Fwd: DC city procurement

[Josephine Chu]

Hi Sustainable DC Green Economy,

Please see the email below about sustainable procurement sent to me from Liana Foxvog at Sweat Free Communities.  

Also, please come check out Hawthorne Homemade, an organic juice bar and market in Cleveland Park!  We are a new small, locally- and women-owned business located at 3706 Macomb St NW, right off Wisconsin Ave.  We offer soups, salads, and sandwiches, in addition to our juices and smoothies and will be starting to offer our Sunday Vegan Brunch this Sunday!  Check out our new updated website at www.hawthornemarket.com or our Facebook page for more information. 

Thanks,

Josephine Chu

Green Eagle, Office of Sustainability 

MA Global Environmental Politics '13

School of International Service, American University 

Sustainability Coordinator, Hawthorne Homemade

www.hawthornemarket.com 

joseph...@gmail.com 

631-355-2348

Begin forwarded message:

From: Liana Foxvog <li...@sweatfree.org>
Date: March 22, 2012 12:03:38 PM EDT
To: Josephine Chu <joseph...@gmail.com>
Cc: Bjorn Claeson <bj...@sweatfree.org>
Subject: Re: DC city procurement

Hi Josephine,
It was great to talk with you last week. Would you mind sharing the following information with Sustainable DC? And please let me know if you'd like any other information or if there is anything that I can do to assist in promoting this idea for sustainable procurement.  Best, Liana

Policy: "Sweatshop-free" procurement policy

Purpose: Ensure workers who make the apparel and other products that DC buys get decent wages for work in good conditions, and that the factories are safe, compliant with labor law, and sustainable.

Responsible agency: Office of Contracting and Procurement

Description: Concerned that they are spending precious tax dollars on products made in sweatshops, a growing number of U.S. cities have committed to buy only apparel and other products made in decent working conditions.  Towards that end they have developed labor standards (a code of conduct) that vendors must support and implementation policies.  A coalition of leading city and state governments have formed a consortium, called the Sweatfree Purchasing Consortium, to pool resources, coordinate compliance activities, and make it easier for each member entity to reach its own goals for sweatfree procurement.  The Consortium provides technical assistance, including a model policy and compliance tools, offers forums for procurement officials to discuss common issues, and seeks to focus investigatory and monitoring activities on significant global suppliers that provide products to members.  By developing a sweatfree procurement policy and joining with other cities in the Consortium, Washington DC can make sure that their tax dollars help to support good jobs and a sustainable economy both locally and globally.

For more information:

Liana Foxvog

SweatFree Communities / International Labor Rights Forum

1634 I St. NW, Suite 1001

Washington, DC 20006

Li...@sweatfree.org

For policy resources, visit www.buysweatfree.org