Whittier Time Bank Joins
Catalyst Network of Communities
To Affect Positive Change
In The Greater Whittier Area

Upcoming Projects Include New Whittier Free Store
(Summer 2015)

WHITTIER, CA – Whittier Time Bank has joined with Catalyst Network of Communities, a 501c3 nonprofit social impact organization. Both organizations share common goals in achieving positive change through social justice, sustainability, and community-building initiatives. In recent years, Whittier Time Bank has expanded into a variety of activities beyond its core neighborly skill-sharing time bank project. These projects, which include skill building workshops, local food projects, a community newsletter, leadership training, and the Whittier Free Store (coming Summer 2015), are now initiatives under the Catalyst umbrella. This move, where the two organizations have combined forces, is part of a bigger trend throughout the region, where small like-minded community initiatives are growing stronger by collaborating and connecting with each other. For additional information on Catalyst, please see www.GoCatalyst.org.

Students learn pickling techniques from Master Food Preservers at
The Whole Place in Whittier.
(photo credit: Scott Rubel) 

“The Time Bank joining Catalyst makes perfect sense. We both facilitate sharing for positive community change,” says Catalyst Regional Director Megan Hobza, who founded Whittier Time Bank in 2010. “Now, Catalyst has expanded its reach beyond Long Beach into the Whittier region. We benefit from their guidance and organizational support, and they benefit from our programming and energy. Together, we are greater than the sum of our parts.”

The time bank’s relationship with Catalyst is just one of many new agreements to collaborate between common cause organizations in the Whittier region and beyond. Trade School LA, the Los Angeles chapter of an alternative international volunteer-operated school that runs on barter, is also now collaborating on classes in partnership with Whittier Time Bank. The first class co-presented by the two organizations was a marketing class for artists and activists, taught by Green Galactic’s Charlene Boehne and Lynn Tejada, in March 2015, at The Whole Place at First Christian Church in Whittier.

The Whole Place, located in underused space on the First Christian Church campus in Whittier, is another important new partner for the time bank. In addition to providing a venue for classes, The Whole Place also houses the new Whittier Free Store. When it opens this summer, the Whittier Free Store will be like a consignment shop, but free. The project will act as a vehicle for neighbors to share their unused goods and will also divert the waste stream into the Artisan Work Lab, a fabrication space, tool library, and small business incubator.

“What’s happening in Whittier is really happening all over the greater LA area… there’s an amazing community of people who are connecting throughout the region,” says Whittier Free Store Co-Founder Sharon Moiseiff, who also founded the Long Beach Free Store and sits on the Catalyst Board of Directors. “In the past 5 to 10 years, many local projects – with interests in social justice, sustainability, and community building – started popping up all over Southern California. Now what you are starting to see is cross-fertilization across all these different groups, with growth happening as relationships are being made… like-minded people are getting together, helping each other out, and sharing resources to make Los Angeles a better place to live.”

A sampling of sharing economy community initiatives that have emerged throughout the region in recent years, including a dozen local time banks, are listed below this press release. For an illustration of the growing local time banking community, please see the recent feature-length documentary Time as Money, which explores the emergence of time banking, primarily in the Southern California region. Both Moiseiff and Hobza are featured in the documentary.

Upcoming Whittier Projects –
• Summer 2015
Grand Opening: Whittier Free Store
The Whole Place – 6355 Greenleaf Ave., Whittier CA 90601
http://whittierfreestore.org
www.facebook.com/WhittierFreeStore
The Whittier Free Store, aka Make Space: Free Store & Artisan Work Lab, a sharing economy initiative, offers a physical space for neighbors to connect through reciprocity. Membership is free; members are invited to contribute items in good condition and shop for free in this unique retail space. The project diverts the waste stream through the reuse of goods, and uses Free Store stock for creative upcycling in arts and crafts in the Artisan Work Lab small business incubator (2016). Upcoming workdays are listed here. Cash donations are being collected via a Kickstarter fundraising campaign here, which runs through Tuesday, June 9, 2015, and will fund the equipment needed for the store to open. The Whittier Free Store is a project of Catalyst Network of Communities and Whittier Time Bank.

Whittier Free Store
Kickstarter Campaign Video
Click image above or here to view.

Whittier Time Bank –
Whittier Time Bank helps people share their time and skills in support of neighborliness, community self-reliance, and earth justice. Members share professional and neighborly services with each other using a unit of exchange called a Time Dollar. Every member’s time is worth the same. In addition to promoting individual sharing, the time bank leverages Time Dollars to provide skill building workshops, fun family events, barn raisers, food and clothing swaps, and leadership training opportunities. Whittier Time Bank members created Strub Avenue Urban Farm and also promote local food access through neighborhood fruit picking and workshops on planting, growing, and preserving the local harvest. The time bank also hosts potlucks, weekly community exercise classes, and new member orientations. New members can join here. The organization’s newsletter, Sustainable Whittier, invites Whittier-area organizations to share events that promote community self-reliance and earth justice. Whittier Time Bank is a project of Catalyst Network of Communities. http://whittiertimebank.org

Catalyst Network of Communities  –
Catalyst Network of Communities is a 501c3 nonprofit social impact organization helping people and groups to connect, collaborate, and share resources. Since its founding in Long Beach in 2006 by Eric Leocadio, Catalyst has worked to cultivate a climate of trust, cooperation, and empathy among community groups and residents by empowering emerging leaders to bring people together towards common goals and interests in order to create positive social impact. Catalyst has founded and incubated over 40 community initiatives, including the Long Beach Free Store, Long Beach Time Exchange, and the Green Long Beach Festival. www.GoCatalyst.org

Time as Money –
This 71-minute documentary, by time bankers Lenore Smith and Mark Eklund, visits different time banks in Southern California that are using time banking to create a new economy and build community networks. Time as Money features interviews with over 70 time bankers, follows five different time banks over 2.5 years, and was made for $0 federal dollars. Time as Money is available on demand via iTunes and Amazon. The film was selected to screen at the Social Change Film Festival in Thailand, which identified the film as one of “five movies that will change your life.” www.TimeAsMoneyTheMovie.com

Trade School LA –
Operating under the belief that everyone has something to offer, Trade School is an alternative, volunteer-operated school that runs on barter. It’s a place to learn with other people who value practical wisdom, mutual aid, and the social nature of exchange. In 2010, Trade School was started by three friends in a storefront in New York City and has since expanded into a global phenomenon, with schools in Cologne, Singapore, London, New Delhi, Jamaica, Bangkok, Paris, Milan, and beyond. Organized by Leanne Pedante, the Los Angeles chapter was started in 2014 and hosted its first month-long session of classes in May of that year. Classes at Trade School LA are taught for barter items provided by students, with each instructor setting their own class’s exchange. Students sign up for classes on the Trade School website, and, by signing up, they agree to bring one of the barter items requested by the instructor. Please see the Trade School LA site for upcoming classes. tradeschool.coop/losangeles

“More and more, we are seeing cities experiencing a greater sense of community through meaningful relationships,” says Eric Leocadio, Executive Director for Catalyst Network of Communities. “All of these community-based initiatives that are emerging throughout the region – including the area time banks and projects like barter-based Trade School LA – are striving to create an environment that makes it easier for people to connect, collaborate, and share resources to affect positive change in our neighborhoods and our world.”

#                       #                     #

For more information, photos, or to schedule an interview, please contact Green Galactic’s Lynn  Tejada at213-840-1201 or lynn@greengalactic.com.

#                       #                     #

Sharing Economy Community Initiatives
In Southern California

Time Banks:
• Arroyo S.E.C.O Network of Time Banks (East Los Angeles Area)
http://www.asntb.com
• California Federation of Time Banks
http://www.cafederationoftimebanks.org
• Long Beach Time Exchange
http://lbtimeexchange.com
• Not Barter
www.NotBarter.com
• Orange County Time Bank
http://www.octimebank.webs.com
• Our Time Bank (West LA Area)
http://www.ourtimebank.com
• Riverside Time Bank
riverside.timebanks.org
• Santa Barbara Time Bank
https://www.facebook.com/timebanksb
• Temecula Time Bank
temecula.timebanks.org
• Temple City Time Exchange
http://templecitytimeexchange.org
• Ventura Timebank
ventura.timebanks.org
• Whittier Time Bank
http://whittiertimebank.org

Urban Farming / Community Gardens / Backyard Farms / Community Supported Agriculture:
• Altadena Community Garden
http://www.altadenacommunitygarden.com
• Barley’s Farm (La Habra Heights)
http://barleysfarm.com
• City of Santa Monica Garden Sharing & Community Gardens
http://www.smgov.net/Departments/CCS/content.aspx?id=33150
• Eagle Rock Backyard Farms
http://www.eaglerockbackyardfarms.com
• Foodscape Long Beach
http://www.foodscapelb.org
• Muir Ranch School Garden
http://muirranch.myshopify.com
• South Central Farmers’ Cooperative – Community Supported Agriculture
http://www.southcentralfarmers.com
• St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church Community Garden (Whittier)
http://www.ststephenswhittier.org/content/Ministries.html
• Strub Avenue Urban Farm (Whittier)
https://www.facebook.com/StrubAvenueFarm
• The Growing Home
http://thegrowinghome.net
• The Learning Garden (Venice)
http://www.thelearninggarden.org
• The Los Angeles Community Garden Council
http://lagardencouncil.org
• The Ron Finley Project
http://ronfinley.com
• Throop Learning Garden (Pasadena, CA)
http://www.transitionpasadena.org/throop-learning-garden

Maker Spaces / Hacker Spaces / DIY Spaces / Tool Libraries:
• 23b Shop (Fullerton)
http://shop.23b.org
• Artisan Work Lab (Whittier) – Coming in 2016
http://whittierfreestore.org
• Crash Space (Los Angeles)
http://blog.crashspace.org
• Factory eNova (Fountain Valley)
http://factoryenova.com/sp/index.php
• Gears 2 Robots (Temecula)
http://www.gears2robots.com/tech-academy
• HexLab Maker Space (Ventura)
http://hexlabmakerspace.com
• Los Angeles Maker Space
http://www.lamakerspace.com
• Make Ventura
http://www.makeventura.com
• OC Maker Space (Huntington Beach)
http://www.ocmakerspace.org
• Repair Cafe Pasadena
http://www.transitionpasadena.org/repair-cafeacute-pasadena
• Santa Barbara Hacker Space
http://sbhackerspace.com
• The Build Shop (Los Angeles, CA)
http://www.thebuildshop.org
• Vocademy The Makerspace (Riverside)
http://www.vocademy.com
• Westside Repair Cafe (Los Angeles)
http://ourtimebank.timebanks.org/page/repair-cafe-home

Cooperatives:
• Arroyo Food Coop (Pasadena)
https://www.arroyofoodcoop.com/index.html
• Long Beach Grocery Coop
http://www.longbeachgrocery.coop
• Ventura Coop
http://venturacoop.org
• Ventura Food Coop
http://www.venturafoodcoop.com

Food Swaps:
• Central OC Food Swap
https://www.facebook.com/CentralOCFoodSwap
• Culver City Food Swap
https://www.facebook.com/CulverCityFoodSwap
• Huntington Beach Food Swap
https://www.facebook.com/HBFoodSwap
• Los Angeles Food Swap
http://lafoodswap.com
• Long Beach Food Swap
http://lbcfoodswap.blogspot.com
• RIPE Altadena
http://www.ripealtadena.com
• SGV East Food Swap (San Gabriel Valley)
https://sgveastfoodswap.wordpress.com

Neighborhood Produce Harvest:
• Food Forward (Los Angeles)
http://foodforward.org
• Neighborhood Fruit Harvest Project (Los Angeles)
https://www.facebook.com/ATBFruitHarvest/timeline
• So Cal Harvest (Long Beach)
http://socalharvest.org
• The Harvest Club (Orange County)
http://theharvestclub.org

Free Store / Community Exchange / Swaps / Free Markets:
• Long Beach Free Store
www.lbfreestore.com
• Really Really Free Market in Anaheim
https://www.facebook.com/RRFMAnaheim
• Really Really Free Market Long Beach City
https://www.facebook.com/rrfm.lbc?fref=ts
• Really Really Free Market Los Angeles
https://www.facebook.com/RrfmLa
• Really Really Free Market Riverside
https://www.facebook.com/rrfmriverside?fref=ts
• Really Really Free Market Santa Ana
https://www.facebook.com/RRFMOC
• Trade School LA
tradeschool.coop/losangeles
• Whittier Free Store – Opening in Summer 2015
http://whittierfreestore.org

Bicycle Collectives:
• Bicycle Tree (Santa Ana)
http://www.thebicycletree.org
• ELBO – East Los Angeles Bike Oven
http://www.bike-oven.5u.com
• LB Cycology Bike Collective (Long Beach)
https://www.facebook.com/pages/LBCycology-Bike-Collective/484502171692467
• The Bicycle Kitchen (Los Angeles)
http://bicyclekitchen.com

Sharon Moiseiff, Megan Hobza, & Stan Call
Co-founders of the Whittier Free Store
(photo credit: Clare Michelle Call)