The Cleveland Model

The Evergreen Cooperatives are a connected group of worker-owned cooperatives in Cleveland, Ohio. They are committed to local, worker-owned job creation; sustainable, green and democratic workplaces; and community economic development.

Evergreen is one of a number of systems of worker-owned cooperatives pioneering an alternative model of business in the United States, based on the highly successful Mondragon Corporation in the Basque Region of Spain. These systems emphasize the network aspect of the Mondragon system — a connected group of semi-autonomous businesses, each owned and controlled by its workers but part of a mutually supportive, worker-owned and worker-controlled association — as opposed to the smaller, more fragmented worker co-ops that have existed in the U.S. for many years.

Potential applications of the "Cleveland Model" are being considered in Atlanta, Baltimore, Pittsburgh, Detroit and a number of other cities around Ohio.