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GREATER UNIVERSITY CIRCLE INITIATIVE CREATING CLEVELAND’S 21ST CENTURY COMMUNITY. Create Jobs for the Underemployed. Stabilize Neighborhoods. Generate Wealth for Low-Income Residents. BUILDING COMMUNITY WEALTH TO TRANSFORM CLEVELAND AND CHANGE LIVES.
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GREATER UNIVERSITY CIRCLE INITIATIVE CREATING CLEVELAND’S 21ST CENTURY COMMUNITY Create Jobs for the Underemployed Stabilize Neighborhoods Generate Wealth for Low-Income Residents BUILDING COMMUNITY WEALTH TO TRANSFORM CLEVELAND AND CHANGE LIVES
University Circle Traditional Boundary TRADITIONAL BOUNDARY
GREATER UNIVERSITY CIRCLE “New Geography of Collaboration” WADE PARK / HERITAGE LANE SUPERIOR AVENUE EAST CLEVELAND VA Hospital CITY LINE EASTERN HOUGH/ UPPER CHESTER LITTLE ITALY EAST 79th STREET Cleveland Clinic EASTERN FAIRFAX CITY LINE BUCKEYE / SHAKER ST. LUKE’S POINT BUCKEYE / WOODLAND
Neighborhood Challenges NEIGHBORHOOD CHALLENGES Neighborhood Challenges and Indicators
OUR STRATEGY • Focus anchor institution purchasing locally • Create new community-based businesses • Make it GREEN • Ensure financing to move to scale
INITIAL OPPORTUNITIES • Launching in 2009-2010 • Evergreen Cooperative Laundry • Ohio Cooperative Solar • Community Voice (newspaper) • Green City Growers • Planning & Development • Institutional Records Retention • Home Care • Succession planning towards employee ownership • Light manufacturing
GOALS • Demonstrate feasibility of developing start-up cooperative linked to purchasing needs of GUC anchors • Greenest commercial, industrial-scale laundry in NE Ohio • Hire 50 GUC residents - who will become Coop owners • Living wage salary; benefits; asset accumulation through equity ownership PROGRESS • Launch: July 2009; first employees now hired; build-out complete; equipment installed • 60% of commitments/contracts towards break-even in place • Management: Operations manager ran Akron General Laundry; CEO with 20 years of employee ownership experience in steel industry • Secured $5.8 million of financing: $1.5 M HUD/ City, $1.8 M New Markets, $750,000 Cleveland Foundation; $1.5 M from 2 banks
Ohio Cooperative Solar Concept: • Cooperative for-profit enterprise • Based in neighborhoods around University Circle (inner-city Cleveland) • Owned/operated by local residents • Business installs/owns PV projects • Initially serving large institutional customers in nearby area (4MW in 5 years) Outcomes: • Training and employment opportunities for low-income citizens • Wealth creation for local residents • Creation of installation capabilities to meet state-wide solar requirements • First installations this summer
Green City Cooperative Growers COMMERCIALFOOD PRODUCTION GREENHOUSE • Year-round hydroponic vegetable greenhouse in heart of downtown Cleveland • 14 acre facility; 5 acres under “glass” • Provide produce to large anchors and other institutions; > 800,000 heads of lettuce a year per acre • Energy efficient and renewable energy sources • Employ 40+ neighborhood residents as coop owners • Become a major player in regional food distribution network
LAND TRUST PLANNING FOR SUCCESS Hold up to 20% of Land for Job Creation And Economic Development
EVERGREEN CRITERIA • Business plan that projects profitability • Hires majority of employees from GUC neighborhoods • Located in or nearby GUC neighborhoods • Matched to procurement needs of anchors • Pays a “living wage” • Green • Builds toward 100% employee ownership • Contributes % of profits to Cooperative Development Fund
GOALS • Create new jobs for neighborhood residents • Anchor productive capital within poor neighborhoods • Promote asset accumulation for low- and moderate-income residents • Build viable, locally-owned economic enterprises that can help stabilize the neighborhoods • Ensure income diversity and permanent housing affordability
COOPERATIVE DEVELOPMENT FUND COOPERATIVE SOLAR COOPERATIVE AGRICULTURE EVERGREENFUND COOPERATIVE LAUNDRY FUTURE COOP FUTURE COOP FUTURE COOP
KEYS TO SUCCESS • Convener/catalyst with stature and resources • Community Wealth Building Roundtable to create a shared vision among key stakeholders • Buy-in from the anchors and City Hall • Deep-dive interviews and survey of anchor needs • Strategy tailored to local needs/opportunities • Multi-faceted implementation team with necessary expertise (both local and national) • Multi-year commitment • Leverage grant/PRI funding to access additional sources (NMTC, EQ2, state simulus loans, HUD108)
Our Team • The Cleveland Foundation and other funders (local and national) • The Democracy Collaborative • Ohio Employee Ownership Center • Towards Employment • Hudson Consulting Group • National experts (solar, hydroponics, land trust, etc.) • Entrepreneurs for each business • City Hall (Dept. of Economic Development) • Anchor institutions (“eds and meds”) • Community-based organizations (CDCs, nonprofits)