LOMPOC, Calif.
-- A new business model we've told you about before right here on
the Central Coast is one step closer to reality and the community is making it possible.
The Lompoc Cooperative
Development Project received a giant check to get its feet off the ground.
"We can do it," says
Lompoc Co-op Interim Chairman John McReynolds. "We can raise the money that we
need."
A mantra that has now
become a reality. The Lompoc co-op, a group that financially backs start-ups,
that are owned and operated entirely by workers, got a check from Rabobank for
$2,500.
"It's kind of
amazing," says McReynolds. "I think in August of July, we had hardly
anything."
Back in August,
McReynolds and his team had a business plan but virtually no money, until one
day, he opened his front door and found an envelope sitting on his front porch
with $500 in cash inside.
"People willing to
gamble for this community," says McReynolds. "It's humbling."
Now, The Green
Broom Brigade cleaning company they are launching, can start looking for
customers.
"We will actually be
looking for people who are interested in having their houses cleaned
environmentally safely," says Lompoc Co-op member and pastor Chuck Arnold. "And
to a high standard."
And the co-op can't
wait to give it all back.
"We finally will begin
to put people on a payroll," says McReynolds.
The co-op will hold
business workshops next month for people interested in becoming worker-owners.
