It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Time-based currency. (Discuss) Proposed since March 2011.

Time banking is a pattern of reciprocal service exchange that uses units of time as currency. It is an example of an alternative monetary system. A time bank, also known as a service exchange, is a community that practices time banking. The unit of currency, always valued at an hour's worth of any person's labor, used by these groups has various names, but is generally known as a time dollar in the U.S. and a time credit in the U.K. Time banking is primarily used to provide incentives and rewards for work such as mentoring children, caring for the elderly, being neighborly—work usually done on a volunteer basis—which a pure market system devalues. Essentially, the "time" one spends providing these types of community services earns "time" that one can spend to receive services.^[1] As well as gaining credits, participating individuals, particularly those more used to being recipients in other parts of their lives, can potentially gain confidence,social contact and skills through giving to others. Communities therefore use time banking as a tool to forge stronger intra-community connections, a process known as "building social capital". Time banking had its intellectual genesis in the U.S. in the early 1980s.^[2] By 1990, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation had invested US $1.2 million to pilot time banking in the context of senior care. Today, 26 countries have active Time Banks. There are 250 Time Banks active in the U.K.^[3] and 53 officially recognized Time Banks in the U.S.^[4]

Origins and philosophy[link]

According to its creator, Edgar Cahn, time banking had its roots in a time when "money for social programs [had] dried up"^[5] and no dominant approach to social service in the U.S. was coming up with creative ways to solve the problem. He would later write that "Americans face at least three interlocking sets of problems: growing inequality in access by those at the bottom to the most basic goods and services; increasing social problems stemming from the need to rebuild family, neighborhood and community; and a growing disillusion with public programs designed to address these problems"^[6] and that "the crisis in support for efforts to address social problems stems directly from the failure of . . . piecemeal efforts to rebuild genuine community."^[7] In particular Cahn focused on the top-down attitude prevalent in social services. He believed that one of the major failings of many social service organizations was their unwillingness to enroll the help of those people they were trying to help.^[8] He called this a deficit based approach to social service, where organizations view the people they were trying to help only in terms of their needs, as opposed to an asset based approach, which focuses on the contributions towards their communities that everyone can make.^[9] He theorized that a system like time banking could "[rebuild] the infrastructure of trust and caring that can strengthen families and communities."^[7] He hoped that the system "would enable individuals and communities to become more self-sufficient, to insulate themselves from the vagaries of politics and to tap the capacity of individuals who were in effect being relegated to the scrap heap and dismissed as freeloaders."^[10]

As a philosophy, time banking also known as Time Trade^[11] is founded upon five principles, known as Time Banking's Core Values:^[12]

• Everyone is an asset,
• Some work is beyond a monetary price,
• Reciprocity in helping,
• Social networks are necessary,
• A respect for all human beings.

Ideally, time banking builds community. Time Bank members sometimes refer to this as a return to simpler times when the community was there for its individuals. An interview at a time bank in the Gorbals neighborhood of Glasgow revealed the following sentiment:

[the time bank] involves everybody coming together as a community . . . the Gorbals has never—not for a long time—had a lot of community spirit. A way back, years ago, it had a lot of community spirit, but now you see that in some areas, people won't even go to the chap next door for a some sugar . . . that's what I think the project's doing, trying to bring that back, that community sense . . .^[13]

Time banking and the time bank[link]

Time Bank members earn credit in Time Dollars for each hour they spend helping other members of the community. Services offered by members in Time Banks include: Child Care, Legal Assistance, Language Lessons, Home Repair, and Respite Care for caregivers, among other things.^[14] Time Dollars earned are then recorded at the Time Bank to be accessed when desired. A Time Bank can theoretically be as simple as a pad of paper, but the system was originally intended to take advantage of computer databases for record keeping.^[10] Some Time Banks employ a paid coordinator to keep track of transactions and to match requests for services with those who can provide them.^[15] In other Time Banks select a member or a group of members to handle these tasks.^[16] Various organizations provide specialized software to help local Time Banks manage exchanges. The same organizations also often offer consulting services, training, and other materials for individuals or organizations looking to start Time Banks of their own.^[17]

Example services offered by Time Bank members^[14]

The mission of an individual time bank influences exactly which services are offered. In some places, time banking is adopted as a means to strengthen the community as a whole. Other time banks are more oriented towards social service, systems change, and helping underprivileged groups. In some time banks, both are acknowledged goals.^[18]

The time dollar[link]

The time dollar is the fundamental unit of exchange in a time bank, equal to one hour of a person's labor. In traditional time banks, one hour of one person's time is equal to one hour of another's. Time dollars are earned for providing services and spent receiving services. Upon earning a Time Dollar, a person does not need to spend it right away: they can save it indefinitely. However, since the value of a Time Dollar is fixed at one hour, it resists inflation and does not earn interest. In these ways it is intentionally designed to differ from the traditional fiat currency used in most countries.^[19] Consequently, it does little good to hoard Time Dollars and, in practice, many time banks also encourage the donation of excess Time Dollars to a community pool which is then spent for those in need or on community events.

Criticisms[link]

Some criticisms of time banking have focused on the time dollar's inadequacies as a form of currency and as a market information mechanism. Frank Fisher of MIT predicted in the 80s that such a currency "would lead to the kind of distortion of market forces which had crippled Russia's economy."^[20] To this day, Time Banks in the U.S. must avoid setting any monetary worth on their Time Dollars, lest it become taxable income to the IRS.

Dr. Gill Seyfang's study of the Gorbals Time Bank—one of the few studies of time banking done by the academic community—listed several other non-theoretical problems with time banking. The first is the difficulty of communicating to potential members exactly what makes time banking different, or "getting people to understand the difference between Time Banking and traditional volunteering."^[21] She also notes that there is no guarantee that every person's needs will be provided for by a Time Bank by dint of the fact that the supply of certain skills may be lacking in a community.^[22]

One of the most stringent criticisms of Time Banking is its organizational sustainability. While some member-run Time Banks with relatively low overhead costs do exist,^[16] others pay a staff to keep the organization running. This can be quite expensive for smaller organizations and without a long-term source of funding, they may fold.^[23]

Time banking around the world[link]

Timebanking in the United Kingdom. In 1998 Martin Simon opened the first time bank in the UK in Stonehouse in Gloucestershire. There are now nearly 300 time banks in the UK involving over 20,000participants who have given and received over one milion hours of mutual support. See www.timebanking.org and www.freedomfavours.com

Elderplan[link]

Elderplan was a social HMO which incorporated Time Banking as a way to promote active, engaged lifestyles for its older members. Funding for the "social" part of social HMOs has since dried up and much of the program has been cut, but at its height, members were able to pay portions of their premiums in Time Dollars instead of hard currency.^[24] The idea was to encourage older people to become more engaged in their communities while also to ask for help more often and "[foster] dignity by allowing people to contribute services as well as receive them."^[25]

Gorbals time bank study[link]

In 2004, Dr. Gill Seyfang published a study in the Community Development Journal about the effects of a Time Bank located in the Gorbals area of Glasgow, Scotland, "an inner-city estate characterized by high levels of deprivation, poverty, unemployment, poor health and low educational attainment."^[26] The Gorbals Time Bank is run by a local charity with the intent to combat the social ills that face the region.^[22] Seyfang concluded that the Time Bank was effective at "building community capacity" and "promoting social inclusion."^[27] She highlights the Time Bank's success at "[re-stitching] the social fabric of the Gorbals."^[22] by "[boosting] engagement in existing projects and activities" in a variety of projects including a community safety network, a library, a healthy living project, and a theatre.^[22] She writes that "the time bank had enabled people to access help they otherwise would have had to do without," help which included home repair, gardening, a funeral, and tuition paid in Time Dollars to a continuing education course.^[28]

Rushey Green Time Bank[link]

Rushey Green Time Bank was the first time bank in the UK to be based in a health-care setting. It is the largest time bank in South East London and it has established a reputation for pioneering work in this field for 12 years. It is based in a medical centre – The Rushey Green Group Practice – in the borough of Lewisham, South East London. The time Bank operates in a specific catchment area defined by the Rushey Green Ward boundaries in Lewisham.

In 1999, in partnership with the New Economics Foundation, Dr Richard Byng at the Rushey Green Group Practice instigated the idea of the Time Bank. Dr Byng was convinced that increasing their contact with other people could help many of his patients who presented themselves with symptoms of depression and isolation. He also hoped to find a framework in which they could feel useful to society and needed by others. The Time Bank was piloted as an innovative way to promote wellbeing, health, social inclusion and social capital locally. Rushey Green Time Bank became a registered charity in 2004.

The Time Bank continues to be supported by the Rushey Green Group Practice which provides patient-centered holistic care for almost 10000 patients in Catford. Through joint projects between Rushey Green Time Bank and the Rushey Green Group Practice, time bank members can be actively involved in their own health care, and in the promotion of good health.

In recent times the Rushey Green Time Bank has received four awards:

• In 2007, the ‘Let’s do it’ award from the South London press and Barclays Bank
• The 2008 London Health Commission award for ‘Outstanding achievements in partnership with the NHS – activities that bring communities together to work with NHS staff to improve health and well-being’
• The 2008/09 City of London Sustainable City Award for ‘Access to goods and services for disadvantaged communities’
• In 2009, Dr Edgar Cahn’s Founder’s Award ‘For pioneers in enlisting the community to co-produce health and well being’.

Rushey Green Time Bank also hosts the 'Bring and Fix' initiative created by Philippe Granger under the London Leaders 2011 programme.^[29]

TidsNätverket i Bergsjön/Time Network in Bergsjön, Sweden[link]

TidsNätverket i Bergsjön (time network in Swedish), started in 2007 as the first organization in Sweden to use time banking for building and supporting social networks in Bergsjön/Gothenburg. Due to the Swedish tax law there are no service exchanges but a support structure to increase the amount of social activities and meeting places in the area. Members and participants get motivated to organize social activities together for each other. Time banking is used to visualize the time given and taken for activities.

See also[link]

• Community currency
• Alternative currency
• Private currency
• Social capital
• Time-based currency

Notes[link]

Constructs such as ibid., loc. cit. and idem are discouraged by Wikipedia's style guide for footnotes, as they are easily broken. Please improve this article by replacing them with named references (quick guide), or an abbreviated title. (July 2010)

External links[link]

• 65hours Time banking site – making time banking available to everyone

• TimeBanks USA Membership Directory

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Jon Snow
At the Channel 4 awards on 23 January 2008
Born	Jon Snow (1947-09-28) 28 September 1947 (age 64) Ardingly, Sussex, England
Ethnicity	English
Occupation	Journalist, television presenter
Notable credit(s)	Channel 4 News
Relatives	Peter Snow, Dan Snow

Jon Snow (born 28 September 1947) is an English journalist and presenter, currently employed by ITN. He is best known for presenting Channel 4 News.

He was Chancellor of Oxford Brookes University from 2001 to 2008.

Early life[link]

Snow was born in Ardingly, Sussex. He is the son of schoolmaster and Bishop of Whitby, George D'Oyly Snow, grandson of First World War general Thomas D'Oyly Snow (about whom he writes in his Foreword to Ronald Skirth's war memoir The Reluctant Tommy^[1]), and cousin of retired BBC television news presenter Peter Snow.^[2]

Education[link]

Snow was educated at independent school, Ardingly College, where his father was headmaster. He later attended the independent St Edward's School in Oxford. At age 18 he was for a year a VSO volunteer teaching in northern Uganda.^[3][4]

After mixed success in his first attempt to pass his A level qualifications he moved to the Yorkshire Coast College, Scarborough, where he later obtained the necessary qualifications to gain a place studying law at the University of Liverpool. However, he did not complete the degree, being rusticated for his part in a student protest. However he was awarded an honorary degree of Doctor of Letters at Liverpool University in 2011.^[5]

Life and career[link]

After leaving Liverpool, Snow worked for New Horizon Youth Centre, a day centre for homeless young people in central London - an organisation with which he has remained involved and of which he subsequently became chairman. Snow was an assistant to Lord Longford.^{[citation needed]}

Journalist[link]

Snow in June 2007.

He served as ITN's Washington correspondent (1983–1986) and as diplomatic editor (1986–1989)^[3] before becoming the main presenter of Channel 4 News in 1989. In 1992 he was the main anchor for ITN's Election Night programme, broadcast on ITV; he presented the programme alongside Sir Robin Day, Alastair Stewart, and Julia Somerville. (Previously ITN's programme had typically been presented by Sir Alastair Burnet, who left ITN in 1991. The 1992 election night programme was the only one hosted by Snow. He was replaced by Jonathan Dimbleby from 1997 onwards.) He has won several RTS Awards^[3] - two for reports from El Salvador, one for his reporting of the Kegworth air disaster, and two as "Presenter of the Year".^{[citation needed]}

In 2002 he returned to radio, presenting Jon Snow Reports on Oneword Radio, a weekly show and podcast. He wrote regular articles for the Channel 4 News website, and writes 'Snowmail' – a daily email newsletter on the big stories coming up on the evening edition of Channel 4 News.

He is known for his vast collection of colourful ties and socks.^[3][6]

On 14 June 2011, Snow presented the multiple award-winning investigative documentary Sri Lanka's Killing Fields, directed by Callum Macrae, which documented war crimes committed in the finals days of the Sri Lankan conflict in 2009. The program consisted of some of the most horrific footage ever broadcast in the UK; its second part, Sri Lanka's Killing Fields: War Crimes Unpunished was broadcast in March 2012.^[7]

Snow declined an OBE because he believes working journalists should not take honours from those that they report on.^[8][9]

Memorable incidents[link]

Whilst working as a journalist in Uganda he flew sitting next to president Idi Amin in the presidential jet. He has recounted how whilst Amin appeared to be asleep he thought seriously about taking Amin's revolver and shooting him dead, but was worried about the consequences of firing a loose round in a jet.^[10]

In 1976, Snow rejected an approach by the British intelligence services to spy on his colleagues. At first he was asked to supply information about the Communist Party, but he was then asked to spy on certain "left-wing people" working in television.^[8][11] In return he would have received secret monthly tax-free payments into his bank account, matching his then salary.^[12][13]

In 2003, at the height of the "dodgy dossier" affair, Alastair Campbell walked into the studio to rebut statements by the BBC. With no notes or preparation Snow questioned Campbell about the affair.^[14]

In 2004, Snow published an autobiography, Shooting History.

He refuses to wear any symbol which may represent his views on air; in the run up to Remembrance Day he condemned what he called 'Poppy Fascism' because "in the end there really must be more important things in life than whether a news presenter wears symbols on his lapels".^[15]

On 28 February 2008 Snow courted controversy by claiming that the silence of the British media on the decision to allow Prince Harry to fight in Afghanistan was unacceptable with the following statement:^[16] "I never thought I'd find myself saying thank God for Drudge. The infamous US blogger has broken the best kept editorial secret of recent times. Editors have been sworn to secrecy over Prince Harry being sent to fight in Afghanistan three months ago." These remarks provoked criticism from some members of the public and other media outlets,^[17] with some accusing Snow of wishing to undermine the safety of the Prince and his troops, and (according to Snow himself at the end of that day's bulletin, and later reported in the Daily Mail) one captain in the armed forces called Snow's actions "treason".^[18]

On 9 February 2009, Snow interviewed Lt-Col Yvonne Bradley, the military counsel for Binyam Mohamed, a British resident detained for five years at Guantanamo Bay. Snow asked if Mohamed's allegations of torture were justified. Lt-Col Bradley said there was no doubt at all that he had been tortured.^{[citation needed]} Mohamed was released and returned to Britain on 23 February 2009. In November 2010 Snow was sent to Haiti to report on the cholera outbreak.^{[citation needed]}

Personal life[link]

Snow was briefly engaged in 1979 to fellow ITN journalist Anna Ford, who later became an equally high profile television news presenter.^[4] For 35 years his partner was human rights lawyer Madeleine Colvin, with whom he has two daughters.^[4] In March 2010 he married Precious Lunga, a ­Zimbabwe-born academic.^[19]

He was a school governor for many years at Brecknock Primary School, Camden, London.^[20]

Affiliations[link]

• Trustee of the National Gallery and Tate Gallery from 1999 to 2008.^[21][22]

• Chancellor of Oxford Brookes University from 2001 to 2008, regularly attending ceremonial events at the University. In 2009 he was awarded an honorary degree by Oxford Brookes - Doctor of the University.^[23]

• Honorary professor and guest lecturer on Stirling University's Film & Media Studies course.^[24]

• Honorary Fellow (since 15 February 2006) of the Royal Institute of British Architects, an annually-conferred lifetime honour which allows the recipient to use the initials Hon FRIBA after his or her surname.^[25] Snow has an honorary degree from Aberdeen University, in recognition of his services to broadcasting.

• Chairman of the Prison Reform Trust from 1992 to 1997.^[3]

• President of the Cyclists' Touring Club in January 2007, succeeding Phil Liggett.^[26]

• Patron of Reprieve, a legal action charity which uses the law to enforce the human rights of prisoners, from death row to Guantánamo Bay.^[27]

• Patron of the African Prisons Project, an international non-governmental organisation with a mission to bring dignity and hope to men women and children in African prisons through health, education, justice and reintegration.^[28]

• Patron of Media Legal Defence Initiative, a UK-based charity that provides legal support to journalists and media outlets.^[29]

• Patron of the tree planting charity Trees for Cities.^[30]

• Patron of The DIPEx Charity, a UK-based charity that produces two health websites, Healthtalkonline^[31] and Youthhealthtalk,^[32] featuring people's real life experiences of health and illness.^[33]

Bibliography[link]

Snow published his autobiographical work, Shooting History, in 2004. The book was published by Harper Perennial and details Snow's life from his childhood, up to the 2003 invasion of Iraq.^[34]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Jon Snow's Blog on the Channel 4 News web site
• Jon Snow on Twitter
• Snowmail Jon Snow's daily email newsletter
• Jon Snow on the Impact of New Media at IIEA, 4 September 2009