Fair Trade Futures Conference

Registration for the FAIR TRADE FUTURES CONFERENCE ends on Sunday, August 1!

The Fair Trade Futures Conference will take place from September 10-12, 2010 in Boston, MA. For more information on the conference, please visit http://fairtradeconference.ning.com/.

Top 5 reasons to attend the Fair Trade Futures Conference:

5. Learn how to bring more Fair Trade into your Life, Town, and Business
4. Meet face-to-face with the Fair Trade Artisans and Farmers behind cool Products
3. Build Relationships with the larger Fair Trade Community
2. Pick up practical advice that's tailored to your needs as an Activist, Entrepreneur, Student, etc
1. Be a part of history! Futures Conferences only happen every five years - don't wait to be a part of this growing movement for change!

This will be the largest Fair Trade conference in North American history!

Norman becomes Oklahoma's first Fair Trade Town

A resolution passed by the Norman City Council on Tuesday has completed the final step to make Norman the first official Fair Trade Town in Oklahoma and the 17th in the United States.

The resolution expresses support for purchasing goods that are produced locally or, if produced abroad, meet Fair Trade standards that focus on improving quality of life for developing country producers and ensuring environmental sustainability.

“The City of Norman has a responsibility to ensure that city funds are spent in an ethical manner that promotes local economies both domestically and abroad,” the resolution stated.

Communities earn recognition as Fair Trade Towns by making a special commitment to Fair Trade. To qualify, a city must meet five criteria, including support from local businesses, activists, community groups, media outlets, and the city government.

“By becoming a Fair Trade Town Norman has reinforced its leadership role in the areas of sustainability, social responsibility and strengthening of the local economy,” said Ajit Bhand, an organizer with Norman Fair Trade. “Not only does it help local and small businesses, it also positively affects the lives of thousands of farmers and workers in other parts of the world.”

Norman’s achievement of Fair Trade Town status is the result of a two year campaign by Norman Fair Trade. NFT is a volunteer group including Norman citizens of all ages and backgrounds, from retirees to high school and middle school students. They teamed up with local businesses and community groups, the city council, and the Human Rights Commission to spread awareness about Fair Trade and meet the FTT criteria.


“This has been a product that has been worked on by the Human Rights Commission and many activists in our community interested in the issue of ‘buy local and buy fair,’” said Norman Mayor Cindy Rosenthal.
Bhand said the achievement has far-reaching significance because only a handful of towns in the U.S. have taken the initiative to become Fair Trade Towns.

Internationally there are over 300 Fair Trade Towns, but the movement is just getting started in the United States. Other U.S. Fair Trade towns include Taos, NM, San Francisco, CA, and Madison, WI.

Fair Trade products, including coffee, tea, body care products, clothing, and sports equipment, are available at many businesses in Norman. Norman Fair Trade has compiled a Fair Trade map and products listing at their website, http://www.normanfairtrade.org/.

Norman Fair Trade will host a reception to celebrate the achievement today, Friday, May 14th, from 6pm to 7pm at Native Roots Market, 132 West Main St. The reception will also feature photos from the Fair Trade My Norman photo contest, sponsored by Native Roots and Main Street Photo Video.

Pictures from Play Fair Soccer Tournament

Norman Fair Trade organized the Play Fair soccer tournament on May 8 at Andrews Park in Norman. It was well attended and drew a lot of attention towards Fair Trade as it relates to sports equipment. Below is a link to a cover story published by the Norman Transcript as well as a photo album consists of some images from the tournament.

World Fair Trade Day celebration focuses on athletics, Norman Transcript, Sunday, May 9, 2010.

Play Fair soccer tournament photos on flickr.

Norman Fair Trade presents

World Fair Trade Day Concert!

Featuring:
The Workweek
(http://www.myspace.com/theworkweek )
Terry "Buffalo" Ware + Friends
(http://www.myspace.com/terrybuffaloware )
John Calvin
(http://www.myspace.com/jcabney )
Doug Rader
(http://www.myspace.com/dougrader)
A $5 donation is suggested, and all proceeds go to benefit Norman Fair Trade.

This celebration is part of world-wide Fair Trade festivities, so please join us in thinking Fair in Norman! This will be the last Friday before exam week so please come out to enjoy great music and support a worthy cause.

Date: Friday, May 7 at 8:00 p.m.
Place: The Second Wind Coffeehouse, 564 Buchanan Ave.

Fair Trade My Norman Photo Contest

To enter: Take a photo of you or your family enjoying Fair Trade products in your home. Submit your image to Main St. Photo-Video in person (3750 W Main St, suite #6A) or email your digital file to info@mainstphotovideo.com by May 7, 2010. Please also include a caption indicating what Fair Trade products you are using.

Prizes will be awarded to 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winner including gift cards to Native Roots Market and Main St. Photo-Video.

The photos will be on display at Native Roots Market on the evening of Friday May 14th Circuit of Art.

Also, all submissions will be sent into the National Fair Trade My Home competition to show Norman's support of Fair Trade!

Register your team for the Play Fair Soccer Tournament

Register your team by May 3rd for the Play Fair Soccer Tournament in celebration of World Fair Trade Day! The tournament will be held Saturday, May 8, 10am-4pm in Andrews Park. Games will be 4v4 on a short field for 10 minutes. No goalies. Up to two subs allowed. All games will be played with Fair Trade soccer balls, and prizes will include many Fair trade products. Shinguards are required, and teams must bring two different colored shirts. All players must sign a medical/liability release form before playing. This event is free and open to the public. It will also include a pot luck picnic and basketball free throw contest. Registration is required for the soccer tournament only. The information required below is for organizational purposes and it will not be published online.

Team Name
Age Bracket	U14 Coed U16 Coed U19 Coed 018 Coed
Contact Person
Phone Number
E-mail
Image Verification Please enter the text from the image: [ Refresh Image ] [ What's This? ]

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Video Chat with Scott James, Founder of Fair Trade Sports

Norman Fair Trade will be having a video chat with Scott James, the founder of Fair Trade Sports on Friday, April 2. We'll chat with Scott from 5:30 until 6:00. Please arrive a bit early and come with questions that you would like to ask!

Date:	Friday, April 2, 2010
Time:	5:15pm - 6:15pm
Location:	Kaufman Hall, Room 232 - second floor
Street:	780 Van Vleet Oval (South Oval, OU campus)
City/Town:	Norman, OK

Fair Trade Sports, Inc is the first sports equipment company in the US to launch a full line of eco-certified Fair Trade sports balls, ensuring fair wages and healthy working conditions for our adult workers. Be sure to also check out their sweatshop-free apparel. For more information, visit http://fairtradesports.com/.