[vimeo 19407702 w=400 h=300]

The Health Class: Dr. Ted Norris interviews Sheila Gordy, Austin Time Exchange on Vimeo.

Unfortunately, I haven’t blogged much on my experience at the US Social Forum. in short, it was great and I recommend attending any one you can get to. Hopefully Iĺl follow up on that statement. I have multiple social interests, so my time was divided. I also attended as part of a family vacation, so my attention was divided.

I took part in a workshop on Solidarity Economy. There were representatives from the US, Canada and Peru speaking about very active programs. Canada and Peru
have very developed programs worth learning about.

There are about 844,000 BerkShares in circulation, worth $759,600 at the fixed exchange rate of 1 BerkShare to 90 U.S. cents, according to program organizers. The paper scrip is available in denominations of one, five, 10, 20 and 50.

In their 10 months of circulation, they’ve become a regular feature of the local economy. Businesses that accept BerkShares treat them interchangeably with dollars: a $1 cup of coffee sells for 1 BerkShare, a 10 percent discount for people paying in BerkShares.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070619/lf_nm/usa_economy_berkshares_dc

PRI’s “The World” ran a great story on a Time Bank experience in Barcelona.

The World’s Gerry Hadden reports that a barter system is catching on in Barcelona, Spain. People register with what’s called a time bank to trade services. They might teach a language or do home repairs. The hours they work become time bank credits they can spend. Time banking saves people cash. And for many, it provides a sense of community.

Austin Time Exchange 1st Anniversary Celebration

Please come celebrate with us!!! You are invited to attend an event marking the 1st anniversary of the Austin Time Exchange.

On Sunday, June 3rd from 6pm-9pm, we will be hosting a gathering at Monkey Wrench Books. We will be enjoying beer and light refreshments from 6pm-8pm and will be screening the documentary, “The Power of Community – How Cuba Survived Peak Oil” at sunset. You can view more information on the film at http://www.communitysolution.org/cuba.html . A pay what you can donation is suggested to help cover the cost of the refreshments. Additional funds collected will help cover ATEN operational costs. This is a family friendly event.

Economia Solidária

I have trouble blogging frequently because I use to write fully researched articles and was called a journalist before bloggers came along.

Instead of infrequency, I think I’ll settle for short bursts like others do. This time, I’ll point out the remembrance that I understand Spanish and Portuguese. I often enjoy story that aren’t all over Slashdot, because they are all over barrapunto.com (the Spanish Slashdot). At some point a week ago, I ran into a Brazilian page, which led to Spanish pages. Outside of Venezuela, where Hugo Chavez is personally promoting community currencies, there is a very large community of people dealing in various kinds of social currencies. Some of them from banks dealing in national money as well.

Austin Time Exchange
http://www.austintimeexchange.org
These are the dates for upcoming Time Exchange orientations.

Orientation Dates

Tuesday, May 8th at 7:00pm — Ventana del Soul Cultural Center, 1834 E. Oltorf

Saturday, May. 12th at 11:30am — Terrazas Branch Library, 1105 E. Cesar Chavez St.

Monday, June 4th at 7:00pm — Terrazas Branch Library, 1105 E. Cesar Chavez St.

Tuesday, June 12th at 7:00pm — Ventana del Soul Cultural Center, 1834 E. Oltorf

Monday, July 2nd at 7:00pm — Terrazas Branch Library, 1105 E. Cesar Chavez St.

Participants earn time to receive services for their work building open source software to benefit the nonprofit community.

(Austin, TX) The Austin Time Exchange Network (ATEN) helps people trade an hour of work for another hour of work within a community. Instead of bartering between just two people and placing different values on the service, our network allows equal sharing of an hour for an hour within the whole community.