Co-Op America is a coalition of over 100,000 members. The purpose is to support fair trade, social responsiblity, living wage jobs, environmentalism and organic food. Co-Op America gives you listings of locally owned businesses who fit with all of these things and also gives you banks that put your investments only in socially responsible businesses.
Resources: Bring Fair Trade Coffee to Your Community
Last Monday, Co-op America took action for Fair Trade in our local community here in Washington, DC, by sponsoring a screening of the Fair Trade coffee documentary Black Gold. Black Gold tells the story of Tadesse Meskela, an Ethiopian farmer who travels the world educating coffee retailers and consumers about how Fair Trade helps coffee farmers get a fair price for their crops and strengthen their local communities.
Co-op America began by inviting our local e-newsletter subscribers to the screening, and went on to make free tickets available to anyone who wished to invite their local barista or coffeeshop owner to the screening. We filled the 400-seat theater at the Carnegie Institution, and guests included the store manager for a local Starbucks and a large showing from DC's sizeable Ethiopian ex-pat community.
Members of the audience received a copy of our brochure "The Business Case for Fair Trade Coffee" and a list of local coffeeshops and groceries where Fair Trade coffee is available. Members of the co-sponsoring organizations Oxfam, Fair Trade Federation, Sierra Club DC, and Abol Coffee Inc., were on hand to answer questions and talk with attendees after the film.
You can replicate this strategy in your own local community when the DVD for Black Gold becomes available to the general public later this spring. Download a copy of our brochure, and for advice on how to set up a screening for your community, feel free to contact our organizers.
(Also, TransFair USA is encouraging Black Gold house parties on April 10, when the film will appear on PBS. Visit TransFair for more.)
http://www.coopamerica.org/