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APRIL 2009

Organizing Your Fair Trade Town

A few years ago, in 2006, the city of Amherst,
Massachusetts was facing some difficult fiscal
struggles, and local businesses were feeling the
effects of the economic downturn.

Local organizer Yuri Friman had recently learned that Media, Pennsylvania had earned distinction as the United States’ first recognized “Fair Trade Town,” and that gave him a bright idea for how to help give a boost to the local economy and increase tax revenue.

Already an advocate for Fair Trade and greater equality across the supply chain, Friman recognized the potential to deepen local businesses’ commitment to “doing well by doing good,” while marketing Amherst as a Fair Trade Town (a town formally committed to the local availability of Fair Trade products, and to the support of Fair Trade in civic life). In pursuit of this designation, as set forth by the organization Fair Trade Towns USA, Friman launched the Amherst Fair Trade Partnership and began recruiting supporters.

“I want to bring awareness to the plight of the producers of these products, and also to say that it could be good business for Amherst [to become a Fair Trade town],” Friman told the Amherst Bulletin at the start of his Fair Trade Town campaign. “By declaring yourself a Fair Trade town, it brings attention to the town. I’m hoping it brings people to town to sample the Fair Trade businesses.”

Working with Green America Business Network™ members, local civic leaders, and students from local universities, the Amherst Fair Trade Partnership began to educate the town about Fair Trade, and to gather petition signatures calling for a vote on having Amherst designated as a Fair Trade Town.

To host their first event, the group partnered with the town’s Art Walk, modifying the annual art fair and block party to highlight businesses that carry Fair Trade products along the route of the regular entertainment schedule.

As word spread throughout the town, many local businesses learned about the opportunity to go Fair Trade, and the Partnership succeeded in persuading a number of businesses to change the products on offer, or to include new options.

For example, the Partnership approached a local dairy, Cook Farm, about using Fair Trade ingredients in their ice cream. After a few conversations, the dairy agreed to try Fair Trade flavorings, and the experiment was a success. Cook Farm now boasts Fair Trade Certified™ coffee and vanilla ice cream, and has become an ardent supporter of the Fair Trade Partnership, donating ice cream to a film screening at the Amherst Cinema in celebration of World Fair Trade Day. What’s more, due to the efforts of the Partnership, the Amherst Cinema itself now serves Fair Trade coffee.

The farm and the cinema aren’t alone: a local bakery and a café now sell lines of Fair Trade coffee and tea, a local craft store now carries Fair Trade chocolate in its check-out line, and three local restaurants now serve Fair Trade wine, one of which started using Fair Trade chocolate in dessert recipes.

In a few short months, the Amherst Fair Trade Partnership spoke with reporters, hosted educational events, and garnered the support of 24 local businesses, quite a few of which are now outspoken supporters of Fair Trade principles and practices. Friman says he is often approached by people on the street who say they began purchasing Fair Trade products due to the media attention his efforts had gained.

“What drew me to work on Fair Trade Towns is the simplicity of it,” says Friman. “All you have to do is make conscious choices in your purchasing, not organize a march on Washington. I don’t encourage people to buy more, just to buy consciously.”

All of the efforts by Friman and the Amherst Fair Trade Partnership paid off. In November 2007, Amherst became America’s fourth Fair Trade Town, joining Media; Brattleboro, Vermont; and Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The 250 residents attending the town meeting unanimously approved the resolution, signaling that Amherst meets all the requirements to become a “Fair Trade Town.”

Amherst celebrated the accomplishment with an event at a local café featuring a special discussion with Hiderico Bocangel from the Oro Verde Cooperative in Lamas, Peru. Coffee from Bocangel’s cooperative is available in Amherst through Massachusetts-based Dean’s Beans.

Since Amherst’s celebration, five other towns (Taos, NM; Northampton, MA; San Francisco, CA; Montclair, NJ; and Ballston Spa, NY) have become Fair Trade Towns. If you would like to follow these cities, and turn your community into a Fair Trade Town, you’ll join more than twenty groups across the country currently working to help their communities join the movement.

Check the Fair Trade Towns Web site (www.fairtradetownsusa.org) to learn more about the qualifications to become a Fair Trade Town.