CCSS began linking job training and permanent employment with ways to reduce our footprint on the planet in late 2007.

The first "business" to be created was modeled after a micro enterprise from Oaklahoma. There a group of Native Americans were recycled old tires and using the rubber to create mats. With their permission and advice, Cass started collecting illegally dumped tires off of vacant lots in Detroit and converting them into mud mats. The workers in the program are formerly homeless men. They have swept up over 5,000 tires (at no cost to the City) and sold over 2,000 mats as of June 2009.

The second "business" to be added is the document destsruction (shredding) program. Here developmentally disabled adults sort, shred and bale paper. Most of it contains sensitive information and, so, the highest security measures are utilized to insure and document the chain-of-custody. The program's regular customers include physicians, lawyers and other offices.

The document destruction program has grown to include recycling x-rays from doctors and veternarians. Here, too, adults with developmental disabilities are the trainees and employees. They remove and destroy patient information from the films and package what remains of the x-rays for recycling. Doctors who give x-rays to CCSS receive documentation of their donation and that CCSS has upheld the HIPPA standards in recycling the x-rays.

A business plan is currently being developed to convert the shredded paper into insulation that can be used to reduce heating costs for seniors and low-income individuals/families.