San Diego Community College Fair Trade Coffee Campaign

Dear San Diego Community College Community,

We would like to invite you to join us in a campaign to fight for Fair Trade coffee at the San Diego Community College.

Click here to sign the fair trade coffee petition.

Every day, hundreds of us purchase a cup of coffee at City College. This is fine—but we believe that the money we pay for that coffee should go to the hard-working farmers who grow and pick that coffee. We should not be drinking coffee that is polluted with the sweat and blood of exploited laborers in Mexico, Guatemala, Bolivia and many other coffee-producing nations. When we buy coffee, our money should go to support worker-owned coops that allow workers and their families to live with dignity and justice. We want to see City College become a campus that only sells coffee with the taste of justice—coffee that is “Fair Trade certified”.

Most of the world’s coffee is controlled by big corporations like Phillip Morris, Nestlé and Sara Lee. These huge companies often pay coffee farmers miserable prices without guaranteeing a stable wage. Farming coffee becomes a gamble: the farmers who invest the most work in our coffee are paid a few pennies, while middlemen and corporate distributers keep the profits for themselves.

Considering all of the violence and injustice involved in the coffee trade, it’s no wonder that many coffee farmers leave their home towns and migrate to the city or to another country. For many, it’s just not possible to survive farming coffee.

But there is another way…

Fair Trade-certified coffee offers a real alternative to the unjust status quo of coffee. Coffee that bears the Fair Trade label was bought from worker-owned co-ops that make decisions democratically and negotiate a fair price for their product.

For two years, the club City College CAFE (Creating Alternatives and Fair Trade) has worked to create awareness about fair trade. We are asking you to support the San Diego Community College Fair Trade Campaign. Our goal is to present a resolution to the District Board of Trustees in favor of fair trade coffee.

We would like to ask you to join us in presenting a resolution to the District Board of Trustees in favor of fair trade coffee.

You can support this campaign in one of these ways:

• Sign the petition for a resolution. (Paper or online)
• Online petition click here: fair trade coffee petition
• Pass out the petition and ask your students, peers, colleagues and friends who are part of the San Diego Community College District to sign the petition.

• Invite CAFE to come to your class to present the petition.

This campaign for Coffee with Justice will not stop until the day that not a single cup of unfairly traded “exploitation coffee” is served at the San Diego Community College District.

In solidarity,

City College C.A.F.E. (Creating Alternative and Fair Enterprise)

Cafeontheborder.blogspot.com

Cafeontheborder@gmail.com

Facebook: CityCAFE

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Resolution on Fair Trade-certified coffee for the San Diego Community College Board of Trustees


Whereas, students, faculty, staff, administration and visitors spend thousands of dollars every year buying coffee in the District cafeterias that is produced mostly in exploitative conditions or extreme poverty and therefore is polluted with the sweat and blood of exploited laborers in Mexico, Guatemala, Bolivia and many other coffee-producing nations;

Whereas, most of the world’s coffee production is controlled by few companies that often pay coffee farmers extremely low prices without guaranteeing them a stable wage and therefore those farmers who invest the most work in producing coffee are paid a few cents, while middlemen and corporate distributors keep the profits for themselves;

Whereas, because of all the violence and injustice involved in the coffee trade, for many coffee farmers it is just not possible to survive farming coffee, and therefore they are forced to leave their home towns and migrate to the city or to another country, including the US;

Whereas, there is a growing local, national and international awareness for changing our practices and choice of buying coffee that comes from farmers and workers who are justly compensated—and in San Diego, UCSD and USD consume fair-trade certified coffee;

Whereas, Fair Trade-certified coffee offers a real alternative to the unjust status quo of the coffee business and coffee that bears the Fair Trade label guarantees that it was bought from worker-owned co-ops that make decisions democratically and negotiate a fair price for their product;

Whereas, one of the District strategic goals is to “become a sustainability citizen and advocate within the community,” and one of the District practices has been to promote relationships (partnerships) and agreements with local businesses, for example during the construction of new buildings and facilities;

Be it resolved, that only fair trade-certified coffee will be sold in the District cafeterias and facilities and that most of the coffee served in the District will be purchased from local coffee distributors.