Evergreen Cooperative Laundry (ECL) is expanding its facilities in the Glenville neighborhood, the company announced this summer. The project includes the acquisition of eight vacant lots next to the existing campus, and the construction of a 5,000 square foot building. Company leaders and politicans held a ceremonial groundbreaking during the last week of June.
Company officials expect the project to make room for 10 to 15 new full-time jobs at the facility. ECL is a worker-owned company and part of the Evergreen Cooperatives, which includes other worker-owned businesses like Phoenix Coffee and Berry Insulation.
Construction was originally slated to begin in summer 2023, but was delayed for a variety of reasons, including staff turnover at the leadership level, according to Evergreen Cooperatives CEO John McMicken. The eight vacant lots the company acquired around the existing property will be converted to parking for staff and visitors. The goal is to convert the lots to parking in the spring, he addded. McMicken added that leadership now hopes construction will be largely completed on the new building in December.
“This will increase capacity and efficiency,” McMicken told The Land of the new building, which will be constructed at the site of the laundry’s current parking lot. As construction moves forward, Evergreen Cooperative Laundry will parallel its progress with hiring. That means, essentially, that if the contractor tells Evergreen construction will be completed on, say, Dec. 15, 2024, the company will ramp up hiring and onboarding new hires so that additional work can begin promptly on Dec. 15.
Currently, there are 66 full time staffers at Evergreen Cooperative Laundry, according to Allen Grasa, president of the company. The new hires should bring the total staffing levels up to 75 or more before the end of the year, if construction progresses as expected. The company argues that its employees will receive a competitive starting wage and unique benefits because of their role in an employee-owned cooperative.
What is an employee-owned cooperative?
Evergreen Cooperative Laundry is one of several companies that Evergreen has helped migrate to an employee-owned model.
Employee-owned companies give workers an opportunity to own a part of the company they’re laboring for. Employee-owners are eligible for profit-sharing from the company. The longer an employee is with a company, the more their equity can increase. Employees can also serve on their company’s Board of Directors, with the ability to weigh in on or even veto significant business decisions.
Evergreen Cooperative Laundry is also offering other benefits to workers, including a home ownership education and access initiative that helps employees purchase a home in Cleveland. Other intiatives include leadership training and diversity seminars.
McMicken said the goal is to keep these businesses rooted in their communities. He said it’s “very, very unlikely this business would ever move,” and would instead, “continue to thrive right here in Glenville.”
“With a for-profit business, there’s a tendency for someone to someday wake up and say, ‘Hey, land is cheaper over here, outside of Cleveland, so let’s go over there,” he said. A for-profit business might then attempt to maximize its bottom line by moving away from Cleveland. “That would run counter to our mission of place-based strategies that is focused on Cleveland neighborhoods.”
To further incentivize remaining located in Cleveland, the company put mechanisms in place that enable the Board of Directors to step in and veto moves away from their neighborhood, McMicken said.
McMicken hopes that Evergreen’s long-term investment in Glenville and other Cleveland neighborhoods, like Collinwood, will ultimately pay dividens for those communities. While employees noted small positive impacts, they said they hadn’t noticed substantial change — yet. Many employees The Land spoke to suggested the company’s positive influence takes time to seep through.
From an employee-owner’s perspective
The Land had an opportunity to speak with three employee owners at the Evergreen Cooperative Laundry. To become an employee-owner, workers must stay with the company for a year and then go through a vetting and voting process with the existing base of employee owners. If they’re voted in, they become official employee-owners and their name is hung on a wall in the facility.
Damon Allen has spent 5 years working with Evergreen Cooperative Laundry. His first year with the company, 2019, was a year of transition for Allen.
“I was incarcerated and came home and started fresh. [Working at Evergreen] was an awakening. I had household duties to fulfill and Evergreen fuilfilled all of them,” he told The Land. “It’s not just the wages, it’s the perks. Anything you need, they’ve been there for me.”
Allen lives in the Collinwood area and has lived there for nearly 7 years. He now plans to buy a home in the neighborhood. He’s trying to enter the Evergreen Cooperative Laundry’s home ownership program.
When Allen began working at the laundry, he came in with a mission to build a positive, family-like culture. When he started, he said, there was more turnover. He is now a supervisor at the facility and believes turnovers have slowed and the company is now more productive. He attributes that to a shfit in mindset for everyone. “Most people look forward to coming to work,” he said. “You get more smiles than frowns.”
“Each day I come to work, I know that I own part of the company,” he said. “I have co-op share money. I have a 401k. I’ll have social security. When I retire, I’ll be OK,” he said. “I don’t know many people who can say that.”
Lakisha McNeily-Jeffries joined Evergreen Cooperatives 12 years ago. She started with a contruction company and transitioned to a greenhouse company. She’s been at the laundry for 3 years. She now packs clean linens, scales carts, and mentors and trains new employees. “I do a little bit of everything around here,” she joked.
McNeily-Jeffries is involved in a number of groups at the cooperative. For example, she’s part of the Women’s Resource group. During those meetings, attendees discuss women-specific issues and resources for solutions. She’s also part of the Justice Seekers, which help members of the Second Chance Program at the laundry get on their feet. They also volunteer at locations like food banks or mentoring children at Juvenile Detention Centers.
She’s also applied to join the home ownership program and is looking to purchase a house in Cleveland. After growing up in Warrensville, she moved to Cleveland. She considers the city home now and wants to purchase a house to further deepen her roots locally.
During her tenure at the laundry, she’s noticed more employees being hired from around the facility.
“We have more employees getting hired [from Glenville and surrounding neighborhoods] who are staying,” she said. “Word of mouth is helping.”
Violet Whitt started at Evergreen Cooperative Laundry 7.5 years ago. She began in the personal department then moved to packing and then the warehouse. Unlike other places she’s worked, Whitt said she enjoys coming to work each day. She described her coworkers as a kind-of “extended family.”
Currently, Whitt lives on the east side, on St. Clair. During her tenure at the laundry, she’s watched the company grow and evolve.
“It makes me feel proud [to be a part owner of the Evergreen Cooperative Laundry]. I never thought I’d be in this position. I love that we have the Second Chance Program. I love that we help our fellow Clevelanders,” she said.
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