From: Cylvia Hayes

Sent: Sat Mar 30 12:49:06 2013

To: 'Sharonlee Schwartz'

Cc: 'Yeswecan@aol.com'

Subject: RE: Timebanking Information

Importance: Normal

So sorry about leaving the Lee off your name in the last email!

Cylvia

Cylvia Hayes

First Lady of Oregon

cylhayes@gmail.com

(503) 373-7489

From: Sharonlee Schwartz [mailto:sharonlee.schwartz@lasoregon.org]

Sent: Thursday, March 21, 2013 3:07 PM

To: cylhayes@gmail.com

Cc: Yeswecan@aol.com

Subject: Timebanking Information

Dear Cylvia,

I enjoyed speaking with you on Monday at the Prosperity Summit, and am following up with information about timbanking. Time Banks, also called time exchanges, use a special, tax exempt, form of currency that rewards caring and community-mindedness. One hour of helping someone always earns one time credit, no matter the type of service exchanged. For example, a time exchange member could earn one time credit spending an hour fixing another member’s leaky sink, and spend the time credit having his or her brakes repaired, or getting a ride to an appointment. Each member of a timebank has an electronic account that tracks hours earned and spent, and members use web based software to set up exchanges. Most time exchanges also have a coordinator and make arrangements for members who do not have access to the internet. Timebanking is based on four principles:

(1) Assets - the real wealth of a society is its people (no more throwaway people);

(2) Redefining Work - work must be redefined to include whatever it takes to rear healthy children, preserve families, make neighborhoods safe and vibrant, care for the frail and vulnerable, attack injustice, and make democracy work;

(3) Reciprocity - the impulse to give back is universal. Wherever possible we must replace all forms of one-way acts of helping with two-way transactions so that “You need me” becomes “We need each other” (stop creating dependencies); and

(4) Social Capital - Human beings require a social infrastructure as essential as roads, bridges, and utility lines. Social networks require ongoing investments of social capital generated by trust, reciprocity, and civic engagement (no more disinvesting in families, neighborhoods, and communities).

Dr. Edgar Cahn, who worked with Sargent Shriver in the Office of Economic Opportunity and is the founder of the umbrella organization, Timebanks USA, noted in a recent letter to President Obama:

For a quarter century, the TimeBanking community has been demonstrating how to make the impossible possible. There is vast untapped capacity in community. We have proven that:

Healthy seniors and their families can provide reliable, informal care that reduces medical costs.

Fifth graders can tutor third graders who otherwise fail to attain essential reading levels.

Teenagers can tutor elementary school children using evidence-based cross-age peer tutoring.

How could this get paid for? How can we record, recognize and reward labor from a work force that is not recognized or valued by the GDP? For decades, the TimeBank community in the United States and thirty four other countries has been learning how to do it, teaching us all that every one of us has something special to give.

The function of a medium of exchange is to put supply and demand, capacity and need together. What money does not value, TimeBanking does…. One hour helping another (regardless of mainstream market value) equal one Time Credit. TimeBanking has proven capable of harnessing vast untapped capacity that the market does not value to address vast unmet needs.

The types of initiatives described by Dr. Cahn, if adopted in Oregon, would help the Kitzhaber administration move its antipoverty initiatives from paper to reality. Oregonians have already formed timebanks in several communities, including Portland, Eugene, Ashland, Redmond, and Roseburg. Our community (Roseburg) launched Umpqua Valley Time Exchange in 2010 to help people connect to each other and share resources we have.

My office, the Roseburg office of Legal Aid Services of Oregon, is piloting a Pay it Forward project in which clients may choose (but are not required) to match Legal Aid staff time on their case by joining UVTE and helping another person, while keeping the time credits earned to procure services they need. Other timebanks throughout the country have also started demonstration projects. In Washington, DC, ex convicts who are members of the Homecomers Academy walk with schoolchildren to provide safe passage through high crime areas of the city. In New York City, a large HMO created a time exchange so that elderly members could help each other live independently. There is tremendous capacity for people to help each other solve urgent problems.

If you want to learn more, two good websites for further information are www.timebanks.org for Timebanks USA, and http://www.timebanking.org/ for Timebanks UK. I would also be delighted to provide more information about incorporating timebanking into Oregon’s antipoverty initiatives. I am copying Dr. Cahn on this email in case you wish to contact him directly.

Sincerely,

Sharon Lee Schwartz

Regional Director

Roseburg Office of Legal Aid Services of Oregon