Rachel Ackoff
Claremont, CA
As the Fair Trade Campaign Coordinator for the Sierra Student Coalition, Rachel organized a series of trainings to give student and adult activists across the country the tools to work for a global trade system that protected the rights of the environment and working people. She and more than 100 people she trained worked to educate local legislators and the public about the power that trade agreements like NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) and GATT (General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, World Trade Organization) gave to foreign corporations, weakening and even eliminating national, state, and local laws that protected the environment, workers’ rights, and food safety. Rachel helped people across the country “make localized plans to influence public officials and encourage the transformation of ‘free trade’ to fair trade.”