Alliance of Rural Communities

Alliance of Rural Communities (ARC) is a social enterprise based in Trinidad and Tobago, dedicated to empowering rural communities throughout the Caribbean. ARC helps these communities use local resources, labor, and creativity to develop collective production facilities, process raw materials, and build financially independent, community-owned businesses. They started by teaching rural cacao communities to make artisanal chocolate and have since incubated community-owned chocolate companies. ARC coordinates marketing and distribution of community products, promotes community-led cocoa and chocolate tours, and offers fresh organic produce deliveries and an online zero waste shop. They also run the ARC Co-Create Hub and initiated The Cross Atlantic Chocolate Collective with cocoa farmers from Africa and the Caribbean.

ARC is registered as a not-for-profit organization and reinvests all profits to expand social and environmental impact.