Older News & Events
December 2001
Opt 4 IT � a time bank for peer tutors in schools
Opt 4 IT uses the idea of time banking in a school with older pupils who
share their time tutoring younger pupils. Based on a project in Chicago called
the Time Dollar Cross Age Peer Tutoring Program, it is the first time in the
UK that the idea has been adapted to suit the British education system.
Three schools in Tower Hamlets will be leading the work over a two-year
period.
Older pupils (peer tutors) learn how to tutor others, and help younger
pupils with Numeracy and Study Skills, and later on English and Science, using
specially designed learning materials. Activities take place in school out of
school hours, for 1.5 hours a week, over 20 weeks. Peer tutors earn time
credits for the time that they spend tutoring younger pupils. When they reach
a target number of time credits they receive a refurbished computer. A school
coordinator in each school manages the project.
In particular the project wants to find out:
- Does peer tutoring improve grades for the peer tutor and tutee?
- Does it have an effect on attendance of participants?
- Does it influence the general well-being and behaviour of participants?
Peer tutors were trained in November 2001 and tutoring has now started. The
project will be evolving over the next eighteen months and learning will be
disseminated in a handbook.
Opt 4 IT is managed by the Community Education Development Centre (CEDC) in
partnership with the New Economics Foundation (NEF), Mulberry, Oaklands and
Morpeth Schools and is funded by the SHINE Trust (Support and Help in
Education).
For more information email
[email protected]
tutor looking at materials
~ ~ ~
read
a review of the Time Banks UK conference by Jeremy Wilson of Fair Shares,
Gloucester (6kb PDF file)
Time Banks Training in 2002
If you�d like to find out how to set up and run a time bank we�re holding
four 2-day training events in 2002. It will equip you with all you need to
know about running a community time bank. The training is free.
- Sheffield 11 and 18 January 2002
- London 25 January and 1 February
- Gloucester 5 and 12 February
- Newcastle 19 and 20 February
For more information or to book a place contact Martin Simon at Fair Shares
on 0870 702 7428 or email
[email protected]
October 2001
Co-producing Success the Time Banks way
Time Banks UK's conference 'It's about time' on 2 and 3 October was a major
success. Over 170 participants attended workshops and discussions with
speakers from the US, UK and Eastern Europe.
The conference pushed the boundaries of complementary currencies into new
areas, looking at issues such as how time banks can work with businesses, how
to co-produce services such as health provision, and using refurbished
computers and time credits to improve educational attainment in schools. A
conference report will be available shortly - contact Time Banks UK for more
details.
September 2001
Time Banks: a radical manifesto for the UK
By David Boyle, associate, the New Economics Foundation
This manifesto shows how time banking can evolutionise our public services,
build employability and tackle crime. Its packed full of examples of how time
banks are making a difference in the US and UK - in David's usual succinct and
easy to read style.
Download the manifesto (79kb PDF file)
August 2001
London Time Bank Launch
The London Time Bank was launched on the 24th July at the Angell Town time
bank on the Angell Town Estate in Lambeth. London's Deputy Mayor, Nicky Gavron
was at the launch of this ambitious new programme for London, along with
estate residents and time bank members from projects across London.
Nicky Gavron (left) Deputy Mayor of London and
Ann Shine (Angell Town time broker) cut the cake at the London Time Bank
launch
The London Time Bank will help develop a major social infrastructure that
measures and supports the kind of volunteering in the capital city where
neighbour helps neighbour. It will:
- Provide an infrastructure that links together a network of time banks
across London.
- Set up three core time banks, all in south east London.
- Support, encourage and evaluate other time banks across the capital.
- Work with service providers and communities to help put them put local
people at the heart of local services.
- Set up a website
www.londontimebank.org.uk where people can check their time �earnings�
online and eventually to spend it on training, IT equipment, surplus or
recycled furniture and other services.
- Provide an online infrastructure that other mutual schemes can use,
enabling car swapping, skill swapping or other similar schemes, using time
credits as the counting system.
- Provide a network that can make employee volunteering in London go
further. In the USA, pro bono legal firms have offered their services to
communities and charged in time credits. These make their efforts go further
because they are paid back in time by the community � not to the company �
but to each other.
For more information contact:
e-mail:
[email protected]
telephone: 020 7089 2859
post: London Time Bank, c/o New Economics Foundation, Cinnamon House, 6-8 Cole
Street, London SE1 4YH
May 2001
Skill Swap initiative gets going in Leicester and Rutland
Two pilot projects looking at how skills can be exchanged using a time-
based currency have just been launched in the urban and rural settings of
Leicester and Rutland. Supported by the Tudor Trust, the two year pilots will
enable participants to learn a new skill, where they might normally be
excluded by the timing or cost of a conventional course. It also allows
participants to use their knowledge in exchange for a new skill. By promoting
peer training, skill swaps empower participants to teach and learn in a
conducive environment that encourages lifelong learning.
The project aims to facilitate skills exchanges between individuals, small
and large organisations.
The scheme runs on credits earned by offering training and can be spent on
learning or making use of other skills. They can also be used to access work
experience in companies in the wider community.
One training credit is equivalent to one hour of tuition.
A broker identifies an individual�s skills and learning preferences. They
match participants with compatible needs, record exchanges, and provide
ongoing support.
The scheme is part of the emerging new economy which develops new kinds of
currency, valuing the skills and knowledge people already have by sharing it
with each other.
January 2001
Gorbals Initiative launches first Scottish time bank
A ceilidh launched the first Scottish time bank with a swing in December
2000. Colin McGowan, Time Bank co-ordinator, plans to promote the scheme from
local leisure, health and community centres. As well as running the scheme he
has signed up to give guitar lessons.
15 people have joined the scheme, and transactions have taken place in the
local time currency, Liptons. The Gorbals Initiative is an organisational
member of the time bank. It paid the 1 Lipton fee for its employees to attend
the ceilidh, and will continue to support its employees involvement in
community activities in the future.
Other groups in Scotland are eagerly watching the new time bank�s
development.
December 2000
Time banking is piloted as part of regeneration of Elephant & Castle
Local people�s participation is vital to regeneration � but too often the
time they put in, attending meetings and getting people involved goes
unrecognised and unvalued.
A recent time bank pilot in Southwark as part of the Elephant Links SRB has
taken a new approach by offering local people the opportunity to get their
time back. Developed jointly by Charterhouse in Southwark and the New
Economics Foundation, the pilot took a mobile approach and recruited members
through regular sessions at community centres, drop ins and at the local
health centre.
Over 42 members were recruited, including women from the local Bengali
community group. Members took part in group activities � sharing meals, bingo
and running healthy eating demonstrations, as well as helping each other with
shopping and errands and even going swimming together.
As one NW Southwark time bank member said: "I see that I can do
something to please and to help others � even to make someone laugh."
A full time bank project is planned for 2001, including placing time
brokers (the people who link up members offer and wants, and keep track of
members time account) on local estates, and making fresh food and vegetables
available through the time bank.
September 2000
Angell Town to pilot computer reuse for London Time Bank
A new time bank initiative in SW London is due to spearhead time exchanges
for recycled goods. Angell Town Community Project, in partnership with
Cybercycle, a computer reuse charity, and the New Economics Foundation, will
be setting up a time bank that will enable local people to trade their time
credits for a refurbished computer. Young people will be able to earn time
credits by Djing, teaching younger kids to play football and by organising a
party for older people. They will be able to spend their credits on a recycled
computer. The scheme will be open to time bank members of any age.
Angell Town is one of three time banks that will form the core of the
London Time Bank, future vision of the New Economics Foundation. Rushey Green
(based in a health centre) and Southwark will also develop and explore the
concept of time exchanges in the capital. The London Time Bank aims to
stimulate the growth of time banks in the metropolis, and to network them
together through a shared website. This will enable transactions to be entered
online on a regional basis.