It seems like everyone is doing a Year-in- Review to close out 2009. That’s fine. 2009 was a good year for us. But we’re either eternal optimists or workaholics, because we want to do a Year-in-Anticipation. 2010 marks our 15th anniversary and we’ve got a lot in the works. We’ll join the folks who are making their New Year’s Resolutions, and look ahead to a new year of new activities.

• In April, Katy will attend the 2010 Specialty Coffee Association Conference in Anaheim, CA. That isn’t new in and of itself; however she will be joined by a coffee farmer involved in our Café Livelihoods project. Attending the conference is good exposure to the coffee industry and an opportunity for farmers to find new buyers.   Katy, our CRS West office, and former CRS Fair Trade staff member Michael Sheridan will accompany the farmers on visits to parishes in CA after the conference.
• In May a new group of Fair Trade Ambassadors will be trained in Traverse City, MI. Jackie and Mary are working with CRS coffee partner, Higher Grounds Trading Company, to host a group of Fair Trade enthusiasts from across the country on a weekend long training.  Once the training is complete these new Ambassadors will join a group of 40 already active Ambassadors promoting Fair Trade in their communities.
• This September Fair Trade Futures is back! Five years after the first conference in Chicago, Fair Traders from every corner of the movement will convene in Boston to celebrate our accomplishments, educate new comers, and grapple with challenging issues affecting the movement. It’s a time to hear all voices in the movement and chart a path for the future. CRS will be in attendance with representatives from the CRS Fair Trade Ambassadors, college students from across the country and coffee farmers from our Café Livelihoods Project.

These are just a few of the activities we have planned for 2010. We’ve no doubt our 15^th year will full of excitement, new challenges and many new opportunities.  Here’s to 2010! It’s sure to be a very Fair New Year! We hope yours will be too.

Tags: fair trade, new year

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 29th, 2009 at 4:21 pm and is filed under Economic Justice. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.