News

Message received

Thank you for submitting your information.  We have sent a confirmation e-mail to the address you entered.  Be sure to check your Junk Mail folder if you do not see the message in your inbox.

We’ll be in touch soon!

ShareFest Committee Volunteer Form

Maker-Education-Initiative-Media-Photos.004

Thank you for your interest in being on the Mahoning Valley ShareFest planning committee.

We already have a couple of location possibilities where we can hold the event, as well as several sharing “vendors” lined up;  we just need a team to organize the event.  (See the end of this page for a list of example roles and responsibilities.)

Please email tonybudak@tbmw.org for more information

Here’s a short list of ShareFest Roles. Each event will be a little different so please use this only as a suggestion of where to start and then fill in more roles or consolidate roles as they become apparent.

  • Volunteer Coordinator:  This role is very important and will help connect new volunteers to the most appropriate coordination team before and during the event and coordinate outreach to volunteers.
  • Team Coordinators:  Coordinate teams for the different functions of the ShareFest.
  • Event Logistics Team:  Secure location, assist with schedule, permits, accessibility, bike valet, coordinate with food vendors, waste management, fundraising at event, etc.
  • Outreach and Media Team:  Engage partners and sponsors, post online (to calendars, listservs and local organizations’ social media), putting up posters, handing out fliers and directly reaching out to a diverse community, contact local media, write up and send press releases, take photos and quotes, write up event to send to media and post to relevant blogs
  • ShareFest Programming Team:  Actively recruit, schedule and support workshops, host open space discussions, childcare activities, socializing activities, music
  • Host Team:  Register participants, collect contact information, hand out name tags, direct people to activities, provide support in the event of an emergency, hand out and collect participant surveys and answer questions.
  • Signage Team:  Make sure there are clear event schedules, signs explaining how to use the space, accessibility signage, etc.
  • Set up/take down: Pre-event set up and post-event clean up crews
  • Translators: Translate questions and workshops into popular local languages

Mahoning Valley Residents

Very Small Local-Connections 2013-10-15Wish us a bit of luck and great happenings, because I just posted the following on our local time bank network, can’t wait to see if something positive comes from it.

Hi Everybody,
A few time bank members using the old Optiview Vision Center for social and training purposes have been talking about a very interesting idea. Which is what mutual benefits are possible regards linking the Inventors Club, Time Bankers, the old Optiview location, and a FUTURE worthy for all to participate.

Here’s a bit of research regards a current case for us to study: Impact Hubs, http://www.impacthub.net/ where change goes to work. Part innovation lab, part business incubator, and part community center, we offer our members a unique ecosystem of resources, inspiration, and collaboration opportunities to grow impact. We believe a better world evolves through the combined accomplishments of creative, committed and compassionate individuals focused on a common purpose. Joining our diverse community of members and collaborators will inspire, connect, and enable you to develop your best work every step of the way.

Yes the Impact Hubs aspirations are beyond our current capability, but what about us taking a few beginning steps? For example, how about having a conversation, https://tbmw.org/the-four-conversations-that-build-community/ Would you be willing to talk about thinking and doing to bring us just closer to having something like an Impact Hub here in the Mahoning Valley? What intermediate goal could we together achieve.

Are you Interested, then lets hear from you?

Building Resilient Communities

Comment by Ruth Dineen on July 4, 2013 at 17:10 
More good news!

The Welsh Government’s Building Resilient Communities strategy published a couple of days ago makes explicit reference to timebanking and to the need for a co-produced approach to service design and delivery by Communities First.

Best bits are:
Critically each Cluster has a Community Involvement Plan which shows how local people and community organisations will be central in planning and delivering work with other key partners working with them supporting all aspects of the programme. There is an emphasis on tackling the needs identified by the communities themselves…

Time Banking
The development of time banking within the Communities First programme can support active volunteering in communities and rewards people with time credits. Timebanking is being undertaken in a number of Clusters and is being further supported by a project jointly funded by Interreg. The project will support 12 Clusters and will further develop this model of working with local businesses, service providers and other funders.

Good-oh!

If you want to discuss the above ideas, Contact Tony Budak
Readers like you make a better future possible. Please show your support.

Super Hero Schools, Place and Space

A Place to Think and Do Together
A Place to Think and Do Together

Several Time bankers are thinking and talking about the use of empty space. Here’s my 2 or 3 cents of research, I trust that you will find it useful and a good read, I did. 🙂

From Dante-Gabryell Monson:
This is a list of spaces , which may correspond to the spirit.

As for names for such approaches,
Connectivism may be one of such learning approaches ?

From Ruth Dineen:
A Co-Production Process Map

If you want to discuss the above ideas, Contact Tony Budak
Readers like you make a better future possible. Please show your support.

2013-10-27

Time for Communities

Complimentary Currency and Sustainable Civic Engagement

The time currency application developed at the Wales Institute for Community Currencies (WICC) by Geoff Thomas, advocates time banking as a mutual mechanism to advance citizen engagement. The challenge for agencies and social activists is how to rebuild active creative communities – to finance and revitalize the involvement of citizens in communities by addressing new ways to replenish the diminishing stock of positive social capital.

Wales - Change the ConversationGeoff’s model using Person to Agency Time Banking primarily rebuilds the relationship between community and agencies. Community organizations invite community members not to be passive recipients of community services, but to help actively deliver them, to run the community cafes, to transfer learning, to run support groups, after school clubs, bingo nights and comedy events.

Welsh timebanks work a little differently to the traditional timebank model in that they are ‘hosted’ within public and community agencies. Community members are then invited to actively engage and take ownership of public services rather than being passive recipients. The ‘host’ agency acts as the central bank and acknowledges members for their time with credits. These credits can be spent and used at Time Out venues to access social, cultural and educational activities on a quid pro quo hourly basis.

For every active hour that a community member ‘gives’ to the community organization is an hour which can be used to access community events, trips and services.

The results are dramatic, levels of active engagement rapidly increase, negative social problems decrease and the negative cycles of dependency and inactivity begin to unravel.

Like Edgar Cahn, Geoff Thomas hadn’t discovered active citizenship; he simply found a modern language for it, money for the civil society, that of Person to Agency Time Banking. Learn more at  Time for Communities  and  Wales Institute for Community Currencies (WICC)

If you want to discuss the above ideas, Contact Tony Budak
Readers like you make a better future possible. Please show your support.

Let’s Network – Do A Map Jam

Let’s Network – Do A Map Jam

A time bank is a perfect host for this kind of community building event that connects local resources. Use YOUR skill and knowledge to create a local MAP JAM.

 

Let’s work together to gather the contact information for the following organizations to share back with the network. Are you ready to help?
Very Small Local-Connections 2013-10-15

All it takes is a few people, couple of hours, one or two meetings, and a location with Wi-Fi to work from.

Who wants to organize this? Locations?  Anyone want to help me make this happening happen? Do some preliminary research too! And snacks!

 

Here is the link to the call for mapping projects: http://www.shareable.net/…/join-the-sharing-cities-network

Here’s a how-to article on mapping the sharing economy for reference, but we can do this however people want to. http://www.shareable.net/blog/how-to-map-the-new-economy-in-your-city

If you want to discuss the above ideas, Contact Tony