The Wildwoods Foundation is proud to announce that we are now an organizational member of the Echo Park Time Bank.

The Echo Park Time Bank is a collective whose purpose is to facilitate the cooperative exchange of goods and services among its members. It is a pay it forward system that connects unmet needs with untapped resources.

For every hour you help another member, you earn a Time Credit. Then you can use that Time Credit to have a neighbor help you:  getting a ride, learning the computer, getting a haircut, gardening, etc. Time Credits value everyone’s contributions equally. One hour equals one Time Credit.

“We’ve always wanted to find a way to engage the surrounding community in the work we do with the schools and the Full Circle service project seems like the natural point of connection,” said Wildwoods Foundation Executive Director Dwain Wilson. 

Each class culminates the Full Circle program by designing and completing a community service project.  In the past, projects have included many street cleanings, school gardens, tree plantings, murals, food-clothing-toy drives as well as volunteering at an animal shelter or spending a day at a senior center.

“Since we don’t have the resources to internally manage a volunteer program, the Echo Park Time Bank now makes that connection possible.”

“Our goal is to foster a young urban population that is actively engaged in the well being of their community, so the kind of socially engaged people that are members of the Time Bank are exactly the kind of role models we’re looking for,” Wilson continued. “Time Banking is an example of what is possible when we recognize the value of our social capital and the wealth of resources that exists all around us.  That’s the kind of community we want kids to be able to imagine is possible for them – and then to create it.  So, I think bringing Time Bankers together with those students is an opportunity to do some real inter-generational community-building.”

Echo Park Time Bank Co-Founder Autumn Rooney said this about the opportunities the Wildwoods membership presents, “Young people are our biggest assets. Nurturing their creativity and honoring their contributions is the best way to ensure a future that is healthier, happier and more resilient. Time Banking is a wonderful way to bridge the generations and give kids an opportunity to start creating a better world now by connecting them with the wealth of their community. It is also an incredible way for adults to invest their time and energy in the next generation, guaranteed to pay unlimited dividends.”

“We want students to understand that they can be change-agents,” says Wilson.  “We want them to know that even one person can make a difference, but also that by working together we can create even greater change.”

Wilson says that the students’ service projects are usually determined in the weeks leading up to the project unveiling at the program’s culmination ceremony.  “Depending on the specific project and the degree of planning and resources required, it may be a one-day event or it may be more involved than that.  That’s the beauty of it.  It’s whatever the kids’ see as the ‘change’ they want to be in the world.”

Project announcements will by their nature then, be time sensitive.  The spring Full Circle programs currently running at Mayberry Elementary, Clifford Elementary and the Environmental Studies Magnet program at King Middle School will conclude over the last two weeks of March.   Announcements about project involvement opportunities will be posted on both the EPTB and Wildwoods web sites.

As a member of the Echo Park Time Bank, Wildwoods will offer the following services:

Wildwoods is currently developing teacher training programs and a conflict resolution program to serve elementary and middle-school classes.  Upon completion, these programs will also be available through the Echo Park Time Bank.