Lead for Change Blog Towns

Fair Trade Face-to-Face

April 14, 2010

Next Monday, April 19th, a unique and exciting event is making its way to our office in Oakland, CA, and you’re invited to attend from the comfort of your home or office! We will host five coffee producers from Africa and Latin America for a live a live USTREAM broadcast. They will talk about how […]

Buena Vista Becomes the First FT Town in Colorado!

February 25, 2010

By Guest Blogger Joel Benson Our small community in central Colorado has been working rather hard to put its best foot forward, sustainably. In 2005 a group of forward thinking individuals started our region’s first and only New Urbanist subdivision. We have the longest whitewater park in Colorado, more fourteen thousand foot peaks than anywhere […]

Return Your Campain Status Surveys This Month

February 25, 2010

We are off to a good start to 2010 so far and our first big project is to develop an extensive resource library for organizers, full of new tools and materials. To this end, we want to make sure we are addressing the biggest areas of need first, so we are asking all of our […]

Divine News for Cocoa Farmers in Sierra Leone

February 14, 2010

Divine Chocolate, the pioneering social enterprise co-owned by the Kuapa Kokoo Farmers Cooperative in Ghana, has announced that, for the first time, chocolate lovers can enjoy premium Fair Trade Certified cocoa from Sierra Leone in all of Divine’s chocolate delights. This exciting move is the result of many years of hard work by the cocoa […]

2010 FT Calendars Still Available!

February 10, 2010

By Guest Blogger Jeff Goldman We are happy to report that the 2010 Fair Trade Calendar was a huge success! The first calendar generated a profit which is being split between the Fair Trade Resource Network the Fair Trade Federation. We have a limited number of calendars left, so you’ve got one last chance to […]

A Fair trade Valentine’s Day: Made with Love

February 7, 2010

By Guest Blogger Jamie Guzzi Valentine’s Day is a great time of year to highlight the benefits and availability of Fair Trade products like flowers, chocolate, jewelry and wine. When buying gifts for your sweetheart, we hope everyone will choose Fair Trade and encourage their friends, family and supporters to do the same. It’s also […]

Join the First Call of 2010

January 7, 2010

The January Conference Call is right around the corner! This Wednesday, January 13th at 8:00pm Eastern/5:00pm Pacific will be the next Monthly National Organizers’ Conference Call. The call is a great opportunity to add more tools to your organizing repertoire and receive critical updates and information on the newest ideas for Fair Trade Towns USA […]

FT Holiday Caroling & Gift Challenge from Global Exchange

December 9, 2009

Teens from FT Town Montclair, NJ participate in Holiday Caroling By Guest Blogger Adrienne Fitch-Frankel Fair Trade the Holidays and Win Prizes with the FT Holiday Gift Challenge and FT Holiday Caroling! Join us at Global Exchange as well as Fair Trade advocacy organizations, religious denominations and community groups across the country in our challenge […]

Handmade Expressions

December 7, 2009

By Guest Blogger Mark Ostroth Handmade Expressions, founded in 2006 by Manish Gupta, is an importer and wholesale vendor of Fair Trade products from India and around the world. In their work, they have stayed true to their mission of educating people about Fair Trade and improving the lives of marginalized producers

Help Make FT Month Even Better

December 7, 2009

In an effort to build on the success of what was the most successful Fair Trade Month ever, please complete the Fair Trade Month 2009 Survey. Hearing from you about your experience with the activities and support provided from the sponsoring organizations will go a long way to growing the celebration of Fair Trade and […]

A Baker’s Dozen! Highland Park, NJ Becomes the 13th Fair Trade Town in the U.S.!

November 27, 2009

By Guest Blogger Jean Stockdale The campaign to establish the Borough of Highland Park, NJ as a Fair Trade Town began in 2004, before the movement had built a formal presence in the USA. The small town of Garstang, in Lancashire, UK had become the world’s first Fair Trade Town in 2002, and by 2004, […]

Join the Last Call of 2009!

November 25, 2009

Join the December Call!! On Wednesday, December 9th at 8:00pm Eastern/5:00pm Pacific we will have the last Monthly National Organizers’ Conference Call of 2009! This month’s call will have some great speakers, one to talk about holiday campaign and event ideas and the other being none other than Hal Taussig himself, the man who started […]

Celebrate Fair Trade Month!

October 7, 2009

By Jamie Guzzi 31 Days, 31 Ways to Make a Difference October is Fair Trade Month and what better time to kick off your town’s campaign for Fair Trade. Throughout the month of October, retailers, activists, teachers, churches, cafes, restaurants and folks like you and me will be celebrating Fair Trade by hosting educational events […]

Join the October Conference Call

October 5, 2009

This Tuesday, October 13th at 8:00pm Eastern/5:00 pm Pacific will be the next Monthly National Organizers’ Conference Call. The call is a great opportunity to add more tools to your organizing repertoire and receive critical updates and information on the newest ideas for Fair Trade Towns USA campaigns. Call in Number: 605-475-6333 Participant Code: 884663# […]

Congratulations to Burlington, Our 12th Fair Trade Town!

September 11, 2009

by Guest Blogger Melinda Haselton Three women in Burlington, VT shared the same vision to make their city a Fair Trade Town. Coming from different backgrounds and motivated by different experiences with fair trade, Sandy Wynne of Wynne Associates,

Conference Call on Wednesday

September 7, 2009

This Wednesday, September 9th at 8:00pm Eastern/5:00 pm Pacific will be the next Monthly National Organizers’ Conference Call. Recurring on the second Wednesday of every month, these calls are an opportunity to add more tools to your organizing repertoire and receive critical updates and information on the newest ideas for Fair Trade Towns USA campaigns. […]

Fair Trade Towns Innovator

August 29, 2009

by Guest Blogger Elizabeth Killough At 85 years young, Hal Taussig is the initiator of the Fair Trade Towns movement in the USA. A Colorado rancher for the first 33 years of his life, Hal moved on to become a college professor and in his early 50’s, started his unique travel company, Untours. Untours sets […]

Dialing in to Fair Trade Towns

August 13, 2009

Thank you to everyone who made it for the Conference Call on Wednesday. We had great turnout and participation. The next call will be on Wednesday, 9/9 at 8 pm Eastern/5 pm Pacific. Below is a summary of the call and topics that were covered. Please contact the National Coordinator for more details or with […]