Building the Strength of Local Community Through Time Bank Exchanges

A time bank is a community exchange system that rewards informal volunteering by depositing an hour for each hour of service and then these hours can be used to access other services available within the system. While the time bank is a community resource that provides goods and services, time bankers affirm more intangible benefits such as intergenerational exchanges of valuable skills and supporting vulnerable members of the community. One valuable outcome of the time bank is that it documents many of the often hidden talents and skills that exist in the community. The time bank leverages the distributed knowledge of its members to expand connections and exchanges with other community organizations such as local nonprofits, government agencies, and schools. Despite these benefits, the time bank is a new social space and, at times, competing social constructions decrease the power of the institution to strengthen the local community.

Citation:

Lucie Ozanne and Julie Ozanne (2011) ,"Building the Strength of Local Community Through Time Bank Exchanges", in E - European Advances in Consumer Research Volume 9, eds. Alan Bradshaw, Chris Hackley, and Pauline Maclaran, Duluth, MN : Association for Consumer Research, Pages: 7.