Learning for Change: Storytelling on Timebanking

Exploring the value of elders within the community

Great start to the storytelling session at the table with Barbara Huston telling the story of her mission-led time bank ‘Partners-in-Care’, which, in her own words ‘never quite fit into any existing network’ but developed, rather, by staying true to its mission, core values and reciprocity model of circular service exchange. Partners-in-Care was co-founded by three women, all with aging parents and all concerned to help them age ‘in situ’ in their own homes and communities, living for as long as possible outside care homes and institutions. We learned how, inspired by an article in the Christian Science Monitor about active people staying healthier longer, the three co-founders set about finding how they could showcase the value of older adults as active members of community.

Reciprocity at the core

At that time, the mid 1990s, the Robert Woods Johnson (RWJ) Foundation had a programme exploring the idea of Service Credit Exchange. In the US, service credit exchange using time as a unit of account had originally been developed by residents of Grace Hill, a poor neighbourhood of St. Louis, Missouri. It involved reciprocal service exchange among members of a network of community members that enabled circular, rather than one-to-one, service exchanges. The community used time spent giving or receiving services as a way to value and track exchanges. The idea had been picked up by the RWJ Foundation and was being promoted also by the Time Dollar Institute. The three co-founders of Partners-in-Care saw potential in a reciprocity-based service exchange model to advance their mission. They were further inspired by the work of Polly Wiessner, a researcher at the University of Utah, who had been researching reciprocity among members of tribal communities in Papua New Guinea. The three decided to place reciprocity at the centre of their work.

Building knowledge and networks

They originally approached the RWJ Foundation with their idea. In Barbara’s words they were “just three women with a mission and an idea” and they knew little about the world of big foundations like RWJ. They were at far too early a stage in developing their ideas for RWJ to fund them, but those at the Foundation listened to what they had to say and took their ideas seriously. RWJ gave, not a grant, but a list of its grantees. This started the three co-founders on a trail, visiting the grantee organisations and learning about what needs they served and about what gaps remained still to be filled. They went to the Department of Aging and to large hospitals to find out more about the needs of older people and the challenges they face staying in community. Through these organisations they were referred to others and gradually they built up their knowledge and their networks.

The beginning: a trusting partner in transport service

The Department of Aging highlighted that an obstacle to older people living in community is their access to transport and that getting to and from doctor and hospital appointments especially is a critical unmet need. One of the hospitals they’d visited expressed interested if they could provide transport services for out-patients, but it couldn’t give them a grant. It would, however, provide them with physical space and support within the hospital building. This was enough for the three co-founders to apply for a Challenge Grant. The terms of the grant required proposers to find matching funds or, as proved critical in this case, in-kind matching contribution. What the hospital was offering made the fledgling Partners-in-Care eligible for challenge grant funding. Partners-in-Care was able to start up its operations, initially drawing on the time of the three co-founders, their family members and some friends (altogether 13 people) offering and organising rides and ride sharing to elderly patients needing to get to and from the hospital. Gradually, the more active elderly and other members of the Partners-in-Care time bank community became ride-givers and the transport service was underway.

Expanding the range of services

Partners-in-Care gradually expanded to other service areas, always asking: what services do people need; what services can people offer; and what partner organisations can we work with? Home maintenance, small repairs and a handyman service was the next to be added. This was another core need of the less able elderly living at home, but their needs could be met by the more active elderly and others within the time bank. United Way, a charitable foundation that had a housing project was willing to fund a repair service if Partners-in-Care could offer one. In such ways, Partners-in-Care started to grow its service offers and its network of partners and funders. Barbara explained that: “Partners don’t necessarily understand or need to understand reciprocity – but if you can fill a gap and do so in a way that costs very little, you’re interesting for them”.

The breakthrough

A breakthrough moment for Partners-in-Care was when a local thrift store was closing down and the organization was offered the chance to take it over. This offered a way for older people to contribute by offering their unwanted goods, by helping sort, restore or upgrade these, and by working in stocks or sales in the boutique. The boutique also provided a focal point – a physical building and space – that gave visibility to the activities of the time bank, making its activities and impact very transparent to the wider community and to other potential partners. It became a place for older people to come together and socialise with each other and with the community at large.

Partners-in-Care operates on an asset-based approach: everyone has something to contribute. Older members unable to be active in the boutique, home repair or offering lifts can earn hours by phoning each other to make sure no one is lonely, left out or overlooked. They are also its most powerful advocates, phoning relevant agencies and grant givers about the services they receive from Partners-in-Care and how important these are for them.

Mission-driven

Partners-in-Care is ‘mission-driven’ and, while at the outset, Barbara and her co-founders made contact with the Time Dollar Institute that was involved in initiatives to grow the Time Dollar network of time banks in the US, they “bumped up” against what Barbara terms “the mission problem”. The Time Dollar Institute and later TBUSA were promoting “a tool”. By contrast, Partners-in-Care is “mission driven”. Partners-in-Care uses whatever tools and mechanisms are helpful in realising its mission. There’s an important lesson here. Partners-in-Care is among the most successful and most enduring time banks in the US and to large extent this is because it has maintained focus on its mission and made that and the principle of reciprocity central to its operations and governance.

Further information from: pweaver.groundswell@gmail.com