Youngsters and Youth Driving Fair Trade Philosophy into US Schools

Vivienne Harr, by age 10, had sold over $100,000 worth of lemonade with the aim of ending child slavery. Vivianne's efforts soon manifested a full-fledged business with Make a Stand Lemon-Aid.  Her business specialized in selling Fair Trade Certified beverages to the masses. During that year, Media Elementary School in Pennsylvania bridged the gap between people harvesting our chocolate and the children who consume it, inviting cocoa farmers from the Kuapa Kokoo cooperative in Ghana to address a school assembly regarding the impact of Fair Trade on their lives and communities.

Both of these stories capitalize on fair trade and youth. Young people, under the age of 20, have greatly impacted the Fair Trade movement.  But, as of yet, there has never really been a platform for them to collectively organize around Fair Trade. All of that changed when Emma Willard High School of Troy, New York opted to go Fair Trade in 2010.  The high school utilized the existing Fair Trade Towns and Universities--now Fair Trade Campaigns--model. Soon after, four other schools followed suit. And from there, the Fair Trade Schools campaign was born in early 2014.

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