We got time.... a whole lot of precious time...

When I first heard about Timebanking, I thought it sounded like a wonderful way to build community.  You sign up for your annual membership and get 4 time dollars.  Then you go to the website and see what folks are offering.  Maybe you want to take a 1 hour guitar lesson or get a massage, have someone bake you a pie for your dinner party Friday night, or give you a ride to the airport.  To earn more "time dollars" you post things you'd like to offer someone:  weed a neighbor's garden, volunteer for a local non-profit, or babysit for a neighbor's child.  It's a one hour to one hour equal exchange; the more you offer (or respond to other's needs) the more time dollars you earn, and the more you can tap into the resources in your community.  Sounds great, right?   Suddenly you know your neighbors.  You're being valued for things you love to do that maybe don't necessarily fit in to your regular job.  So you're a lawyer or an accountant....  you can also offer to teach someone quilting if that's your dormant passion.  I hurried up and got a family membership to TimeBank Media before we even moved thinking...  maybe we'll need some help painting a new house, or someone to watch our toddler while we unpack.  I could even start to do a little grantwriting for the Transition Team this summer and earn time dollars before we arrive!  I never imagined in my wildest dreams that Timebanking could also be a means by which to address such pressing social issues as:

* reducing recidivism among formerly incarcerated community members

* food deserts in economically disenfranchised communities of color

* breaking the school to prison pipeline through restorative justice programming

* reintegrating Veterans back into the community and workforce in meaningful and affirming ways

* creating a safety net for the unemployed and underemployed 

* bridging the achievement gap

* eliminating social isolation of the elderly

* creating a local solution to global economic injustice and corporate greed

And the list goes on and on and on......   So, how exactly does baking an apple pie for your neighbor do all that?  For answers, we turned to Stephanie Rearick of Madison, Wisconsin and the Dane County Timebank, the largest in the nation with over 2000 members.  Stephanie lead a full-day intensive workshop on Timebanking Friday May 25th at the Smedley Park Environmental Center in Wallingford.  Stephanie shared countless examples of how Timebanking is creating value and building stronger communities all over the world.  As an educator and youth advocate, I was particularly impressed by the example of the Time Dollar Youth Court, a model that comes out of Washington DC, but is spreading to other communities in the US as well.  

Young people of color in this country are policed, incarcerated, and sentenced at double the rate of their white counterparts.   Students of color face harsher  punishment in school then their white counterparts, hence the "school to prison" pipeline that devastates the lives of so many young people.   In Dane County, with the help of one police office working in collaboration with the Timebank, a new system was developed by which youth "offenders" are sentenced to a youth court rather than being issued a ticket.  Before a jury of his or her peers, the "offender" shares his or her story, and is then asked to share his/ her gifts and goals before sentencing.   The sentence may include a letter of apology in addition to meeting with a Timebank member for a money management lesson, skills building apprenticeship, or in one case, a series of drum lessons.  Timebank members earn "time dollars" for their time spent mentoring youth.  The youth can then earn time dollars by serving on the Youth Court jury and by participating in the community in other meaningful ways--  in essence, sharing their gifts.   In this way, young people are viewed as assets and are valued by the community.  Social connections are formed that could not otherwise be provided by a police officer or a judge, and the community builds its capacity to keep kids out of trouble.   The Time Dollar Youth Court was so successful that the model was eventually brought into several schools in Madison, per request of the superintendent.   As the schools partnered with the Timebank, they too were able to make contributions to the community and earn "time dollars", which in turn were used to bring in yoga teachers, youth mentors, and professional development for teachers.   

Such initiatives demonstrate the far-reaching possibilities of a Timebank to bridge gaps, address issues of social justice, and build stronger more resilient communities.   But let's face it, for a lot of people it's hard to imagine where one would find the time to help a neighbor with their garden, let alone teach a young person how to balance a checkbook or play the guitar.   The laundry is piling up.  There are groceries to buy, meals to make, children to bathe, bills to pay, and our own friends and family we are having trouble keeping up with because we are so busy.   "Forget putting an hour in to help someone else, I don't even have an hour to go get a "free" massage if I wanted to!" is the response many thoughtful and caring people have to the idea of a Timebank.   In fact, I find myself thinking in this manner much of the time.   I can't give because the needs of my own job/ home/ family are too great.   I just don't have time for Timebanking!   But what if you could open to the possibility of someone in your community earning a time dollar by cleaning and putting away your camping gear, or coming in to fold those four loads of laundry.   Might that free up some of your time to give your child a bath or make dinner?   And while you are making dinner, could you perhaps double your recipe and bring a meal to a neighbor or is recovering from surgery?   What Timebanking asks of us is to make a subtle shift in our thinking.   It's not that I have this long list of things that I have to do to take care of myself and my family.   It's that within our larger community there are a great many needs and a great many assets.   By valuing each other's gifts and working together in this reciprocal exchange, we build valuable connections and experience a great many more resources and opportunities.   

Friday night, we had the great privilege to hear from Timebanking Founder Edgar Cahn and his wife Chris Gray.   While timebanking has evolved over the last 10 years in different shapes and forms, Edgar says that timebanking is essentially a "medium of exchange that values what it means to be a human being."   Our assets and values are not about "market price".  Rather, this new medium of exchange emphasizes equality, human to human connections, social justice, and community resilience.  It is a critique of an older outdated monetary system that is no longer working for the majority of people on the planet, and it is part of a larger paradigm shift which Charles Eisenstein, author of Sacred Economics and Ascent of Humanity, discussed on Day 2 of the Timebanking in Transition conference.    Stay tuned for a follow-up blog post on the second part of the Timebanking in Transition conference and learn about how Timebanking and the "gift economy" connect to the larger Transition Movement. 

Moving to Media: Why we chose a Transition Town

This past February my husband, Ibrahim, came back from an interview at UPenn brimming with excitement about his new job prospect.  Philly?  I could hardly wrap my head around it.  I grew up an hour outside Philadelphia, and while I longed for the rural landscape of my childhood, I could not for a moment picture myself living in Center City.  Not even a suburb, for that matter.  I wanted to move from Boston, be closer to family.  But I was envisioning being "nestled in the foothills of the Blue Ridge mountains".  What about the position at UVA?  Moving near my sister in Charlottesville?  No.  Ibrahim clearly had found a home at UPenn and was excited too about the varied acting opportunities the Philly theater scene presented.  I had to figure out a way to get behind this plan.

I locked myself in the office for the next two hours and poured over google maps, web resources for Philadelphia parents....  I began by searching for outdoor activities.   Where do people go apple picking, hiking? Where is there a Farmer's Market?  It didn't take long for me to hone in on Upper Providence, a township just west of the "Blue Route".  There one can find easy access to Tyler Arboretum, Ridley State Park, and Linvilla Orchard, but still take the train into the city is under half an hour.  I then started to sift through the surrounding towns:  Newtown Square, Swarthmore, Wallingford, and Media.

I was immediately struck by Media's town website.  The self-proclaimed "Everybody's Hometown" boasted a variety of family friendly community oriented events:  a Farmer's Market, several music festivals each year, and a "Dining Under the Stars" event, when the main street through town is shut down every Wednesday night through summer to allow for al fresco dining.  But it was when I noticed Media's status as the "First Fair Trade" town in the United States that I really began to be intrigued.  Perhaps we were onto something here.  As I dug deeper into my research (all the while locked in my office refusing to answer either Ibrahim or Aya's pleas for me to join them in the playroom), I discovered that Media is also a Transition Town.  A what?  I'd never heard of the term myself, but the more I read the more I suspected I had in fact found our new home.


I learned that the Transition Movement was started by a permaculture educator, Rob Hopkins, in Ireland in 2005.  The first Transition Town emerged in 2006, followed by the Transition Network in the UK and Transition US in the United States in 2007.  Today there are 117 Transition Towns in the United States alone.  So, what the heck is it??   The Transition Movement, in a nutshell, recognizes that the way in which we are currently living on the planet is completely and utterly unsustainable.  We simply do not have enough fossil fuel resources to continue in our present manner of consumption and waste, and we must begin to prepare for a post-carbon economy.  The way to do this is from the ground up, building resilient communities working creatively and collaboratively to "design new ways of living that are more nourishing, fulfilling, and ecologically sustainable." 


Having discovered a passion for ecology and sustainable development in college, I spent my junior year abroad traveling to various "eco-villages" and learning about passive solar heating and cooking, organic farming, permaculture, and living in intentional community.  I stayed at Tich Nhat Hahn's Plum Village in France and Auroville in Tamil Nadu, India, among other places.  For several summers I also lived and worked on Pinon Eco-village in Pojaque, New Mexico.  I am the kind of person who is fascinated and thrilled by the prospect of converting cow dung into usable methane gas for cooking oatmeal (the best oatmeal I've ever had!)  And I live with a general sense of anxiety knowing with each disposable diaper that I throw into the trash that I am through my daily existence contributing more to the problem than the solution.  The last 5 or 6 years I have been wholly focused on "establishing a career" and motherhood, but deep within me has been a not so quiet yearning to escape city-life, plop down on a farm somewhere, grow my own tomatoes and learn how to can them for winter (and maybe give those cloth diapers a try).  This past year my book club read "Radical Homemakers" by Shannon Hayes and I recognized for the first time that one does not need to escape society in order to live a value creative life with a smaller carbon footprint.   You can make your own soap wherever you live, and if you live in community, all the better to do so collectively.


So, after 2 hours locked in my office on the computer, I emerged to the playroom.  "Ok, you can take the job at UPenn on one condition: we have to move to Media, PA so I can join this Transition Town team they've got down there."  Followed by a whole lot of explaining.....


Since then I have made connections with the Transition Town Media, and have been overwhelmed by the welcoming response we have received from members of the community.  I am excited to discover what role I can play in supporting this amazing initiative.  In fact, tomorrow I am heading down to Media, PA for a 2 day "Timebanking in Transition" conference.   Curious about Timebanking and how it connects the the Transition Movement?  Stay tuned!  I will have much more to report in a few days.