Fair Trade Long Beach will be keeping everyone up to date and posted regarding recent activities of the organizations. We'll be posting our progress and we'll be asking for help. Please join us in our worthy mission.
Fair Trade Long Beach Mentioned in Grunion Gazette
Fair Trade Long Beach was mentioned in the Grunion Gazette regarding the link between Fair Trade practices and human trafficking.
Fair Trade practices ensure that that workers are not "exploited through child, sweatshop, or forced labor of any kind" according to Fair Trade Long Beach co-founder Teresa Baxter.
Read the complete Grunion Gazette article here.
Fair Trade Long Beach Featured in Southwest Regional Bulletin
Fair Trade Long Beach was honored to join the conversation on ethical business practices at the Sustainable Fashion Forum, held at the iconic California Market Center in the heart of Los Angeles on October 4. Among notable leaders in the fashion industry such as Patagonia and Reformation, FTLB's co-founder, Teresa Baxter, represented the Fair Trade arm of corporate social responsibility, and was able to incorporate the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) into the "Ask the Experts" panel discussion.
Check this list of 31 Ways to Celebrate Fair Trade Month compiled by Fair Trade Long Beach and lauded by Fair Trade Campaigns.
SaddelbackCollegeTV Highlights Fair Trade Long Beach
Saddelback College TV highlighted the Fair Trade Long Beach organization on thier channel on 22 May 2018. View the Fair Trade segment starting at 40:48 in this youtube video.
Interview with Teresa Baxter
The first blog post for Fair Trade Long Beach are comments Teresa Baxter made during an interview in the Fair Trade Campaigns Southwest newsletter. The full interview can be read here.
I discovered my fair trade mission when I began volunteering at Ten Thousand Villages Pasadena when the non-profit store opened about 12 years ago. This took me back to school, earning my BA degree in International Relations from Columbia University and State University of New York. While in New York, I became the Publicity Coordinator for HandCrafting Justice, then an international fair trade project of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd. [Note: HandCrafting Justice closed their doors in January 2016 and had been long time members of Fair Trade Federation.] I was also active with the New York City Fair Trade Coalition. My passion didn't stop there. I lived in Alexandria, VA for a year and while there, I was involved with Fair Trade Town Campaigns. I helped Alexandria obtain their 'fair trade' designation. I'm happy to be back continuing my mission of service in Southern California.
Social Media was part of my publicity position at HandCrafting Justice, where we had over 3000 followers on Facebook. I have a nose for fair trade news, and I used social media to share all of the global good many on the same mission were accomplishing. It was also a great vehicle to promote all of our events and social justice projects. Ad Age Magazine even featured an article on us.
We are a strong group of activists pushing forward our wish to earn Long Beach a "Fair Trade Town" designation. There's a lot of groundwork identifying retailers and organizations that promote fair trade. This also entails getting media coverage and interacting with the city council to promote and commit to passing a resolution advocating for fair trade principles.
Fair Trade Long Beach holds monthly meetings that keep growing in attendance, so much that we grew out of our meeting space. We are currently looking for a larger venue that shares our values. Our strongest partnerships are with Long Beach Human Trafficking Task Force and the local Salvation Army. We previously participated in a 'youth empowerment safety symposium' promoting awareness against human trafficking and showed how fair trade helps battle this fight. Most recently, we participated with the Task Force and Salvation Army with a table at the start of the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach. Our campaign "I Am Not For Sale" was all about educating the public.