Chapel Hill is the first town in North Carolina and the second town in the South to be recognized as an official Fair Trade Town. Given this official status, more local businesses in Chapel Hill should embrace the fair trade movement by offering at least two fair trade products.
Local businesses can earn the title of being a member of Chapel Hill’s Fair Trade Community if they carry at least two fair trade products.
As a Fair Trade Town, Chapel Hill has a local fair trade team, local retailers who sell at least two fair trade products, a local government resolution, media coverage and community organizations that use fair trade products.
A fair trade system ensures that producers and farmers who might otherwise be marginalized enjoy the following benefits: higher wages, long-term buying relationships and, occasionally, educational and social benefits.
As such, proponents of fair trade argue that it provides a more equitable economic system by emphasizing a fair partnership between producers and marketers in developing countries.
Chapel Hill currently has 11 retailers that are members of the local Fair Trade Community , and there are a lot more businesses that can spread the mission of fair trade by selling fair trade products.
Local businesses should use the resources of this Fair Trade Town to advance Chapel Hill as a place that promotes sustainability and social entrepreneurship.
