Urban Fair Trade

A Buck's Capacitor is a person (or a network of websites) who combines and stores small amounts of knowledge, experience or other assets
until they can be "discharged" in a carefully-planned, powerful and effective way, usually to achieve Rootsification ©.

Leveraging What Is There Into What It Can Become

Our Guiding Principle

Like it or not, all Americans are in a gigantic, arranged marriage, with The Constitution as our pre-nup. That makes everyone else our brothers- and sisters-inlaw.

It's time to listen with respect, argue with respect and treat each other with respect. Just as we do with our other inlaws and close family, we can agree to disagree. And work together with an eye on the prize.

Our American family deserves no less.

That is why we are philosophically and politically neutral.
We see no reason for our programs to be viewed as anything except our welcomed civic "duty" as Americans.

The Companies That You See

anywhere in this network of sites are committed to customer satisfaction for BOTH financial and ethical reasons.

To each of them, "sustainable" means that good deeds that result from community partnerships are more effective and long-lasting than any other actions can even hope to duplicate.

Urban Fair Trade is primarily an advocate for mutually-respectful commerce, so we provide businesses with ways to offer consumers respect that they usually demonstrate with "family" discounts and/or exceptional services.

One kind of discount is built into investments in Rocky Roadz. The investors make fair rent and home ownership possible and have pledged a multi-year commitment to our communities.

What Is "Fair"?

We define "fair" as being the minimum amount of profit that makes a transaction worth completing for both the buyer and the seller of a product or service.

A 6% return on money collaterized by real estate is fair. 15% of rental income for total management fees is fair. Combined, monthly rents in a building that are 1%, or less, of the value of the building are fair. .

The fair rents and options to purchase that are available in the DEMI and Rocky Roadz are made possible by contractors and investors who believe in fair trade and not "whatever the market will bear".

Urban Fair Trade Sites

... Target Specific Insufficiencies

that plague many urban neighborhoods. The sites are private sector, "works in progress" that we hope others will imitate, for the benefit of the community and for their own personal, "Fair Trade" profit.

PLEASE NOTE: We will be happy to share our experience and the basic framework of each site, but we retain all rights to all names, logos, trademarks, etc in order to protect our brand.

HOUSING

The D.E.M.I. is the designer of row houses that offer fair rents and options to own, without sacrificing features that are common in substantially more expensive properties.

The DEMI is the public liason for the real estate operations.

Rocky Roadz is the financing branch of the real estate projects.
The first project will be financed entirely by investments from Philadelphia area businesses. The projects that follow will be equity crowd funded with investors of all types.

EMPLOYMENT

As part of our Eat Them INTO House & Home" program, we will be providing work to local contractors.

"Rootsification ©"

DEMI and Rocky Roadz

are standards that are pledged by independent companies that adopt those brand names.

A "DEMI" is a new row house that contains specific features and is built using cost-saving, modern techniques. Building sites are chosen to minimize neighborhood disruptions and gentrification. Our "Go Method" of selecting locations ensures that, not only are our investors protected, but that adjoining properties will also experience profitable impacts from our projects.

A "Rocky Road" is a transitional owner of a row house who pledges fair rents to tenants for five years, with an option-to-buy agreement with one of those tenants. The terms of the leases and options are virtually identical for each building.

A Rocky Road owner can be a single investor, a traditional REIT or a company that uses the new "equity crowdfunding" services.

We call this combination of features "rootsification ©". It's like "gentrification", but it's done for the benefit of people who have roots in the community.

Priming The Pump,

And Greasing The Wheels:

The Products and Skills Exchange is a multi-purpose, asset management tool of UrbanFairTrade.com. It is an accounting method that will make most of our activities less expensive and more far-reaching.

At its core is barter, but it is designed to make that ancient form of commerce more convenient, safer and substantially more powerful. We will be using it to provide:

A more complete selection of "Wings" in our Roots And Wings Journal
Unique Rocky Roadz investment opportunities, suitable for virtually any budget, with "Lay Away"
A way for local nonprofits to transform in-kind donations into items or services that are more suitable to their needs, without offending the original donors
A buffer against "feast or famine" business cycles for small, local businesses
Ways for neighborhood startups and sole proprietorships to survive and thrive

Take One Minute For The Team

Or Just Text Your Email Address To
(215) 435-8810

Advisory Team

A Buck's Capacitor is a person (or a network of websites) who combines and stores small amounts of knowledge, experience or other assetsuntil they can be "discharged" in a carefully-planned, powerful and effective way, usually to achieve Rootsification ©.