Banking on Community

Members of the Evolver Long Beach regional group are in the process of forming a community time exchange, after introducing the concept of time banking at the "Give It Up" spore held in January.

Please join us at the Green Long Beach Festival on May 22nd from 2-4pm, as we participate in a workshop titled "Forming a Community Time Exchange," on 3rd St. just East of Long Beach Blvd.

This workshop is intended to be a launching pad for the Long Beach Time Exchange. The insights of people/communities who have implemented time banks will be presented and community members will discuss how a time bank could best work in Long Beach in terms of its scope, implementation, and practices. 

We are interested in exploring how this organization can be designed to best suit the needs of the diverse communities living in and around Long Beach, eventually covering a wide area with several neighborhood time banks.

A time exchange, or time bank, can take root in many contexts for many purposes, but ultimately seeks to reconnect labor and value through reciprocity, providing infrastructure for the exchange of services at an equal rate: a “time dollar.” Time Banks USA does this with their "Communi-Weaver" web-based program, where members can log their time dollars. We also believe that this project would help us to become more resilient and self-sustaining in these unstable economic conditions.

Time banks are a great way of introducing sustainable practices into the community. One of the core values of the time bank community is redefining work “to value whatever it takes to raise healthy children, build strong families, revitalize neighborhoods, make democracy work, advance social justice, and make the planet sustainable” (Time Banks USA)

This Wedneday, May 12th, there will be a benefit for the new Time Bank at the Cellar in Long Beach.

Here is the Evolver Long Beach regional group page on Evolver.

We can be contacted at LBTimeExchange@gmail.com.