Originally posted on October 26, 2020.
Equal Exchange worker-owners Leif Rawson-Ahern and Emily Ambrose engaged 32 participants in a discussion and questions/answers of how Equal Exchange has grown as a worker-owned Fair -Trade organization and how they seek new ways to engage citizen-consumers. Over the next few decades, Equal Exchange intends to engage and collaborate with like-minded partners and stakeholders throughout the Fair-Trade system to continue transforming how business is done.
Some of those like-minded folks participated in this meeting. Representatives of the co-sponsoring organizations spoke of work and challenges within their groups. What to do next and how to continue growing connections with represented organizations is an opportunity to be continued. Links to participating organizations and Equal Exchange resources are listed below.
Just Fare Market – Contact Linda Olsen
Fond du Lac County Audubon – Contact Diana Beck
Moraine Park Technical Fair Trade College – Contact Anne Lemke
Sustain Fond du Lac – Contact Mandi Hatch
Fond du Lac Fair Trade Towns – Contact Carol Smith
Congregation of the Sisters of St. Agnes – Contact Sister Ruth Battaglia
Farm2Table Co-op and Café – Michael Ketterhagen
UW Oshkosh – Sustainability Institute for Regional Transformations (SIRT) Contact Brad Spanbauer and check out the SIRT Event Calendar
5-Stones Fox Valley
Resources were shared with people who attended and are made available for you here:
- Equal Exchange’s Citizen-Consumer Community, please join our network of consumers working to make positive change in the food system. We need your continued participation to help make our work stronger. Please sign up to be part of our growing community of citizen-consumers, working to change the food system, together.
- Learn the Story of the Black Farmers Who Grow EE Pecans.
- Small Farmers Cool the Planet Video from Fair World Project
- What’s Fair? A Guide to Fair Trade Labeling from Fair World Project
- Climate Action in the Coffee You Drink Presentation from Citizen-Consumer Member Sarah James
- Equal Exchange’s Blog regularly has updates from producer partners and farming cooperatives
- Equal Exchange 2019 annual report
- History of Authentic Fair Trade Comic Book (available in English and Spanish)