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User:Christinemg/FairTradeTownsUSA

Fair Trade Towns USA is the United States’ version of the FairTrade Town movement that began in the UK in 2000. Since 2006, twelve towns in the United States have met the criteria for becoming official Fair Trade Towns. As a national grass-roots movement, Fair Trade Towns aims to bring local business, civic and educational institutions, faith-based and community organizations, and local activists together through the promotion of Fair Trade in their communities.

History

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Between 2004 and 2005, groups of local activists in different towns and cities throughout the United States began working independently to pass Fair Trade resolutions in their local governments. San Francisco and New York, for example, formed Fair Trade Coalitions that successfully passed similar resolutions[1] [2]. In 2005, Hal Taussig organized local activists in Media followed the criteria set forth by the UK’s Fairtrade Foundation in the Fair Trade Town Goals and Action Guide, and announced it was the first United States Fair Trade Town at a ceremony on July 12th, 2006[3]
Following Media’s example, other towns and cities, as well as already existing Fair Trade Coalitions began to discuss how best to bring the UK’s FairTrade Town model to the United States. In 2006, several local Fair Trade activists from around the United States organized themselves into a National Steering Committee to discuss a plan for a national Fair Trade Towns movement in the United States[4]
The steering committee eventually applied for several grants, and received funding from TransFair USA, Oxfam America, and Lutheran World Relief[5]. This money enabled the committee to hire a part time coordinator to develop a website, as well as a downloadable organizer’s guide for activists wanting to start a Fair Trade Town. Sara Stender, the part time national coordinator for the burgeoning Fair Trade Towns USA movement stayed until beginning of 2009[6][7]. At that time, TransFair USA proposed to continue to fund the national movement, hire a full time national coordinator, and have the headquarters of the movement work out of the TransFair USA office in Oakland, CA. The steering committee accepted, and at the beginning of 2009, William Linstead Goldsmith came on as the full time national coordinator[8][9]. In the time between the start of the conference calls, and the hiring of a full time national coordinator, eight towns became Fair Trade Towns. They included Brattleboro, VT; Milwaukee, WI; Amherst, MA; Taos, NM; Northampton, MA; San Francisco, CA; Monclair, NJ; and Ballston Spa, NY. In 2009 four more became Fair Trade Towns: Chico, CA; Bluffton, OH; Burlington, VT; and Highland Park, NJ[10]. There are also 19 towns that are currently going through the declaration process (i.e. they have submitted initial paperwork and are working through the criteria).[11]

Criteria[12]

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1. Form a steering committee that meets regularly

  • Engage individuals representing different sectors (academic, business, faith-based, non-profit.

Maintain a manageable size for the group, and develop a plan to recruit additional members to broaden your base.

  • Identify a suitable meeting location, time, additional invitees, organizational gormat of group (i.e. rotating Chair with Board, task committees, constitution, norms, etc.)
  • Identify key strength/skill sets/interests within the group—assign tasks or develop committees accordingly.
  • Identify each member’s capacity to participate/commitment level and any specific areas of expertise
  • Become informed experts in Fair Trade. Ensure that the committee works from a common definition of Fair Trade. Discuss and agree upon what being a Fair Trade Towns means to each committee member.

In addition to holding regular meetings, the Steering Committee plans and facilitates events to raise awareness among the public—this can be great fun and helps to maintain momentum within the group.
2. A range of Fair Trade products is available in local stores, cafes, and other venues. These include Fair Trade Certified™ products from member organization so the Fair Trade Federation. There should be at least one business selling a minimum of two Fair Trade products for every 2,500 residents in a town of 10,000 or less. There should be at least one store for every 5,000 residents in a town that has over 10,000 residents up to 200,000 residents. For towns or cities with over 200,000 residents up to 500,000 residents, there should be at least one store selling Fair Trade products for every 10,000 residents. For cities larger than 500,000 residents, campaign is encouraged to divide the city into neighborhoods or boroughs and apply the above standards accordingly.

  • A store that sells Fair Trade should have at least two Fair Trade products for sale on a regular basis.

3. Fair Trade products are used by a number of local organizations, such as places of worship, schools, hospitals, and offices.

  • There is at least one organization for every 5,000 residents of the town or city that has committed to serving/selling Fair Trade products. Examples include school cafeterias and faculty lounges that use Fair Trade coffee and tea, churches that serve Fair Trade coffee and tea during and after the service, and offices that purchase and brew only Fair Trade coffee and tea in their staff kitchens.

4. The local campaign attracts media attention and visible public support, including press and radio. Listings of local Fair Trade activities appear in calendar/communities section of local papers (both in print and online versions)

  • Articles are published in local papers
  • Your town’s Fair Trade activities are posted on www.fairtradetownsusa.org, getinvolved.transfairusa.org, and Fair Trade Resource Network’s events page.
  • Local radio shows host interviews of Fair Trade business owners, community leaders, and other involved in the Fair Trade campaign.

5. The town or city council/government body passes a resolution supporting Gair Trade and the local campaign. The council commits to choosing Fair Trade products for meetings when there is a Fair Trade option.

  • Fair Trade Towns USA recommends that the resolution be the final step in the series of five goals in becoming a Fair Trade Town.

Other Steps

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The national movement of Fair Trade Towns USA, who puts out the Fair Trade Towns USA Toolkit, also has suggestions for Stage 2 of a Fair Trade Town, after the town or city has been declared a Fair Trade Town. Stage 2 involves organizing campaigns and events to promote fair trade. Some suggestions for campaigns include Fair Trade Faith Campaign, Buy Fair, Buy Local Campaign, and Fair Trade schools campaign. Some suggestions for events include mentoring a town through the declaration process, organizing and completing a trip to origin, organizing a local or regional speaking tour about Fair Trade Towns, and a Fair Trade Business Crawl[13].

In order to receive the status of a Fair Trade Town upon completion of the criteria, a town will submit documentation demonstrating their achievement of the Fair Trade Towns criteria/goals to the national steering committee.

References

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  1. ^ http://www.sfgov.org/site/uploadedfiles/sffood/policy_reports/FairTradeCertifiedGoodsRes.pdf San Francisco Fair Trade Resolution
  2. ^ http://legistar.council.nyc.gov/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=443559&GUID=DB61DFC0-DDFE-4980-868D-E6D2F69FBFA9&Options=ID%7CText%7C&Search=fair+trade New York City Fair Trade Resolution
  3. ^ http://firstfairtradetownusa.org/towns
  4. ^ http://fairtradetownsusa.org/?page_id=25
  5. ^ Fair Trade Towns USA History, http://fairtradetownsusa.org/?page_id=25
  6. ^ "Local Fair Trade Organizer Moves on to National Job," by Bob Audette, Brattleboro Reformer, July 21, 2007
  7. ^ "FTRN Welcomes a New,Full-time Executive Director", Fair Trade Resource Network, February 2009 http://www.fairtraderesource.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/february-2009-web.htm
  8. ^ http://fairtradetownsusa.org/?page_id=25
  9. ^ "Fair Trade Towns Welcomes New National Coordinator, The Fair Trade Beat, April 2009 http://getinvolved.transfairusa.org/site/MessageViewer?em_id=1821.0&dlv_id=5721
  10. ^ http://fairtradetownsusa.org/?page_id=60
  11. ^ http://fairtradetownsusa.org/?page_id=62
  12. ^ http://towns.markbadger.org/wp-content/uploads/FairTradeTownsTOOLKIT.pdf
  13. ^ http://towns.markbadger.org/wp-content/uploads/FairTradeTownsTOOLKIT.pdf
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