Lead for Change Blog
A Baker’s Dozen! Highland Park, NJ Becomes the 13th Fair Trade Town in the U.S.!
November 27, 2009By 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, 2009Join 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, 2009By 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, 2009This 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, 2009by 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, 2009This 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, 2009by 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, 2009Thank 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 […]
Get Involved Online! Plug into the Social Networks and Grow your Campaign!
August 10, 2009One of the best tools for building awareness, steering committee members, a volunteer base, and event turn out is social networking. We need to create our own media to build a buzz around Fair Trade Town campaigns in our communities. We strongly recommend that all local campaigns tap into online social networking. The first step […]
The Coffee Struggle
August 9, 2009When I asked Mario what he would want consumers in the United States to know about coffee farmers and why it is important to buy Fair Trade Certified, his answer surprised me. That is, until I walked the path through his coffee farm. Santos Mario Tórres is the Chairman of the Board of PRODECOOP, a […]
Join the Call!!!
August 8, 2009On Wednesday, August 12 at 8:00pm Eastern/5:00 pm Pacific we will be re-instituting the Monthly National Organizers’ Conference Call. These calls will be on the second Wednesday of every month and will provide critical updates and information on the newest tools for Fair Trade Towns USA campaigns. Call in Number: 605-475-6333 Participant Code: 884663# Please […]
Bluffton, Ohio, becomes U.S. 11th Fair Trade Town
August 7, 2009This May, Bluffton, Ohio joined other large cities and small towns across the U.S. in supporting Fair Trade by meeting the criteria to become the 11th Fair Trade Town in the US! On May 16th, they celebrated their new Fair Trade status with an arts and crafts festival and multicultural performance including traditional English folk […]
Mango Tree Imports
August 7, 2009Kim and Chris Andersen started Mango Tree Imports eight years ago with imported jewelry, linens and lace direct from Paraguay. The expansion to opening a retail shop and incorporating fairly traded items from around the world occurred in the spring of 2006. Since that time, Mango Tree has served as the voice of fair trade […]
Esperance’s Story
August 7, 2009Esperance Nyirangirimfura born New Years Day 1953 is a coffee producer. She has spent many years teaching primary school at the Ecole Primaire de Gakenke in north central Rwanda, but makes her living as cultivating coffee on the steep hillsides of the Rwandan countryside. Esperance is a member of Abakunda Kawa Cooperative (translation from Kinyarwanda: […]
Reflections on a Fair Trade Road Trip
August 5, 200916 June 2009 As I had the opportunity to visit a number of Fair Trade Towns in the North East, and meet with over a dozen local organizers and activists over the course of 12 days, my optimism for the path of the Fair Trade movement continued to grow. As the National Coordinator for Fair […]