Lead for Change Blog News

Day 6 at COOPROBATA: Banana’s that protect the people and preserve the planet

April 18, 2012

In March, Fair Trade Towns USA sent 12 volunteer organizers on a 7 day learning tour of Fair Trade farms in Dominican Republic. The travelers came from town and city campaigns all over the country to see the effects of their hard work visiting cocoa, coffee and banana farms, as well as a sweat-free apparel […]

Day 5 at FEDECARES: The Tastiest Bean

April 16, 2012

In March, Fair Trade Towns USA sent 12 volunteer organizers on a 7 day learning tour of Fair Trade farms in Dominican Republic. The travelers came from town and city campaigns all over the country to see the effects of their hard work visiting cocoa, coffee and banana farms, as well as a sweat-free apparel […]

Day 4 at FEDECARES: Discovering the Social Premium at a General Assembly Meeting

April 14, 2012

  In March, Fair Trade Towns USA sent 12 volunteer organizers on a 7 day learning tour of Fair Trade farms in Dominican Republic. The travelers came from town and city campaigns all over the country to see the effects of their hard work visiting cocoa, coffee and banana farms, as well as a sweat-free […]

Day 3 at Alta Gracia Apparel Factory: “This is a Dream”

April 13, 2012

In March, Fair Trade Towns USA sent 12 volunteer organizers on a 7 day learning tour of Fair Trade farms in Dominican Republic. The travelers came from town and city campaigns all over the country to see the effects of their hard work visiting cocoa, coffee and banana farms, as well as a sweat-free apparel […]

Day 2 at CONACADO: From cocoa pod to delicious bean!

April 11, 2012

In March, Fair Trade Towns USA sent 12 volunteer organizers on a 7 day learning tour of Fair Trade farms in Dominican Republic where they built the people-to-people ties that make working for Fair Trade so meaningful.  The Travelers came from town and city campaigns all over the country to see the effects of their […]

Day 1 at CONACADO: Creating Conscious Farmers of Reality

April 10, 2012

In March, Fair Trade Towns USA sent 12 volunteer organizers on a 7 day learning tour of Fair Trade farms in Dominican Republic. The travelers came from town and city campaigns all over the country to see the effects of their hard work, visiting cocoa, coffee and banana farms, as well as a sweat-free apparel […]

Delegation Arrives in the Domincan Republic

March 28, 2012

The Fair Trade Towns crew has arrived in Boca Chica, Dominican Repbulic, and local organizers are stoked after various emails and phone calls to finally meet face-to-face. Our evening began by meeting with a local advocate, Unica, who works in the eastern part of Santo Domingo. Using her experience of fighting for democracy during the Dominican revolution as inspiration, she now […]

National Delegation to Visit Fair Trade Farms in Dominican Republic

March 23, 2012

Fair Trade Towns USA will be sending 12 volunteer organizers on an immersion trip to the Dominican Republic March 28th through April 4th, where they will build the people-to-people ties that make working for Fair Trade so meaningful.  This is the second time that Fair Trade Towns USA has collaborated with Global Exchange, a leading […]

RECORDING: Strategic Planning Webinar

March 22, 2012

Fair Trade Towns USA produced its first webinar of the year last night on Strategic Planning and the audio/video recording is now available!    Follow this link to access the webinar recording Follow this link for a copy of the Power Point Presentation  What challenges did the webinar address? The webinar provided organizers with principles […]

Strategic Planning Webinar Wednesday, March 21

March 9, 2012

Join Fair Trade Towns USA staff and seasoned organizer Steve Honeyman (In the Public Interest) for the first Fair Trade Towns webinar of the year.  Learn how to get your campaign organized and to build a vision and strategy to reach your goals. Fair Trade Towns Strategic Planning Webinar Date:  Wednesday, March 21st Time:  5:00 […]

Best in Fair Trade Awards: Which town will you nominate?

March 7, 2012

Only 3 weeks are left to nominate organizations for the first inclusive “Best in Fair Trade” Awards for N. America nonprofits & businesses and we think there are some deserving Fair Trade Town campaigns that need your nomination support! The public can nominate (by March 31), and vote, for U.S. & Canada organizations doing exemplary […]

Membership Programs, Small Grants & Fund Raising Events: Financial Stability for your Campaign

March 5, 2012

In February Fair Trade Towns USA put together a conference call for organizers so that they could discover how other campaigns are sustainably raising money. We heard from Nancy Jones in Chicago about Membership Programs, Maya Sharp in Pasadena about Fund Raising events and Courtney Lang of Fair Trade Towns USA about the Small Grants […]

Business Spotlight: Numi Tea

February 28, 2012

By Guest Blogger: Tisha Winters Numi Organic Tea is a premium tea purveyor that blends organic teas and herbs with only 100% real ingredients, allowing nature to speak for itself. In the earlier years of Numi, not many SKUs were Fair Trade Certified. Fast forward and Numi is the largest brand purchaser of Fair Trade […]

Campaign Spotlight: Houston, Texas

February 21, 2012

  Guest Blogger:  Kendra Penry   The Fair Trade Houston campaign launched in July, 2011, led by Houston Rescue and Restore Coalition (HRRC), a local nonprofit dedicated to combating modern day slavery in all its forms. Recognizing that slave labor touches many of the products people use every day, HRRC wanted to give concerned individuals […]

Meet Caitlyn King, Fair Trade Towns USA Intern!

February 16, 2012

Caitlyn is the newest addition to the Fair Trade Towns USA national team and she’s been working on outreach to Fair Trade Town campaigns across the US for the past few weeks collecting information so that we can catalyze campaign growth.  We’re thankful to have her and hope you enjoy getting to know her like […]

Organizer Spotlight: Ryan Midden, Fair Trade Boston

February 14, 2012

  Ryan offers pointers for reaching out to your local Ben & Jerry’s Scoop Shop My name is Ryan Midden and I am the General Manager for Ben & Jerry’s Boston.   I am also a proud member of the Fair Trade Boston & Fair Trade Cambridge campaigns.  Our coalition declared Boston a Fair Trade Town […]

Fair Trade Consumer Study 2012

February 13, 2012

Guest Blogger:  Tamara Stenn, Professor at Keene State College According to the United Nations, the US is the world’s largest consumer by far, spending over $10 billion and making up almost 30% of the world’s consumer market in 2009.  (Second to the US is Japan weighing in at just 8.5% of world consumption).  For Fair […]

February‘s National Conference Call: Fund Raising & Your Campaign

February 10, 2012

Local organizers will shed some knowledge about Event Fund Raising, Membership Programs & Small Grants Join the call! Date:  Wednesday, February 15th, 2011 Time:  5:00 p.m. PST/8:00 p.m. EST 605-475-6333 Call-in Number:  605-475-6333  Participant Code: 884663# Have you been spending weekend hours volunteering at local events; dropping personal income on promotional materials; organizing events that […]