Seed Commons invests in projects on the frontlines of the just transition, because the climate solutions we need are rooted in community control and worker power. Our growing climate portfolio helps low-income communities and marginalized workers build their economic power—while advancing renewable energy generation, increasing efficiency and affordability, and growing resiliency and inclusion.
Asheville, NC: Chispas Worker Co-op & Sourwood Housing Co-op
Seed Commons member PODER Emma, in Asheville, NC, has launched a community-led process to research, test, and implement best practices for a green transition in manufactured housing stock, working in cooperation with green building experts, This initiative is helping the permanently affordable cooperative communities PODER Emma has built as a bulwark against displacement secure lower energy costs and greater resiliency in the face of disasters like Hurricane Helene, while creating worker-owned industrial capacity to roll these solutions out across the region.
Workers from the Sustainergy worker cooperative in Cincinnati on the job
Seed Commons member Co-op Cincy launched the Sustainergy worker cooperative to create jobs with dignity helping retrofit existing housing stock and commercial properties to increase energy efficiency and generate renewable energy. Now, in addition to continuing to invest in scaling Sustainergy’s operations, and helping launch a new worker-owned regenerative landscaping business, Co-op Cincy has convened a city-wide table to help smaller contractors from historically marginalized communities build cooperative capacity in emerging green industries.
A worker from the Waterbottle Cooperative renovating a vacant Baltimore rowhouse
Seed Commons member Baltimore Roundtable for Economic Democracy (BRED) helped Waterbottle Co-op scale from a small property management company into a developer specialized in turning Baltimore’s vacants back into housing, while creating opportunities for people in recovery, justice-impacted people, and other marginalized workers. Restoring vacant properties is already far less carbon intensive than new construction—and now BRED & Waterbottle are working to integrate advanced green building techniques, full electrification, and resilient stormwater management into their expanding portfolio.
