The mission of the Long Beach Time Exchange is to build and strengthen relationships within the city of Long Beach by connecting people's unmet needs and untapped resources.

The goals of the Long Beach Time Exchange are to:

• Connect people to services by making services available for time credits.
• Connect people to people by cultivating reciprocity and interdependence amongst its members.
• Connect people to value through the recognition that all people have something to give, including work that is often unpaid or undervalued.

We envision a city where:

• Residents' assets - including their diverse backgrounds and experience - are recognized, valued, and nurtured.
• It is easy for residents to connect to each other through networks rooted in respect and trust.
• Residents share resources that both allow them to meet basic needs and to access their highest potential.
• Residents are empowered to affect and create structures and processes that encourage the growth and well being of themselves and Long Beach as a whole.

Core Values of Time Banking:

• Assets: Everyone is an asset. Each individual brings value to our community.
• Redefining work: Work that is often overlooked and undervalued relative to the market economy is valuable. Activities like providing companionship, child and elder care, and civic participation are important.
• Reciprocity: A one-way flow of resources is not sustainable. Helping works better as a two-way street.
• Social networks/community: No one should be isolated. We are stronger and healthier when we are connected to each other.
• Respect: We value diverse backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives and strive to meet people where they are.

Tampa Bay Time's Mission: To promote equality and build a caring, just and sustainable community-based economy through inclusive exchange of time and talent

Tampa Bay Time (TBT) is a community service exchange, also known as a “time bank,” a network of people and groups who are creating an economy of abundance for all by connecting untapped resources with unmet needs. The concept is simple. Members help a member or partner for an hour, earn an hour of credit and spend that credit on services offered by another participant. They document exchanges in this online database. Each hour of helping earns one TBT Hour, regardless of the activity. In short, all work is valued, and valued equally.

Individuals and groups that join Tampa Bay Time weave community one hour at a time, extending trust and reciprocity across social, economic, ethnic and linguistic lines. In the process we rebuild what economist Neva Goodwin calls the “core economy,” the unpaid work on which the market economy depends. TBT accounts have significant value, so we all agree to manage them with integrity, to issue time credits only for completed and otherwise unpaid work, and to use the TBT mission (above) and time banking’s five core values to guide all participation.

The Five Core Values that Guide All Participation and Decision Making

● Assets: Everyone is an asset: We all have something to give. ● Redefining Work: We redefine work to value whatever it takes to raise healthy children, build
strong families, care for elders, revitalize neighborhoods, make democracy work, advance social justice and make the planet sustainable. ● Reciprocity: Helping works better as a two-way street. ● Community: We need each other; networks are stronger than individuals. When people help each other, they reweave communities of support, strength and trust. ● Respect: Every human being matters. Respect for all means accountability to all. Community Partnerships, TBT & the Co-creation of Beneficial Results

Tampa Bay Time invites groups that are aligned with our mission and values to become partners and exchange services. By partnering, groups support each other’s operations, share resources, and increase community resilience. In the process of rewarding otherwise unpaid tasks, they also create jobs for TBT members who want work.

By liberating untapped resources, Tampa Bay Time Bank exchanges kick-start multiplier effects that ripple through communities. Every trade makes a two-sided contribution to a growing web of interconnections that bind people together & make everyone more secure, building resilience while reducing expenses for all.

For those interested learning more about the how time banks connect untapped resources with personal and community needs, we recommend a book by Dr. Edgar Cahn, the Father of Time Banking. It's No More Throwaway People: The Co-Production Imperative, and a limited number of copies are available for check-out.