VISION
Café Conciencia works to fulfill the promises of Fair Trade hand-in-hand with our partner communities by developing successful, self-sustaining small businesses that lead to more dignified standards of living for community members. We create an international solidarity network made up of better-informed and more committed Fair Trade supporters by fostering a greater awareness of the ongoing struggles in our partner communities and how they relate to larger issues of social, economic, and environmental justice. We are a majority Guatemalan organization, building projects from the ground up through long-term strategies based on principles of solidarity, egalitarianism, and mutual aid.

VALUES

• We are a majority Guatemalan organization that maintains relationships of mutual respect and equality with its partner communities.
• We are a transparent organization that allows Fair Trade supporters to plug-in and see exactly how their support concretely helps Fair Trade communities.
• We partner only with worker-owned and operated cooperative communities who practice Fair Trade principles and use organic agricultural techniques.
• We actively support and collaborate with other Fair Trade projects in Guatemala, the United States, Canada, and around the world.
• We foster a wider and deeper understanding of the Fair Trade movement, its principles and practices, and work toward a greater fulfillment of its potential.

STAFF

Tim Kantz
Executive Director
Timothy Kantz was born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio, United States. He earned a BA in Philosophy from Fordham University (Bronx, NY) in 1998. Before founding Café Conciencia he worked as the Director of Programs and Outreach at the Museo Maya Tz’utujil, a Mayan cultural museum in San Pedro la Laguna, Guatemala. From 2001-2004 he worked as an investigator and paralegal at the New York City Legal Aid Society (Manhattan Public Defender Office) where he was also an 1199SEIU union delegate. In the latter capacity he negotiated a 3-year contract for 500 legal aid workers. He has organic farming, activist/advocacy, and journalism experience, and speaks an Advanced level of Spanish.

Omar Mejía
Guatemala Country Director
Omar Mejía was born and raised in Xela, Guatemala. He is in the final phase of obtaining a degree in Agronomy from the University of San Carlos, Quetzaltenango. In 2003 he worked for the Guatemalan Ministry of Agriculture, Food, and Dairy investigating and reporting on the effects of the coffee economy in the Department of San Marcos.  In 2002 he was Co-Director of a Spanish school where he planned and guided educational, social, and tourist activities. Omar has also studied education, and for over 12 years worked with groups of children, youth, and adults in Xela and various communities teaching math and natural sciences.

RELATIONSHIPS WITH PARTNER COMMUNITIES
Café Conciencia works to build consensus with our partner communities and to fully respect their internal decision-making bodies and practices. We encourage and facilitate mutual aid within and between communities, and are heartened by the spirit of solidarity we have seen expressed. We endeavor always to be transparent and forthright in our communication, demanding the same in return, and work hard every day to achieve a level of confidence worthy of the sincerity and hopefulness with which we have been received by the communities.