Dear Friends,

Thank you for your interest in Green City Growers Cooperative.  Green City Growers Cooperative will be a 100% worker-owned, hydroponic, food production greenhouse. We are seeking your support in creating sustainable jobs and local food in Cleveland. 

Today, our greenhouse is little more than an idea, but I look forward to the day when each of you can serve your families fresh and nutritious lettuce, grown by your friends and neighbors in the City of Cleveland. 

I started this journey eighteen months ago, with a vague thought that the time was right to bring the greenhouse industry back to Northern Ohio.  A new and increasing interest in local foods, rising energy costs and the impact of industrial farming on our planet were on my mind. 

With the tremendous support of my friends at The Cleveland Foundation, the City of Cleveland (including the Mayor himself, the department of Development and the department of sustainability), and Evergreen Cooperative Development Fund, we have accomplished a great deal.

• We started with our potential customers, including food retailers, wholesalers and food service companies, who graciously gave us their thoughts on what products they would like to see available, and how GCGC might identify a niche in this market (Thank you),
• We developed a plan for a profit driven business that can employ more than 40 people and allow them to earn equity in the company,
• We identified several sources of advanced energy that have the potential to reduce the operating costs of the business and significantly reduce the projected carbon emissions of the facility, and
• We were awarded a HUD BEDI Grant and Section 108 Loan package for the remediation of the brown field site and development of the facility.

To achieve our goals, we have some very important work to do in the final months of 2009:

• Consolidate and the approximately 10 acres of land necessary to house our 5.3 acre greenhouse, packing facility, offices and advanced energy facilities,
• Finalize the design of the growing systems and test new energy efficient lighting technologies, and
• Complete the analysis of the advanced energy systems and prepare the architectural drawings for our facilities.

I look forward to posting updates to this site, as we cross major milestones.  In the mean time, eat well and buy local.

Alayne Reitman