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From Brown Rice to Bi<strong>of</strong>uels 171<br />
One <strong>of</strong> the most compelling experiments is taking place in<br />
Cleveland, where the Evergreen Cooperatives are pioneering new<br />
models for creating jobs that protect the environment and build<br />
community wealth. A partnership <strong>of</strong> several institutions, including<br />
the Cleveland Foundation, the City <strong>of</strong> Cleveland, Case Western<br />
Reserve University, the Cleveland Clinic, and University Hospital,<br />
the cooperative aims to create two to three new worker- owned<br />
businesses a year, each generating 40 to 50 jobs in a city with<br />
a crippling poverty rate <strong>of</strong> 30 percent.<br />
Evergreen is thinking big. Its fi rst business, the Evergreen<br />
Cooperative Laundry, sets its sights on the huge, and growing,<br />
healthcare market by providing commercial laundry services to<br />
the area’s big hospitals. And its state- <strong>of</strong>- the- art plant gives it an<br />
edge in an increasingly eco- conscious world: it uses just eighttenths<br />
<strong>of</strong> a gallon <strong>of</strong> water per pound <strong>of</strong> laundry, compared to an<br />
average three gallons per pound for most industrial laundry facilities.<br />
Workers are hired from the co-op’s University Circle neighborhood<br />
and, after a probationary period, begin earning equity<br />
in the business through payroll deductions, which could lead to<br />
a $65,000 stake after several years.<br />
Another Evergreen business, Ohio Cooperative Solar, owns<br />
and installs solar panel arrays on institutional, government, and<br />
commercial buildings—its fi rst installation is on the Cleveland<br />
Clinic’s ro<strong>of</strong>—and provides weatherization services. Green City<br />
Growers is planning a fi ve- acre hydroponic greenhouse that will<br />
grow produce in the middle <strong>of</strong> Cleveland. The greenhouse, which<br />
will begin construction in the spring <strong>of</strong> 2011, expects to grow<br />
5 million heads <strong>of</strong> lettuce and leafy greens each year. The produce<br />
will be marketed to local grocers and foodservice companies.<br />
A fourth business being incubated by Evergreen is a free local<br />
paper called the Neighborhood Voice. In each case, employees learn<br />
skills and are paid a living wage as they build equity in the business.<br />
And the businesses contribute a portion <strong>of</strong> their pr<strong>of</strong>i ts back<br />
into a main Evergreen fund that helps establish new ventures.<br />
Innovative initiatives like the Evergreen Cooperatives are helping<br />
to raise awareness <strong>of</strong> worker cooperatives and update their<br />
hammer and sickle image. A 2009 CNNMoney feature highlighted