The Cleveland Model, Illustrated |
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| By: Gar Alperovitz Thursday June 21, 2012 6:48 am | |
The Cleveland Model: building green worker cooperatives within a community framework that leverages the procurement power of non-profit anchor institutions:
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13 Comments
Wow! A diary containing hopeful, factual, solid information.
One would think it would attract a lot of comments and suggestions.
I live here so to me it’s not all that news. But hey…the diary says noting about Obama, the republicans, trolls, Wall Street or Eric Cantor.
So it’s not nearly that interesting. [/snark]
I found this old article by Alperovitz a bit more informative than a nice color diagram with arrows. But to each his own…
http://www.thenation.com/article/cleveland-model#
And, you two, quit the silly vacuous “meta” comments.
Meta? I came to this diary to get away from meta.
As for this diary not being “informative” enough, I guess that this link and this one must be chopped liver in your estimation.
Cleveland’s been the sight of some pretty nifty stuff lately. But the union-and-lefty-hating establishment media would much rather talk about shiny new taxpayer-subsidized factories in right-to-starve states.
So drop the meta.
What stands out about this project for you? (other than the media-silence…)
Have the book but haven’t started it yet. Nice to see what communities are doing on their own.
Oh yes. I think the last time I counted there were over 100 community gardens.
But also the downtown is now quite the tourist thing and they revitalized the theatre district. It’s now the second largest in the country. NYC being the largest.
They even have a casino downtown now too. And the RTA transit offers special fares and service for all the stuff going on.
Oh and The West Side Market is celebrating its 100 year birthday.
Hey, I live here, too! And work in University Circle. Uptown, the new commercial/residential neighborhood is looking sweet.
Could you provide a listing of all of the jobs from management on down and how much their hourly pay and yearly income is.
My concern is that some of what are being passed off as “co-ops” and employee-owned businesses are actually nothing more than providers of cheap labor to the public and private sectors.
Here’s the low-down on the Evergreen Laudry – from teh google:
It looks like people get $10 to $16 an hour to start, plus fifty cents over that that allows them to buy into the coop at the end of 3 years.
“Co-op nuts and bolts
Depending on how the laundry is received by the community and the employees, the goal is to employ at least 50 people for the laundry as well as other Evergreen cooperatives. The laundry currently employs nine people, including the general manager. All employees are temporary for the first six months. They may be invited to become members of the cooperative when they complete the six-month tour of duty.
Once invited, employees have to pay $3,000 for their jobs, Anderson says. Not surprisingly, very few people from the less-privileged neighborhoods can afford that. So, in addition to wages, these employees earn 50 cents an hour over three years to enter into the co-op. The money is rolled into an employment account. The employees also have a patronage account, which involves profit sharing. Wages range from $10 to $16 an hour; the highest-paid member cannot earn more than five times the lowest paid person.
Anderson says, “We’re not just offering jobs to these workers — we’re giving them a chance to earn ownership capital. “We plan to invest time in educating the worker-owner on co-ops. We invested in training on owning and running a business. We’re staying connected. We’re not going to walk away.””
http://cbcmagazine.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=74:fresh-linens&catid=921:magazine
I imagine similar information on the other Cleveland initiatives could be found thru further searching.
The West Side Market is one of the last truly level playing fields for merchants in the country.
We go there at least once a week. Eat well. Pay less.