are members of credit unios and 40+ million people live in households served by rural electric cooperatives. More than half of all farmers own and control agricultural co-ops. Meanwhile, fast-growing sectors such as worker co-ops are poised to scale and make transformational impacts. In the food sector, consumer co-ops continue to innovate to meet their members' needs and increase access to healthy, affordable foods for more communities. Policymakers at every level are focusing on the housing crisis where limited equity housing co-ops and resident-owned communities (ROCs) provide a real, affordable answer.

Cooperatives are a proven model that have the power solve these and other challenges people, businesses and communities are facing right now. Within the policy environment in front of us, now is the time to leverage this power. The guiding light for NCBA CLUSA is our mission to develop, advance and protect co-ops, activated by our vision to help more people to use co-ops to build a more inclusive economy. While the mission and vision are constant, the work constantly evolves. The only way we do that is by flexing our Principle 6 muscles and working together.

3. Now is the time to act

With the White House, the Senate and (very likely) the House controlled by the same party-along with several big-time forcible legislative deadlines-2025 promises to be an extremely active policy year punctuated by tax policy, the Farm Bill, shifting appropriations priorities and the fiscal cliff, among other items. In political environments like this, legislation can far surpass the usual Congressional pace.

Now is the time to double down on our advocacy efforts. NCBA CLUSA is on it. Next week, we will meet with the Co-op Tax and Policy Working Group, the Cooperative Economics Council, and numerous other stakeholder groups. We are working to secure a voice in the new Administration's transition team. We are reaching out to the bipartisan Congressional Cooperative Business Caucus and sending letters to the newly elected leaders in Congress as we plan a robust set of meetings over the coming weeks and months. And with next year's International Year of Cooperatives on the horizon, work is already in motion to ramp up public awareness and advocacy efforts.

Advocacy work on Capitol Hill is good-and necessary. But it is not sufficient. We say it all the time: the best advocates are the people who the elected officials directly represent. So now is the time to reach out to your newly elected or re-elected officials. Check out NCBA CLUSA's advocacy page for our policy priorities to help you shape a message for these leaders-whether at the federal, state or local level. As the dust settles on the election, committee assignments are made and Congress signals its priorities, we'll update these resources, but you should not wait. The goal of outreach at this point might simply be to make sure that your Congressional office understands the co-op presence in their state, district or city, and that you are there as a resource as they set their new agenda.

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