WADE RATHKE is the founder of ACORN, Chief Organizer at ACORN International, and Author of "Nuts & Bolts", "Citizen Wealth", "Global Grassroots", and "The Battle for the 9th Ward".
New Orleans The ineffective anarchy of FLO certification through the various national fair trade organizations (though not the USA, since ours has disaffiliated, further weakening the standards) is crumbling before my eyes based on their own inability to change and the constant assault by both major corporations on one hand, who assert that they can do …
Miami The more we talked to coffee producer cooperatives in the Marcala and San Juancito mountains of Honduras and tried to piece together a plan to directly trade coffee to the USA and Canada and especially our own Fair Grinds Coffeehouse in New Orleans and its monthly support of our offices in Central America, the …
Tegucigalpa We were fortunate to get an extraordinary meeting with Hector Hernandez, sub-director of the Honduran Institute of Social Security. His willingness to meet with us on a Saturday morning in a hotel lobby spoke volumes for both the government and ACORN International about our excitement around a brand spanking new initiative now being rolled out …