Efforts underway to make CH a Fair Trade Town

The City of Cleveland Heights is known for being diverse and progressive, home to arts and an all-around great place to live, eat and play. With retailers throughout the Heights such as Revive, Ten Thousand Villages Cleveland, Dave’s and Zagara’s Marketplace, we have a plethora of fair trade items at our fingertips.

In buying fair trade, we go beyond our pride in shopping locally to also support an international mission. Buying fair trade is an easy choice to make and something that should be celebrated when so many of us do.

A group of Cleveland Heights residents, business owners and fair trade supporters are looking to take our buying power one step further and make Cleveland Heights a Fair Trade Town.

Through Fair Trade Campaigns, we are able to take the next step in our commitment to fair trade and, through achieving specific goals, become a nationally recognized Fair Trade Town.

There are five steps that must be completed for Cleveland Heights to become a Fair Trade Town: Build Your Team, Reach Out to Retailers, Engage Your Town, Get Some Love from the Media, and Engage Your Local Government.

We have completed our first three steps with ease through fair trade retailers and community organizations that provide fair trade goods to the public.

Articles such as this and blogs from the Ohio Fair Trade Network get us the press that we need. Finally, with support from City Council Member Jeff Coryell, we are able to get a resolution through city hall to make this campaign a reality. As Coryell stated, “The bottom line is, fair trade is all about social justice, and I regard social justice as a bedrock value for this community.”

We hope that you as residents will take the time to show your support for this action in our stores and on our campaign page, www.fairtradecampaigns.org/campaign/cleveland-oh, and that you are there to support our victory, we hope, on World Fair Trade Day on May 9.