Tucked Away on the corner of Roosevelt and 1st in Phoenix across the street from a Valley Metro light rail station is a small business filled with coffee, treats, art, and inspiration as many community members gather daily to celebrate Fair Trade Cafe.
Fair Trade Cafe has been a Phoenix favorite as they have been featured in the Phoenix New Times, DTPX, and even the NBA news and events page. As a former middle school science teacher from the Maryvale area, Stephanie Vasquez took over the retail space to create Fair Trade Cafe in 2007. It is now the longest-standing cafe owned by a Latina in the city of Phoenix. “When a person is driven by a passion nothing can stop them,” she said. The biggest mission of Fair Trade Cafe is sustainable coffee. This means only buying and selling coffee that has been grown and harvested by farms that pay their employees a living wage, have access to clean water, and otherwise work in a safe environment that allows for breaks, paid time off, and other things that many workers take for granted. Vasquez explained that she wasn’t aware that coffee was a plant until she visited Costa Rica and saw it being farmed. As she learned more about sustainable practices and the working conditions of many coffee farmers she learned more about what Fair Trade coffee really was. “I wanted to put at the forefront what our purchases could do,” she said. Currently, the cafe has partnered with a female-owned farm in Guatemala to make up 40% of the coffee sold at the cafe. Additionally, the coffee is shade-grown, with no deforestation. Above all, 100% of all coffee from Fair Trade is, quite literally, Fair Trade coffee. But the cafe doesn’t stop there in its sustainable practices. The business is one of many Certified Green Businesses of Phoenix as they hold a Platinum rating with over 40 sustainable actions being tracked by the city. These actions include recycling, energy saving, and socially sustainable practices like mandatory volunteering, buying in bulk, and following a diversity and equity framework project. The City of Phoenix also provides sustainability training for all Certified Green businesses. However, they still managed to find compostable straws that were shaped like hearts, a complement to their rose-themed February drinks. Like all businesses, Fair Trade Cafe has seen setbacks and losses. While the company used to have two storefronts, one location had to close due to construction on the light rail and the economic peril after the pandemic. Valley Metro’s Public Information Officer Juliana Vasquez-Keating released a statement that the team “proactively connects with businesses along construction corridors to provide construction updates, assist with concerns, and share information about resources and assistance available to them.” But the ultimate customer is one that becomes a friend. Elyssa Bustamante, also known as “The Funky Latina” began her time with Mujeres Mercado after being a customer at the Cafe. After looking for a cold brew and place to work, she came across a Latina-owned business that would later be a sponsor in The Funky Latina Music Festival. This year, the festival is sponsored by One AZ credit union and will help this year’s festival be the biggest of the past three years. It will be held in the Crescent Ballroom on March 30. But Vasquez also has fans right around the corner. Fair Trade’s Front of House Leader Jessica Baily enjoys working at the cafe for the community and the culture that the cafe represents. “Her aura is so badass,” Bailey said about Vasquez. After moving from Arizona to Colorado, Bailey had worked in corporate coffee chains and wanted a change of pace. After being a customer, she applied for a position as she enjoyed the local feel of a small business. “It was really important to me that we had a community space that highlighted showcased local artists,” she said. Vasquez will continue to work with other artists and creators in the community to maintain the culture of community that is cherished by so many. You can follow Fair Trade @fairtradecafeaz on Instagram or visit their website azfairtrade.com
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Phoenix Police Risk Loss of Officers In Parts of City
By Madeline Bates PHOENIX–The City of Phoenix Police Department currently faces a shortage of over 400 police officers. While many claim that this shortage comes from a rise of anti-police discourse, coverage varies in different parts of the city. Republican councilmember Jim Waring is in direct support of the Phoenix Police Department and is disheartened by the rhetoric that the media has around police. “Pull a tape of any council meeting between 2019-2021 there probably wasn’t a meeting where someone wasn’t screaming at the officers,” Waring said. He explained further that members of the public took it as far as screaming threats to officers, saying that “Most of the [council] members just sat there and let it go on.” Waring is part of the many who have seen how the ‘Defund the Police’ movement has affected the well-being of many major cities across the country. A Facebook group titled “Phoenix Police Violence Victims” has 600 members and counting since its founding in 2019. The group was founded by Marti Winkler, a Phoenix woman who suffered severe injuries after an altercation with a police officer in 2019. Winkler called the police seven times after buying a lottery ticket after claiming that she had been charged the wrong amount at checkout. When an officer arrived at the scene, employees of the Circle K alleged that she was trespassing. In a 2019 Facebook post Winkler wrote “I was almost killed by Jason Gillespie after I called Phoenix Police to file a police report on what the Circle K 701 E Bethany Home…” Bethany Home and 19th Ave is only a few blocks away from Indian School Rd and I-17–an intersection that AZ Central named “Phoenix’s epicenter of crime.” This has seen numerous daily reports of different types of crimes including assault, theft, arson and even homicide. While crime is an issue every city faces, police forces find it easier to mitigate issues with a full team of staff. ASU Police Public Information Officer Adam Wolfe explained that their force is currently fully staffed, but they still face the uncertainties of anti-police discourse. “We try to create a dialogue that not every department can,” Wolfe said. He explained that a campus police force of around 100 officers doesn’t face the struggles of a city-wide force. ASU police employs officers from across the country and regularly holds forums to make communication accessible. Waring also said that this issue comes from an undesirable wage. According to the City of Phoenix, new recruits are paid over $70,000 annually with an additional $7500 hiring bonus for all new officers. With time, this salary can increase to over $107,000 annually including paid leave, education reimbursement, and additional pay for bilingual and overnight work. “Misguided politics and policies have led us to this point and I’m furious,” Waring said. Waring said he felt like his district was being punished for not having a police presence. The anger is shared by Winkler as she wrote “That's what they do. They victimize the victim, blaming them for everything.” Phoenix Police did not accept an interview. |