The National Time Banking Project

Time Banking is a national effort to create a money-less/barter economy. Instead of paying for something you need with money, or earning money from work that you do, or something that you produce, you earn and spend time. It is a throw back to ancient forms of trade when money in its current form did not exist and what you produces and contributed was the “money.”  In that system as long as you have something to offer you can exist, survive and thrive.  Participants exchange time, skills, and talents within the network of banking partners.  For example, an hour of gardening equals an hour of child-care equals or an hour of dentistry equals an hour of home repair equals an hour of teaching someone to play chess.  The possibilities are endless.  And no one person's time is worth more than anyone else's. All of our time is valuable, so all time is equal. One hour service provided = one hour of service gained for your needs.   Sobrante Park Time Banking started in 2006 as a part of a larger "Community Capacity Building Strategy" with Alameda County Public Health Department in partnership with the City of Oakland, community- based organizations, religious and neighborhood improvement organizations.  The program has been consistently operating since its inception, and is going on its 8^th year.  Every member is respected and valued for their time and talents. And that mutual respect fosters a stronger, safer and healthier community that is built on a sense of interdependency that focuses on building community relationships and bridging cultural, social and intergenerational divides, one transaction at a time. 

 

Lets say you earn a time credit by doing something for a bank member. It doesn't matter what that "something" is and we also provide a list of things and/or services the bank is in need of. Participants then provide the service earning “money/time” credit in the bank for doing something for someone else.  You can then draw down on your time within your TimeBank Community. For example, an hour of gardening equals an hour of child-care equals or an hour of dentistry equals an hour of home repair
equals an hour of teaching someone to play chess. At this point there is not a value system placed on the service just the time that is spent incompaision to another job that may or may not take up the same amount of time.  The possibilities are endless. And no one person's
time is worth more than anyone else's. All of our time is valuable, so all time is equal. One hour service provided = one hour of service gained for your needs. 

Higher Ground works with the school, families, communities, and school districts to do several things to bring about the transformation to a full service community school:  assessment of school and neighborhood current status on the full service community school continuum; conduct a needs assessment and asset mapping of the families, the school, the neighborhood, and community partners; facilitate vision work to help all stakeholders define what they want their full service community school to look and feel like.  Higher Ground’s team will assist in restructuring or creating a collective body that can manage the community school’s process for the site; identify programs and resources that can support the site’s plan; hire, supervise and manage staff to implement the design process.  We help the school community meet its outcomes and benchmarks towards transformation to a full service community school.