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Youth Tour theme reflects co-op
tradition of local commitment
Mississippi’s electric power associations sent 40 of our best and brightest high school juniors to Washington, D.C., this summer to help them prepare for leadership roles in their schools and communities.
The annual Rural Electric Youth Tour offers these outstanding young people a rare opportunity to tour the nation’s capital, learn more about the cooperative form of electric utility and visit their lawmakers on Capitol Hill.
The theme of the 2005 Youth Tour was “Commitment to Community.” Those few words express a primary goal of the Youth Tour since the program began in 1958. Electric power associations sponsor the Youth Tour as a means to instill in Mississippi teens pride in their communities and the desire to make them better.
The theme also sums up one of the main reasons electric power associations were organized in Mississippi and continue to be integral parts of the communities we serve.
Electric power associations serve some 1.6 million Mississippians in all regions of the state. Each electric power association is a consumer-owned cooperative controlled by the members it serves, including you.
So what’s the cooperative difference? For starters, it’s a commitment to provide highly reliable and affordable electric service.
Consumer ownership also means electric power associations are more accountable and responsive to local needs. We deliver the highest level of service because every member who calls or visits our offices is an owner of the cooperative—not just a customer.
And because each electric power association is locally owned and controlled, we have a higher degree of care and concern for our local communities. Supporting youth leadership, economic development and other areas that contribute to quality of life is an important mission of every electric power association in Mississippi.
That means a great deal to the people we serve. Consumers have a special bond of trust with their electric power association. Those who understand the cooperative difference realize their electric power association exists solely to serve them—not to earn a profit for stockholders.
The Youth Tour affords young Mississippians—tomorrow’s leaders—opportunities to learn the vital role their electric power association plays in their own community. They learn how it operates and why it is important.
The Youth Tour program has been around for over 40 years and now boasts over 40,000 participants all across the country.
Some former Youth Tour participants are state legislators, farmers, attorneys, business owners and even a few congressional staffers. Undoubtably, each one has a special memory of his or her own Youth Tour experience.
Electric power associations view their investment in the Youth Tour program as an investment in our future and a commitment to improving the communities we serve.
It’s all part of the cooperative difference.
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