Evergreen Cooperatives in Cleveland, Ohio: First co-op business
The Evergreen Cooperatives in Cleveland, Ohio is also building upon the long developing institutional work in Ohio, originating with the 1977 attempt at community and worker ownership of the Youngstown steel mill. What is new is that it involves an integrated complex of community- and worker-owned cooperative enterprises targeted in significant part to the $3 billion in purchasing power of nonprofit "anchor institutions" such as the Cleveland Clinic, University Hospital, and Case Western Reserve University. The first co-op business produces green laundry services on a very large scale, using less than a third of the heat and water of a typical competitor, likely making it one of the greenest services of its kind in the midwest. There is also an industrial-scale greenhouse for food services which will be on-line shortly; it will hydroponically grow three million head of lettuce a year. Another part of the complex is Ohio Cooperative Solar, which installs solar panels on the roofs of the city's largest health, education and municipal buildings, and weatherizes residential properties as well.
Source: Gar Alperovitz (author of America Beyond Capitalism, Lionel R. Bauman Professor of Political Economy at the University of Maryland and co-founder of the Democracy Collaborative) From interview/article: The Mayday Books and Hub Bike Co-ops in Minneapolis, MN by Neal Gorenflo published 4-9-2012 http://www.shareable.net/blog/co-op-nation-interview-with-gar-alperovitzCo-Op Neal Gorenflo, "Co-Op Nation: Interview with Gar Alperovitz," Shareable, Apr. 9, 2012. http://www.shareable.net/blog/co-op-nation-interview-with-gar-alperovitz [verified 4/25/14]