AnarWiki/markdown/Evergreen_Cooperatives.md

The '''Evergreen Cooperatives '''are a
[network](Network_\(Organisation\) "wikilink") of [worker
cooperatives](Worker_Cooperative "wikilink") in Cleveland, Ohio,
[USA](United_States_of_America "wikilink").

## History

In 1967, the Congress of Racial Equality started to organise worker
cooperatives and community owned businesses. Later, in the nearby town
of Youngstown in 1977, workers and the city attempted to buy a steel
mill after it shut down to stop job losses, but failed, although it gave
rise to the idea of [workers'
control](Workers'_Self-Management "wikilink") in the area. In 2008, the
'Evergreen Initiative was created by the local government, charities and
student groups at local universities to start worker cooperatives. The
cooperative laundry was the first in 2008, cooperative solar was second
in 2009 and cooperative greenhouse was third in 2012.

## Co-operatives

### Evergreen Cooperative Laundry

Evergreen Cooperative Laundry (ECL) is an industrial laundry serving
local hospitals, hotels and other institutions. It operates at the
capacity of 10 million pounds of sheets and towels per year, which
represents 4% of the local market. It saves 35% of energy by warming up
the clean water with heat from the used water and eliminates hazardous
waste by using EPA-approved chemicals. It has 50 workers that are
trained upon hiring, and they are paid $8 an hour for the first six
months, while they are on a trial period. After that, they are
considered for the membership in the co-operative by the peers’ voting.
If they are admitted, the salary grows to $10.50 an hour, with 50 cents
collected towards the ownership share. After seven years working in the
laundry, the individual’s share will be equal to $65,000.

### Ohio Cooperative Solar

Ohio Cooperative Solar (OCS) is a solar power and insulation
installation company, aiming to expand renewable energy and build
passive heating and cooling system for buildings across the city.ber of
the Evergreen Cooperatives, employs area residents to help local
institutions become green using solar power and weatherizing techniques
to improve their energy efficiency. OCS owns and installs photovoltaic
solar panels on Cleveland-area institutional, governmental and
commercial buildings and performs weatherizing projects for the area's
low-income housing in the solar off-season. OCS is entirely worker-owned
by citizens who "face barriers to employment".<sup>\[14\]</sup> OCS was
launched in October 2009 and was profitable within its first five months
in business. By April 2010, OCS had fourteen employees.<sup>\[4\]</sup>

OCS’ customer list includes large Cleveland institutions such as
Cleveland Clinic, University Hospitals, Case Western Reserve University,
City of Cleveland and the Cleveland Housing Network. In some instances,
the client purchases the solar panels from OCS and hires the company to
install them. Under this scenario, the client is then responsible for
the maintenance of the system and arranging credits with the local
utility, insurance and taxes. Alternatively, OCS will own the solar
system, be responsible for all the arrangements, and sell the
electricity at a negotiated rate to the client. This is the arrangement
OCS has with the majority of its clients; it is expected that the
project will create approximately 20 new full-time machinery operator
and installer jobs to economically disadvantaged neighborhoods in the
near future.<sup>\[15\]</sup>

Legislation (Senate Bill 221) passed into Ohio state law mandates that
utilities provide at least 25% of their electricity from alternative
energy sources, including at least one-half percent from solar energy,
by the year 2025.<sup>\[16\]</sup> According to the OCS chief executive
officer, Steve Kiel, this means that Ohio must produce 60 megawatts of
solar generating capacity in the year 2012. The state's current annual
production is two megawatts.<sup>\[17\]</sup>

To help Ohio meet this legislative mandate, OCS’ technical director
Erika Weliczko announced that the company will be breaking new ground by
"targeting several megawatts over the next couple of years…(T)hat’s on
the order of nothing that’s been done in Ohio to date."<sup>\[17\]</sup>
In the next three years,<sup>\[*when?*\]</sup> OCS plans to have 50 to
100 employee-owners at work installing and maintain the solar panels
necessary to meet the new state mandate.<sup>\[15\]\[18\]</sup>

When not working on solar panels, OCS employees work in the year-round
weatherization program focused on households throughout Cleveland.
According to Casey Gillfeather, OCS director of operations, the
weatherization process includes insulating exterior walls, wrapping the
hot water tank, installing an energy-efficient dryer vent, weatherize
the basement, and insulating the attic in order to reduce energy
consumption of the house by one-third.<sup>\[19\]</sup>

### Green City Growers Cooperative

Green City Growers Cooperative (GCGC) was conceived in 2008 as an
entirely worker-owned, year-round, hydroponic food production greenhouse
that could supply Cleveland-area retailers and wholesalers with fresh
produce. The project is in the development stage, with financing and
design details currently being determined. The dream looms large in the
mind of Alayne Reitman, who came up with the original idea for the GCGC
and is now the chief executive officer of the project: "We’re talking
about a 5.5 acre greenhouse that will produce about 5-6 million heads of
lettuce annually and another 300,000 pounds of herbs
annually."<sup>\[17\]</sup> Even in the poorest neighborhoods of
Cleveland, people spend about $1,000 each on food per
year.<sup>\[20\]</sup> The hope of the Growers Cooperative is to capture
some of that expenditure by providing healthy, local options.

By 2010 the team implementing the project had begun an initial inquiry
into what crops potential customers would like produced, developed a
business plan that proposed the hiring of more than 40 employee owners,
identified "green" energy sources and applied for and received an HUD
grant and loan package that would allow the remediation of the
brownfield site and development of the future facility.<sup>\[21\]</sup>
By 2010 they had received $10 million in federal loans and grants to
date.<sup>\[*when?*\]\[18\]</sup> At that stage, the Growers Cooperative
intended finalize its designs and consolidate ten acres of land to house
their new facilities, which would include the 230,000-square-foot
(21,000 m<sup>2</sup>) greenhouse, a packing building, offices and
advanced energy facilities. It was projected that the GCGC greenhouse
would"almost certainly become the largest urban food-producing
greenhouse in the country".<sup>\[18\]</sup>

By 2012 the Green City Growers’ greenhouse was opened. A quicker growth
cycle has been achieved by hydroponics, i. e. floating the produce on on
shallow pools of nutrient-enriched water. By carefully controlling the
environment and using grow lights in winter, a consistent crop is
maintained throughout the twelve month cycle.<sup>\[22\]</sup>

### Neighborhood Voice

The *Greater University Circle Neighborhood Voice* is a free,
student-owned and student-run newspaper and online news source covering
worker co-op activity in Cleveland and other issues of concern to
residents of the Buckeye-Shaker, Central, East Cleveland, Fairfax,
Glenville, Hough, Little Ital, and University Circle neighborhoods.

## See Also

  - [Earthworker Cooperatives](Earthworker_Cooperatives "wikilink") - a
    similar initiative Melbourne, [Australia](Australia "wikilink")
  - [Libertarian Municipalism](Libertarian_Municipalism "wikilink")