Supporting Women Through Community Development Funds

Happy May, and National Women’s Health Month!

This month we are highlighting how your support of Tiny Footprint Coffee benefits global women's health and overall well-being of coffee growing communities.

Specifically, we will be highlighting how our Fair Trade Certified labeled coffee not only signifies our coffee was made according to social, economic, and environmental standards, but also a portion of every purchase sends Community Development Funds back to workers. For each pound of green (unroasted) coffee sold, producers receive $0.20 into their Community Development Funds on top of the price they receive for their coffee. These funds are then used for projects to benefit the entire community.

A good portion of our Community Development Funds went to PRODECOOP, a coffee producers’ cooperative in Northern Nicaragua that grows, mills, and exports the green coffee for our Nicaraguan Dark Roast. PRODECOOP Community Development Fund partners with Grounds for Health, a global organization with the mission of preventing cervical cancer in coffee-growing communities and beyond. Together, they aim to improve access for women to get cervical cancer screenings and to provide more therapy services at health centers. “It has expanded to cover a range of healthcare services, in collaboration now with the Ministry of Health, for healthcare in the communities.” -Merling Preza, General Manager of PRODECOOP. Grounds for Health focuses on cervical cancer because “in developing countries, cervical cancer kills more women than any other cancer. Over 80% of women newly diagnosed with cervical cancer live in these countries.” And with GFH providing self-testing kits, many women can catch the cancer and treat it successfully.

We are truly grateful for PRODECOOP for their commitment to women's health in their communities, and for our customers' strong loyalty to help fund these projects through the Fair Trades Community Development Funds.