We want to help you spread the Fair Trade word to your community, and have some fun while you're at it! Sign up on our website to throw a Fair Trade house party, and we'll send you an organizing kit with everything you need to educate and inspire your friends, including a great DVD, Buyer Be Fair, and an accompanying discussion guide. April from Indianapolis hosted a party last month and said, "The materials you sent were awesome! I hope others will host fair trade parties. It was a lot of fun from start to finish!"

Click here to sign up today!

Equicafe® has launched the first-ever Fair Trade Certified instant coffee! The organic coffee beans are grown by Fair Trade producers in Colombia. The coffee is then instantized in Colombia to preserve freshness, using the only best freeze drying methods to produce the most flavor.

Guittard Chocolate Company, a 139-year-old, family-owned company renowned for its top quality chocolates, proudly presents their new Fair Trade Certified Akoma 55% Cacao Extra Semisweet Chocolate Chips. The name "Akoma" represents "heart" in the traditional Adinkra symbols of West Africa, where cocoa beans for this chocolate are grown.

Queen Helene® Naturals has introduced four new body care products that not only nourish skin but also support a global cause benefiting communities and the environment. Pamper your skin with Queen Helene Naturals' Body Wash, Body Lotion, Body Creme and Body Scrub, all made with organic, Fair Trade Certified cocoa butter.

New to the Buffalo & Spring™ Coffees of Distinction line is the Fair Trade Certified Nicaraguan Matagalpa. From the Matagalpa region of Nicaragua, these beans produce a coffee with clean and mild acidity with a uniquely pleasant and earthy finish.

USA Today's Weekend Magazine spelled out the importance of knowing a product's origins when buying chocolate and gave kudos to Divine Chocolate's Fair Trade Certified offerings. Read the full article here.

Don't forget to check for new entries on the Fair Trade Blog, posted every second Friday by TransFair USA's COO, Dave Rochlin.

AND, would you have ever guessed there are hundreds of videos about Fair Trade posted on YouTube.com? Some of our favorites are about bananas from AgroFair and Ben & Jerry's ice cream with Fair Trade ingredients. Check back often for new videos or post your own!

The theme for this May's World Fair Trade Day was "Kids Need Fair Trade." So we asked kids across the US to submit artwork expressing what Fair Trade means to them. It was a close contest thanks to the hundreds of votes from supporters like you. In the Grade 3-8 category, Isaac Gardea from El Paso, Texas is the lucky winner. In the Grade 9-12 category, Kathleen Mackin from Brattleboro, Vermont won. And Tucker Corry's entry was chosen as the artwork to be printed on postcards to be used at Fair Trade events. Congratulations to all!

More Fair Trade Towns are on the way! Following Media, Pennsylvania's declaration as the First Fair Trade Town in the U.S., other communities have been organizing local coalitions, engaging their local governing bodies, working with local businesses to raise the visibility of Fair Trade, and spreading the word. From Brattleboro to Chicago, Grand Rapids to San Francisco, Amherst to Milwaukee, the grassroots initiative is taking off. Look for a launch of the Fair Trade Towns Campaign during Fair Trade Month this October, and get involved! For more information and to become part of this exciting movement, contact David at dfunkhouser@transfairusa.org.

Juan Calva, FAPECAFES Board Member, at the 2007 Specialty Coffee Conference

FAPECAFES is an association of 1500 small coffee producers from four base cooperatives in southern Ecuador. These four co-ops joined together with the hope of directly accessing the international specialty coffee market and forming long-term business relationships with overseas roasters. FAPECAFES members are dedicated to sustainable practices like soil conservation, shade-growing, and organic farming techniques.

"Fair Trade is really important," said Juan Calva, who serves on the board of FAPECAFES. "It requires us to know our business: Where does the Fair Trade social premium go? What happened to the money? Fair Trade allows us to send our children to school so they're not just in the fields, but so they can have a better future. It's important."

Since earning Fair Trade certification in 2003, FAPECAFES has invested their increased revenues and social premiums in training members on improving farming techniques, new tools and farming equipment and setting up community first aid stations.

Find more information on FAPECAFES and other producer groups here.

As of June 1, the social premium for Fair Trade coffee increased from 5 cents to 10 cents per pound. Additionally, the Fair Trade Organic differential for all certified organic coffee is increasing from 15 to 20 cents per pound. The decision was ratified by the Fairtrade Labelling Organizations (FLO) International Board of Directors after a multi-stakeholder consultation. The Fair Trade premium is a payment in addition to the minimum price that enables producers to invest in strengthening their organizations and to implement programs benefiting members and local communities. For the full story, click here.

TransFair USA and producers from more than 20 different coffee cooperatives in Latin America, Africa and Asia gathered in Long Beach, CA for the Specialty Coffee Association of America's 19th annual conference. Events kicked off with a Fair Trade Forum with educational sessions for coffee producers, roasters and importers. During the tradeshow May 5-7, the Fair Trade Certified booth buzzed with activity.

"We've met many clients at SCAA," commented Esperanza Dionisia, General Manager of Peru's CAC Pangoa co-op. "We're going to continue coming because there are lots of small roasters here who like to roast Fair Trade and organic coffee."

Click here for photos.