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