 Our exchange Portland creates an alternative economy of neighbors helping neighbors who exchange cash and tax-free services Coordinator Orion Breen talked with Tom about an upcoming event designed to show you how to get what you need using the currency of time Orion thanks for joining us, which you do anyway every day since you're right here at CTN's Yes, I work with our exchange Portland. We share office space with CTN It's a great collaboration. Yes. We've been here for a couple of years now. It's great But if anybody doesn't know what our exchange is there's a talk coming up pretty soon about what the whole idea of time banking is Do you want to run down on that? Yeah on Thursday, May 31st at 2 p.m. at local Sprouts Cafe, which is part of the local Sprouts cooperative a worker-owned cooperative on 649 Congress Street There is a talk Called empowering economics how worker-owned cooperatives and time banks Use equality to build reward labor and build community So our exchange Portland is a community service exchange of neighbors helping neighbors. So you May offer video and get a haircut or get a massage You help a neighbor for an hour and then they help you for an hour and everybody's time is equal It doesn't matter if your doctor a lawyer if you moan an old ladies lawn. Everybody's time is equal. It's a way to For people to share their resources Get to know each other rebuild that community that's often lost in today's fast-paced modern world And it's all cash-free and tax-free and based on the idea of equality to everyone in their time is equal Now our exchange sort of walks the walk in a way because when you first moved in here There was a large staff But now you're the coordinator and we see a lot of our exchange members Coming in doing the work and also there's more members on the board right now. Yes, we are we are Becoming even more grassroots and bottom-up organizations saying, you know We're not going to be top-heavy top-down telling having a Small group people Controlling a large group people we want the large group of people to have owner ownership in what they're doing and how they want to Our exchange pulling to run how they want their community run and that's kind of the same idea of Jonah furtig of local Sprouts is going to be part of the talk and talking about this model of workers being rewarded fairly for their work and having a buy-in to the business that they're working for and We also have sociology usm sociology professor Ed column is going to be talking He's done research of time banks all across the country and local currencies And it's coming out with a book this August from Ashgate Press. So It's gonna be you know, there'll be some food there You'll get to see this work your own cooperative in action and learn about our exchange Portland and also have a Q&A and get your Get your own ideas out there of how can we make Portland more? More empowering the economics important more empowering have a great buy local campaign There's a new alternative economics form starting. We have You know Portland is known as kind of a mini capital of this This new idea of transitioning to this new economics that that is rewarding fairness as opposed to just The old way of thinking which isn't really working right now. You have tons of work that needs to be done but People can't get paid to do it. You know the the current system is kind of broken and people are unemployed or Underemployed and how can we? re-engage people Into a different way of thinking a different way of living and and and value all the resources and all the people we have in our Community and Colin's also on your board of directors, too. He's been on there for a while and you're a New dad you have a family. Yes, how do you use that? How do you use time dollars yourself? I use our exchange Portland now than I ever have done because When my wife got pregnant She went to see a chiropractor through our exchange Portland. We got we paid for part of our birth roots classes Through our exchange Portland We got food after the baby was born through our exchange Portland. We paid our midwife part in time credits through our exchange Portland, so People use this in all walks of life in all periods of their life and so every big point in In your life our exchange Portland can be there for you. It's all about Community and neighbors helping neighbors now people want more information about our exchange or the talk You have some contact information. Yes, they can check out our exchange Portland org or Our Facebook page has more info or they can call 619-4437. All right, great Let's stop by here, too. Exactly. Just stop by 516 Congress Street. Great. Well, thanks for joining us. Thank you