Princeton Teen Champions Fair Trade Initiative

Princeton Township has joined a growing list of fair trade towns in New Jersey, thanks to the passion of 14-year-old Camila Tellez, a ninth-grader at Stuart Country Day School of the Sacred Heart.

The Township Committee unanimously approved the designation after hearing Tellez's presentation. 

Tellez, a Township resident, completed groundwork for the designation, including putting together a steering committee, asking local retailers carry fair trade items and creating community awareness.

A product is considered fair trade if its third world producers are paid a fair wage and work in safe conditions, according to Fair Trade USA, the organization Tellez worked with.

Tellez began working on the Princeton fair trade designation about a year ago, but her interest for fair trade started when she was a child. Growing up in Berkley, Calif., her mother, Yamile Slebi, worked with fair trade producers, and Tellez saw how their lives were impacted.

“They said that they have been able to penetrate global markets, visit their buyers, see their products in stores in the consumer countries, and because of these profits they were able to send the kids to school, have better healthcare and improve their housing,” Tellez said.   

“
I feel that it is such a strong economic solution for developing countries,” she said. “It isn’t a donation or charity. It’s as easy as buying your daily cup of coffee or stopping at the supermarket to pick up bananas. It’s a consumer choice that makes a real difference in communities around the world.”  

Slebi said the wold needs for more leaders who can lend weight to sustainable growth and trade, including her daughter.

“I hope that some day Camila will be one of them,” said Slebi. 

Siebi helped her daughter recruit community campaign supporters to build momentum for the Princeton fair trade initiative.

“Our steering committee has grown and evolved and now we have an interesting group of community members, teachers, students and activists," Tellez said. "We are always welcoming new members."

The next step is to get the designation through the borough, Siebi said.

“We will also have to see if a new resolution has to be issued once the borough and township consolidate," she added

Member of the steering committee include: Dana Molina of Suretech, Eric Anderson of Stuart Country Day School of the Sacred Heart, Sophia Glovier of Friends of Princeton Open Space, Karen Cantrell of Ten Thousand Villages, Liz Lempert of Princeton Township Committee, Fran McManus of Whole Earth Center, Desta Harrison of Princeton High School and Diane Landis of Sustainable Princeton.