H. Concern for Community (30 points)

     

This level of recognition will be used to determine Section Alternates and Substitutes for the tour, and Triple Crown Winners.

An award bus tour will be provided for representatives of winning FFA Chapters in the Cooperative Activities Program.

It is the responsibility of the FFA Chapter and/or Agricultural Instructor to select the FFA members who will best represent the chapter on the award tour. Consideration should be given to selecting the most deserving FFA members from the chapter. The tour participant would probably be one of the following: A deserving and hardworking member, chairman, or a member of the Cooperative Activities Program Committee in the chapter or a chapter officer. Also, participants need to be aware that they will be sleeping on the tour bus on the travel back to Illinois, and will be doing a great deal of walking. In addition, if the student the chapter selects is unable to go, the chapter is encouraged to name a replacement student to take their spot on the tour. However, replacement students must be of the same gender. NOTICE: If a chapter fails to submit the name(s) of their tour participant by 3:00 p,m. on May 15, 2015, the chapter will forfeit the trip.

Participants, eligible for the awards tour, will include one member per section winning chapter plus one additional member may be allowed from the top five winning chapters in the state. One advisor and spouse from both the first and second place chapters will be invited to participate.

Section Alternate Chapters will be selected to fill vacancies created when a section does not have a winning chapter. Alternates will be the second place chapter in the section that meets the Section and Top 5 recognition qualifications, and will fill any vacancy created if the winning chapter does not provide a tour participant by the deadline.

Substitutes will fill a vacancy if a section does not have an eligible winning chapter that meets the Section and Top 5 recognition qualifications. The substitute chapters will be selected from the top scoring chapters in the state that would not already be participating in the award tour.

Chaperones for the tour will consist of members of the Youth Education Committee and one chapter advisor and spouse from the first and second place chapters. If the first or second place advisors are unable to attend, the third place chapter advisor and spouse will then be invited, etc. If, however, the advisor has participated as a chaperone on this tour, or the Cooperative Award Tour within the previous year, he/she is ineligible to participate. Chaperones will have the responsibility of maintaining order, leading teams, and other duties as assigned by the tour staff.

The application consists of a Certification Form, Form I and II. The Certification Form, Form I and II and must be completed satisfactorily to be eligible for awards. The application is available on the Illinois Farm Bureau & Affiliates Youth Education website site (www.youthed.org).

On the application, the chapter will be limited to typing information within the space of the box indicated. Within the box, information needs to be typed single-spaced and be 12 point font. If a chapter exceeds the box, points will be deducted from their score. Entries submitted must be on the correct year’s application or authorized computer-generated application. Other entries will be disqualified. No substitutions or other supplementary material, other than specified supplemental photographs and descriptions may be added to this application. Applications must not be submitted in any type of binder or page protectors. Any applications that are submitted in this manner will be penalized points. Binder and page protectors will be discarded and not returned. However, application pages should be stapled together in the upper left-hand corner. A signed Certification Form must be attached with the chapter’s application.
***All submitted applications become property of the Illinois Farm Bureau® and will not be returned back to chapters***
Evaluation Procedure

The process of evaluating chapter applications will consist of the following steps.

• 
  The chapter must mail the applications to the Illinois Farm Bureau, Attn: Donna Gallivan, 1701 Towanda Avenue, Bloomington, IL 61701, postmarked by the March 15 due date. The chapter must also e-mail a copy of their application to Donna Gallivan at dgallivan@ilfb.org prior to March 15.
  
• 
  Applications received late will not be evaluated.
  
• 
  A subcommittee of the Youth Education Committee will evaluate each application using uniform criteria in early April.
  

Judges will be using several criteria when scoring applications. Neatness, spelling, and grammar are factors that will be used in evaluating the entire application. The evaluation of Form I will be based on a chapter’s ability to answer Yes to the questions in Section A, B, & C earning points in Section D, E, & F. The evaluation of Form II comes from your chapter cooperative meeting the basic structure of a cooperative business, meeting the 7 cooperative principles, and meeting the needs of its member/owners.

• 
  Chapter members received classroom instruction from the Cooperative Curriculum to understand how a cooperative works.
  
• 
  The 7 Cooperative Principles are taught in Ag Sales & Marketing class.
  
• 
  The class is required to write about how the chapter cooperative meets the standards of the 7 Principles.
  
• 
  USDA pamphlets, "Is a Co-Op in Your Picture", "How to Start a Cooperative", "What Co-Op Members Do" were used in the classroom instruction.
  
• 
  Representatives from GROWMARK, Prairie Farms Dairy, Farm Credit Services, Electric Cooperative, or others spoke to class on their business operations.
  
• 
  Manager of local FS Company presented a unit of instruction on cooperatives.
  
• 
  Class studied the constitution and bylaws of an existing cooperative.
  
• 
  Chapter arranged for tour of local FS facility or cooperative.
  

• 
  Chapter developed a greenhouse cooperative where members buy shares, elect a board of directors, work on growing products, and earn dividends when products are sold.
  
• 
  Each member pays a $5 membership fee into the chapter cooperative & dividends are given based on member’s purchase of goods/services provided by the cooperative.
  
• 
  Chapter buys seed with money from stock sales, then mixes, bags, and sells birdseed.
  
• 
  Each member buys a share and is paid dividends from the chapter cooperative that provides diverse agriculture serves to members ranging from services as livestock shows for the local fair and selling agriculture products in the community.
  
• 
  Provide a snack cooperative to provide discounted, healthy alternative snacks for students an adults to purchase.
  
• 
  Cooperative members pay $5 to belong to a construction cooperative where members are encouraged to be workers to earn wage for building projects.
  
• 
  Cooperative receives money for creating and selling products.
  
• 
  After paying expenses, the money is divided between members.
  

• 
  Chapter members are offered the opportunity to become a member owner of the cooperative.
  
• 
  Each member pays $10 dues for each share in September. After shares are purchased, the board of directors and cooperative membership is established.
  
• 
  Only dues paying FFA members can purchase shares in the cooperative.
  
• 
  Cooperative shares cost $5.00 each and are paid for when a student joins FFA. Every member is allowed to purchase up to three shares.
  
• 
  Members of the chapter cooperative must be FFA members, but FFA members are not required to become a member of the cooperative, but many do because of the financial and educational benefit.
  
• 
  Emphasis on joining the cooperative as a way to pay for FFA dues is promoted to FFA members.
  

• 
  Cooperative member owners annually elect their board of directors.
  
• 
  Cooperative member must fulfill their duties as leaders and workers and if not, they may be impeached.
  
• 
  Cooperative members voted on the cooperative's mission and goals.
  
• 
  Members running for the board of directors complete a resume and gave a speech during the shareholders meeting.
  
• 
  The cooperative holds an annual meeting to review the success/failure of the cooperative. A financial and board actions report is presented to the member owners for approval.
  
• 
  Member owners annually review the structure of the cooperative and make any changes during their annual meeting.
  
• 
  The cooperative board hires a cooperative manager to run the day-to-day operations of the cooperative.
  
• 
  The cooperative manager oversees all cooperative operations throughout the year.
  

• 
  Members financially invest in the cooperative and are issued stock.
  
• 
  Member owners use the product/services of the cooperative, and receive patronage refunds from the profits of the cooperative, based on the amount that they used the cooperative.
  
• 
  A cap on shares is set to prevent a monopoly of power from being created.
  

• 
  After each season/quarter, the money is divided out to members.
  
• 
  At the end of the quarter, the board of directors and officers meet to review the cooperative's financials and decide what the payout to members will be.
  
• 
  Students became cooperative members by paying $4.00 and receiving a share and vote in the cooperative.
  
• 
  Cooperative members receive additional benefits and discounts at FFA related activities.
  

• 
  Cooperative board members are not the same as the FFA Chapter officers. Cooperative board members are elected independently of the FFA officers.
  
• 
  Each member has the opportunity to be a member of the cooperative and apply for the board of directors.
  
• 
  The cooperative board meets separately from the FFA monthly meetings in order to accomplish more cooperative related business.
  
• 
  The cooperative establishes its own bank account separate from the Chapter FFA bank account.
  
• 
  The cooperative president gives a report on the cooperative at the monthly FFA meetings.
  
• 
  Chapter provided initial start up funding for the cooperative, but the FFA chapter does not control the decisions of the cooperative. The funding is treated as a loan or grant.
  

• 
  Chapter cooperative markets its products or members products through another local cooperative.
  
• 
  Chapter cooperative buys products from a local cooperative at a reduced price to share the savings to its member owners.
  
• 
  The chapter/Ag Business class researches area companies or cooperatives that provide the products to sell.
  

• 
  The chapter cooperative used part of proceeds to purchase food the FFA Chapter's Harvest for All Food Drive.
  
• 
  The chapter cooperative provided free flowers for local nursing homes.
  
• 
  The chapter cooperative provided a college scholarship for an outstanding senior.
  
• 
  The chapter cooperative provided products as door prizes for annual FFA Banquet, FFA Alumni fundraiser, or other school functions.
  

The FFA members participating in the 2010 Heritage and Cooperative Award Tour visited the National Archives while in Washington, D.C.

The FFA members participating in the 2010 Heritage and Cooperative Award Tour visited the Capitol Hill while in Washington, D.C.