Translations:Responsible Public Procurement/14/en

The Evergreen Cooperatives of Cleveland, Ohio, USA, are a pioneering example of leveraging the power of public procurement, focusing on strengthening low-income neighborhoods through small, worker-owned businesses that work with large anchor institutions as hospitals and universities. In 2008, Evergreen was launched: they created Evergreen Cooperative Laundry, a green laundry facility that provides linens for Cleveland hospitals, hotels, nursing homes and restaurants. Evergreen Energy Solutions, a solar company that designs, develops and installs solar panels for commercial businesses and governmental institutions and Green City Growers Cooperative, a urban farm. Anchor institutions are thus spending money on those local worker-owned businesses, thus boosting the local economies, by providing livable wages and keeping the cash flow from going elsewhere.