> for your world
Our society’s problems lead to a tragic loss of human potential. More children are going into foster care than ever before. More children come home from school to an empty house, cope with drugs, cross the line into delinquency, and go to schools that lose 40% of those who enter.
The problems don’t end when they grow up. As adults, these children face constantly shifting job markets, difficulties earning a living wage, unemployment, a shortage of affordable housing and health care. Minorities are the targets of racism and discrimination as well.
At the other end of the age spectrum, senior citizens face the loss of a useful role, loneliness, the cost of health care they need to handle the increasing health care needs that aging brings. Our societal inability to tap their wisdom and their experience deprives their final decades of joy.
> Principles That Hold Our Society Together
Time Banking offers a new way out of these problems and a set of principles for addressing social challenges like these.
Time Banking can change the world we live in by changing the way the public sector addresses the deep social problems our society still faces. Children, minorities in poverty, and the elderly are especially hard hit. In these and other areas of social need, Time Banking offers a powerful new approach for social and systems change.
five core values to instill change
The strength of the Time Banking approach to system change is based in the principles of our Five Core Values and the understanding that we must enlist and engage the people we are trying to help in every step of the process.
> assets . redefining work . reciprocity . social networks . respect
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> assets
We are all assets. Every human being has something to contribute.
From a social justice perspective that means... No more throw away people.
We cannot overlook the unique skills and talents that each of has to offer others.
Clients are essential to community building—they are assets, not problems we can fix. One of the major goals of Time Banking is to reduce the dependency that characterizes the relationship between paid professionals and their clients.
- Time Dollars reward clients who contribute and co-produce positive outcomes that serve them.
- Active and engaged Time Bank members provide back-up and support for overloaded professionals.
- Time Banking transforms clients into co-workers who are helping to remedy social problems.
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> redefining work
Some work is beyond price. Work has to be redefined to value whatever it takes to raise healthy children, build strong families, revitalize neighborhoods, make democracy work, advance social justice, make the planet sustainable. That kind of work needs to be honored, recorded and rewarded.
From a social justice perspective that means...
The subordination, discrimination and exploitation of women, children, families, and immigrants are unacceptable. The health of our society and economy relies on their critical contributions and we cannot take them for granted.
The contributions of clients counts as real work. Their skills and talents can help reshape the communities we live in and strengthen the functions of the Core Economy.
- Time Bank members provide child care and transportation back-up for other members who are working. This, in turn, can help reduce employee absenteeism and stabilize employment situations.
- Time Banks help build occupational, employment, and income ladders. Monthly Time Bank statements provide a work record and references for job seekers.
- Time Bank members can deliver aftercare services in the case of hospital discharge or chronic illness.
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> reciprocity
Helping works better as a two-way street.
The question: “How can I help you?” needs to change so we ask:
“How can we help each other build the world we both will live in?”
From a social justice perspective that means...
Stop fostering dependencies and creating victims. Stop telling the people who are in need of help that “you have nothing we need, want or value.”
We must transform the relationship between service providers and clients. Instead of treating clients as recipients, we must engage them as participants in systems of mutual contribution and reciprocal partnership.
- Time Banks enlist clients as co-producers of their own welfare. This, in turn, enhances self-esteem and reduces no-shows for appointments or failure to follow through with treatment or rehabilitation.
- Payment or co-payment in Time Dollars turns clients into “paying customers.”
- Time Banks help counter criticism that funding for the disadvantaged is contributing to the establishment of a “welfare class.”
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> social networks
We need each other.
Networks are stronger than individuals. People helping each other reweave communities of support, strength & trust. Community is built upon sinking roots, building trust, creating networks. Special relationships are built on commitment.
From a social justice perspective that means...
No more disinvesting in families, neighborhoods and communities.
The trust, sharing and mutual support of our social networks are essential elements of healthy communities and healthy individuals.
- The relationships and social events of the support system reduce loneliness and isolation.
- Time Banking provides an informal support system for fragile families, the disabled, and clients who are coping with an illness.
- Involving clients who are frequently disproportionately non-white empowers disenfranchised groups. Time Dollars reward clients for civic engagement, countering apathy and reducing alienation.
- Clients also form a constituency that can speak up on behalf of programs.
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> respect
Every human being matters. Respect underlies freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and everything we value. Respect supplies the heart and soul of democracy. When respect is denied to anyone, we all are injured. We must respect where people are in the moment, not where we hope they will be at some future point.
From a social justice perspective that means...
Every human being is a miracle. Each of us is entitled to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. We must extend our respect to those who are developmentally challenged, to those of different cultures, to those of different ages and genders, to everyone willing to give of their time on this planet so as to leave the kind of world we would want for our children.
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in summary...
Put into action, the Five Core Values transform the way social service agencies and programs achieve their mission.
Time Banks supply critical elements that support achievement of program outcomes, transform the relationship between clients and helping professionals, effect system change, and advance social justice.
