San Diego Community College Fair Trade Coffee Campaign

San Diego Community College Fair Trade Campaign

Yes, I am a student, staff, faculty or administrator at San Diego Community College District and I support the Resolution on Fair Trade-certified coffee.

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 worlds 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 compensatedand 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.