loose change and governance cleveland’s evergreen worker owned cooperative initiative

N I C H O L A S C . Z I N G A L E , P H D – C L E V E L A N D S T A T E U N I V E R S I T Y

A R I T R E E S A M A N T A , P H D C A N D I D A T E – C L E V E L A N D S T A T E U N I V E R S I T Y

D E B O R A H R I E M A N N , P L A N N E R

E S T H E R W E S T, G R A D U A T E S T U D E N T – C L E V E L A N D S T A T E U N I V E R S I T Y

C L E V E L A N D S T A T E U N I V E R S I T YC O L L E G E O F U R B A N A F F A I R S

C O L L E G E C O N F E R E N C EA U G U S T 2 1 , 2 0 1 4

Loose Change and GovernanceCleveland’s Evergreen Worker Owned

Cooperative Initiative

New Governance

Constrained

Social Entrepreneurship

- Loose networks of accountability

- Reduced executive power - Reliance on diplomacy - Enabling/Technology Skills

Principal-Agent

- Legal accountability- Lines of authority - Reliance on performance

objectives - Relational and Contracting

Skills

Administrative Bureaucrat

- Hierarchical accountability- High level of executive power- Reliance on rules - Mgmt. and Organizational

Skills

Street Level Bureaucrat

- Individual accountability- Limited executive power- Reliance on experience - Discretionary Skills

Direct Government

Loose

Adapted from Rush and Zingale 2014 - Permission Granted

Authorizing Environment

Social Entrepreneurship and Bricolage

Social Entrepreneurship Mission focus Areas with neglect by

government, market Blurred lines between

business, social enterprises.

Can be private, socially-driven enterprises.

Operation has some differences from traditional market operating norms.

Bricolage Making do with what is

on hand. Combination of

resources for new purposes.

Using the resources at hand – Often in a low resource environment

Multiplex Ties

Evergreen Coop Process: social entrepreneurship and bricolage within

loosely structured networks.

Realm of New IdeasDescribes the Openness to New Ideas

Realm of RulesDescribes the constraints in

society in the form of formal and informal rules

Transformation

Freedom to play around with rulesNew elements

Examples:Advent of the InternetNew ecosystems

Adaptation

Freedom within the RulesExisting Elements

Examples:Eds and Meds in ClevelandNew niche in existing ecosystem

Status Quo

Rules determine discourseElement Maintenance

Examples:Steel industry in ClevelandMaintain existing ecosystem niche

Disruption/Situational

Rules no longer make senseElement Chaos/Breakdown

Examples:De-industrializationDisaster that wipes out ecosystem

How did a worker cooperative in Cleveland establish and authorizing environment in the absence of policy and direct

governmental involvement?

Cleveland Evergreen Cooperative

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BUILDING COMMUNITY WEALTH TOTRANSFORM CLEVELAND AND CHANGE

LIVES

EVERGREEN COOPERATIVE

INITIATIVE

CREATE JOBS GENERATE WEALTH FOR RESIDENTS

STABILIZE NEIGHBORHOODS

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Evergreen Organizational Structure

Method

ObservationsInterviewsDocument ReviewLiterature

Findings (So Far) - Loose Change

Legacy City and

Loose Space

(Context)

Change of DoxaNew Ideas Bricolage

(Imagination -Freedom)

Change Unconstrained

by Rule(People -

bricoleurs)

Informal Networks and

Loose Governance

(Process)

There is money involved, but not entirely the kind we normally think of…more like loose change

Loose

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Loose

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Playing with rules

New Elements

Social Entrepreneurship

Tinkering

Making Do

Authorizing Environment

Cleveland Evergreen

Cooperative

Bricolage

What this means

Looseness tends to create crawling space Openings for new ideas – less resistance

Resiliency implies a condition toward stability (often associated with control and structure). Resiliency might actually require loosening Democratized wealth for stabilizing communities Democratized power for learning and working out interests

Social Entrepreneurship and Bricolage is capable of leveraging resources across a diverse set of loosely connected networks to create the conditions of a high resource initiative within a low resource context. Anchors institutions tell part of the story (flashlight in a cave) Shedding light on societal doxa to see what is around (lantern in a cave)

It is accomplished as loose change – informal processes involving networks and reduced executive power (governance), diplomacy (politics/enabling), imagination (new ideas)