Verde Native Plant Nursery to hire first employees

Hacienda Community Development Corp. (CDC) announced Thursday it would begin operating its nonprofit subsidiary, Verde Native Plant Nursery, as of Nov. 1.

Verde is the CDC's attempt to marry "sustainable" business opportunities with job training for Hacienda residents (see"Fighting povery with native plants," SIJ, Oct. 2005).

Alan Hipolito, Hacienda CDC's current sustainable development director, will lead the nonprofit as executive director. Hipolito plans to hire the nursery's first two resident-employees on Nov. 1. He also plans to hire a total of nine employees by the end of the current fiscal year.

"Importantly, the nursery's employees will have the chance to become business owners, either through nursery
ownership ... or through support to establish their own environmentally-sustainable landscaping and/or nursery businesses," Hipolito wrote in an email.

Verde employees will make ferns, rushes, sedges and Oregon iris available for use in Portland area wetland restoration, streamside revegetation and stormwater management projects, according to Hipolito. Verde services will also include landscape maintenance, invasive species removal, and native plant landscaping.