[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 11]
[Senate]
[Page 15114]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                25TH ANNIVERSARY OF DAKOTA RURAL ACTION

 Mr. JOHNSON of South Dakota. Mr. President, today I wish to 
commemorate the 25th anniversary of Dakota Rural Action. I am proud to 
honor the members and stakeholders involved in Dakota Rural Action and 
extend my congratulations to them on this memorable occasion.
  Dakota Rural Action is a local, grassroots organization that exhibits 
leadership through community organizing. They strive to give South 
Dakotans a strong voice by working with local, State, and Federal 
Government officials on issues and decisions involving family 
agriculture, conservation, and overall quality of life. The members of 
DRA were also early vocal advocates of my Country-of-Origin Labeling, 
COOL, law, which has enabled consumers to access information about 
where their food is coming from and enabled producers to get a better 
price for their products.
  The Dakota Rural Action organization started in 1985 as a steering 
committee called the South Dakota Rural Organizing Project. The 
committee was tasked with finding substantive and effective ways to 
organize citizens on a grassroots level, largely due to the farm crisis 
of the late 1980s. When the need for a more sustained, long-term 
organization became evident, Dakota Rural Action was formally created. 
The founding members wanted to create a nonprofit, nonpartisan, 
community-driven organization that focused on the causes and larger 
issues affecting rural America, rather than just the effects of the 
farm crisis. On January 10, 1987, Dakota Rural Action held its first 
meeting in Brookings, SD, to adopt bylaws and an organizational 
structure, set membership dues, and to establish an issue platform.
  Today, Dakota Rural Action remains a vibrant, statewide network of 
six chapters. They celebrated their 25th anniversary at their annual 
meeting in Brookings, SD on November 9 and 10, 2012. It is a great 
privilege for me to recognize Dakota Rural Action's 25 years of service 
to South Dakotans, as well as their continuing commitment to the issues 
and causes that affect South Dakota and rural areas across the 
Nation.

                          ____________________