The YEA Community Timebank is a replicable community program that addresses and utilizes a community’s most valuable and accessible assets - the time and talents of it’s community members. Members contribute and receive hours of service to and from other participating members.
Helps to alleviate the social welfare problem of money scarcity
Participants in the timebank provide information to a community’s timebank organizers, who in turn enter this information into a database and query system. This information is then used to exchange requests, needs, and offers from and to other participating members of the timebank without the use of money. Essentially, participants in the timebank enter into a local exchange system where they can use their talents and time to trade for the talents and time of any other member(s) also participating in the timebank.
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The community timebank emphasizes capacity focused models in engaging the youth, elderly, artist, the developmentally disabled, and the general community at large.
People: Traders (especially those who are unemployed) keep their skills up-to-date by trading, improving their long-term employability. Traders can develop new skills through participating in the timebank, increasing other employment prospects.
The Community: people build community by trading and getting to know each other better. The timebankis governed by members, and encourages broad-based participation.
Businesses: the timebank, through collaboration, provides a ready made customer base which will favor businesses that trade in the timebank. Local trading encourages the use of local suppliers. Reduces start-up cost of businesses by providing an alternative building base.The Environment: The timebank, by it’s design, promote the purchase of locally produced goods and services, thereby decreasing energy consumption. This system also encourages shared, recycled, and reused goods. The timebank also helps keep production and consumption of goods and services in the same community.