On a mild summer day in Lake County, Renee Geare and her daughter harvest kale and collard greens at an organic farm south of Lakeport, accruing credits they can deposit in a different type of bank.
Read More: http://www.pressdemocrat.com/news/local/2206258-181/lake-county-time-bank-allows

On June 28th, California took a significant step toward further legitimizing the creation and circulation of community currencies and other innovative means of exchange. Signed into law by Gov. Brown, the California Alternative Currencies Act (AB 129) repeals the outdated and vague Section 107 of the California Corporations Code, thus removing a significant legal barrier to the continued growth of the community currencies movement.


Read more here: http://www.theselc.org/gov_brown_approves_ca_alternative_currencies_act

LA Time Banks Create Small Business Loan Fund
Shareable.com
By Cat Johnson
March 11th, 2014

http://www.shareable.net/blog/la-time-banks-create-small-business-loan-fund

The Louisville TimeBank was featured on ABC News with Diane Sawyer. Watch the story here,

The Sustainable Economies Law Center and Shareable released the first ever policy brief of its kind, called Policies for Shareable Cities: A Sharing Economy Policy Primer for Urban Leaders. It details 32 specific policy steps that local leaders can take to benefit from the growing sharing economy and support innovations such as carsharing, ridesharing, cohousing, cooperatives, and urban agriculture. Click here for the press release.

Click here to read the Shareable Cities Policy Brief


This is just the beginning. We need your support to get these policy solutions into the hands of policymakers everywhere. Help support SELC’s work for shareable cities and make a tax-deductible donation now. Let’s leverage this opportunity to make Policies for Shareable Cities a solutions manual for every city, and grow our work for 2014. Show your support.

After the Jobs Disappear by By JULIET B. SCHOR
Published: October 14, 2013
New York Times

As jobs disappear, people have begun to carve out new ways to gain access to income, goods and services. This is evident not only in the “makerspaces,” but also in what has come to be called the “sharing economy,” which encompasses activities as diverse as car-pooling, ride-sharing, opening one’s home to strangers via Web-based services like Couchsurfing or Airbnb, sharing office space and working in community gardens and food co-ops.  Read full article...

Join us for an exciting event in Los Angeles with local currency pioneer, Paul Glover founder of Ithaca HOURS, a successful local paper currency in Ithaca NY. Launched in 1991, Ithaca Hours promote local economic strength and community self-reliance by keeping the wealth circulating within the region. http://www.paulglover.org/

Paul is also author of, Los Angles: A History of the Future. Available for free on-line http://www.issuu.com/metroeco/docs/lahof Originally published in 1982, Los Angeles: A History of the Future envisions a permaculture city that is ecologically stable and locally managed on a human scale.

Bio: Paul Glover is founder of 18 organizations and campaigns, including Ithaca HOURS local currency, Citizen Planners of Los Angeles, Health Democracy, the Philadelphia Orchard Project (POP), and the League of Uninsured Voters (LUV). He is author of six books on grassroots economies, and a former professor of urban studies at Temple University. He also consults as Greenplanners.

Don’t miss this great opportunity to learn about how we can rebuild the economy together!

Date: Sunday, October 6th, 2013
Time: Potluck from 6-7PM talk from 7-8:30PM
Location: Armory Center for the Arts 145 North Raymond Avenue Pasadena, California 91103 http://www.armoryarts.org/
Off the Gold Line, Memorial Park stop.
Entry: $5 for Time Bank members $10 for non-members. No one will be turned away for lack of funds. Proceeds go towards Paul's travel expenses and the Time Bank Community Revolving Loan Fund.
http://www.asntb.com/revolving-loan-fund.html
Purchase tickets at the door or at this link:  http://paulglover.bpt.me
Details: The potluck is a zero waste event. Please bring your own plate, cup and utensil. Carpooling encouraged.

Special thanks to The Metabolic Studio, CRSP,  The L.A. Eco Village and the Armory Center for the Arts!

*Paul will also be speaking at the L.A. Eco Village on Friday, Oct 4th at 7:30PM. http://laecovillage.org/2013/09/12/paul-glover-author-activist-founder-gives-a-public-talk-at-l-a-eco-village-friday-october-4-2013-at-730pm/

In August I traveled to New York and visited the Community Connections TimeBank headquarters in mid-town Manhattan. Launched in December of 2006 the Community Connections TimeBank is sponsored by the Visiting Nurses Service of New York, the largest non-profit home care agency in the US. The TimeBank boast over 2000 members and has the most diverse membership than any other TimeBank in the country. All the members call in their exchanges and a coordinator records them in a database. They have a large staff including outreach coordinators who speak Mandarin, Cantonese and Spanish. They cover several neighborhoods in Manhattan and the five boroughs and offer their members discounts at local business as a perk to membership. All of it is managed by Mashi Blech (middle, pictured fifth from the left) a pioneer in the TimeBanking movement and a very wise and knowledgeable woman... she also makes a mean chicken parmesan.  Her collaborator Ana Miyares was not there that day but she was missed. Ana spent many hours consulting our TimeBank back in 2008 and we owe her a debt of gratitude for her patience and kind advice. If you happen to visit New York, stop by and meet the Community Connections TimeBank. They are doing incredible work!  ~ Autumn Rooney

The Long Beach time Exchange turns three this year! Check out this great article about them in the Press Telegram.

http://www.presstelegram.com/business/20130908/long-beach-time-banking-community-celebrates-three-years-growing-membership