New Bedford Guide Your Guide to New Bedford and South Coast, MA
The Southeastern Massachusetts Time Exchange, a non-profit cooperative program where the time one spends performing social services is converted into redeemable credits, has officially grown to 100 members. This is an important milestone for the ever-expanding organization, which only just launched 4 months ago, since it illustrates its appeal to the region and is an acknowledgment this alternative economic approach is a success.
Since its inception last December, the Southeastern Massachusetts Time Exchange has been forging community relations through organization meetings, walk-in seminars, potluck dinners, and appearances at events hosted by various academic, community, and non-profit associations. Membership reaches across the SouthCoast region, stretching from Swansea to Wareham, and also includes college students from UMass Dartmouth and BCC.
In the Time Exchange one hour of labor served equals one credit of time received, which can be used or accumulated for other services. Members post skills and tasks they can do and requests of things they need done in a customized database. These members arrange the service exchange and time is credited to the provider’s account. Transactions in the Time Exchange have, so far, included pet care, tutoring, resume workshops, car pools and chauffeuring, office management, photography, freelance writing, and teaching crafts. Anyone can join, and the greater the membership, the more services available in the Time Exchange. The Time Exchange will host a new potluck dinner sometime in April where newcomers can bring and share food, get to know members, and learn how the program functions.
The Southeastern Massachusetts Time Exchange was launched by AmeriCorps VISTAs funded and employed through UMass Dartmouth’s Sustainability Office. Volunteer in Service to America (VISTA) members of AmeriCorps commit to serve full-time for 1-3 years at a nonprofit organization or local government agency, working to improve health services, increase environmental initiatives, and forge stronger communal binds within a region. Time Banks have existed in the U.S. for almost 20 years, and there are hundreds of them thriving all over the world.
If you have specific questions regarding the Southeastern Massachusetts Time Exchange or its upcoming events, please call Bob Bailey or Christoph Demers at 774-955-0551, or contact via exchangetimesemass@gmail.org. Learn more at their website http://www.exchangetime.org or Facebook.
