This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Community Corner

Echo Park Time Bank Offers Abundance for All

The concept aims to change the way community values work, one hour at a time.

Alternate currencies are becoming more attractive these days, as budgets have gotten tighter and more people investigate ways to stretch their resources.  Time banks, bartering systems, and even community villages are becoming more interesting to mainstream lifestyles.  Here in Echo Park, the Echo Park Time Bank provides not only a way to give and receive without the exchange of cash, but to be part of community based on trust, ethics and support.

Lisa Gerstein and Autumn Rooney started the Echo Park Time Bank in 2008 as an experiment between friends.  Inspired by a story heard on NPR regarding time banking in Barcelona, Spain, the friends began researching and quickly found other friends to join in.  Three years later, the bank has 255 members from nine different zip codes.  Members donate their time and skills--everything from babysitting and gardening to acupuncture and law services--in exchange for time bank dollars. 

Attending events and community service--such as volunteering at local tutoring center and their time bank partners--also earn members dollars.  The dollars can then be “cashed” in to receive services.  Hours donated, exchanges, and earnings are logged through a computer system, where members can also search for services, post offerings and read member profiles.

Find out what's happening in Echo Park-Silver Lakewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

“At first, I didn’t think it was possible to have a currency based on trust in a city like Los Angeles,” Rooney said.  “I thought, ‘No way, they won’t help each other.’”  Now, Rooney admits, the time bank and the experience of its success has “changed my life.”

The Echo Park Time Bank rolled forward without official public relations or large investments of money.  In fact, the bank functions on about $1,000 a year.  Thanks to local interest and the press, the time bank, originally the first in Southern California, has helped to inspire banks in six different neighborhoods with potential new banks in the works in Hollywood and the Valley.

Find out what's happening in Echo Park-Silver Lakewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Based on concepts developed by civil rights lawyer Edgar Cahn, time banks are based on co-production; under the idea that charity isn’t as effective as when a community supports itself by itself.  Time banking, Rooney explained, allows neighbors to “create relationships that lead to a feeling of security.”

The time bank empowers members by easing the worry over how and if they can make their busy lives work.  “Instead of negative and positive,” Rooney noted, “it’s about giving and receiving.  It’s an abundant world.  You don’t have to worry.”

Time banks run on five basic values: The belief that every human being has something to contribute, work has to be redefined, helping works better as a two-way street, people need each other, and respect accountability.  They’re attractive ideas for many.

“I’m interested in alternative economies and ways to share and receive,” explained bank applicant Roberta Romero, who learned of the Echo Park Time Bank through a member.  “And of course, the community.”

Potential members are asked to fill out an application, provide references, and attend a time banking workshop, held about once every two months.  After the workshop, applicants are invited to participate in the time bank’s potluck, where they can learn more by talking with current members, sample some awesome, mostly vegetarian dishes, and learn that despite perhaps not knowing it, they do actually have lots to offer.

“I had surgery and was able to have massage therapy through the time bank,” member Sean Matic said.  He typically earns time bank dollars through offering assistance with video and film production and mechanics. 

“The most impressive exchanges are the ones where members become friends as a result,” Rooney said.  She pointed to examples where one member helped care for another’s cat by giving it insulin shots while the owner was at work, and of a Time Banker who translated a recording from Spanish to English so that a grandchild could hear firsthand, family accounts of the Spanish Civil War.

“It doesn’t matter if you are a doctor or a lawyer or gardener or a working mom,“ Rooney said.  “All services in the time bank are valued the same, one dollar for one hour.”

As Rooney believes, the time bank “makes you realize how much wealth there is.  You don’t have to be afraid.” 

Learn more about time banking and the Echo Park Time Bank by heading over to their website.   The community is currently accepting six to eight new members per month, but encourages applicants to become invovled in their community regardless of Time Bank membership.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?

More from Echo Park-Silver Lake