Debut St. Louis Film Screening!

Screening throughout St. Louis in 2015.  

Let us know if you want to host!

Warm Up with Community this December!

Beet the Holiday Blues!

This Month We Are Thankful For...Timebanking

 

Timebanking WARMS the HOME

Dutchtown South Community Corporation and The Cowry Collective are working together to bring timebanking to the Dutchtown neighborhood.  Join us at this great FREE event featuring Cowry members sharing DIY weatherization tips.  

Gratitude Abounds

Get2Gether Grant from Center for New American Dream Update: We reached our matching grant goal during our ioby campaign and received $4,378 to continue and strengthen our programming this fall and into spring of 2015!  THANK YOU to friends, family, and supporters who donated, spread the word via phonebanking, or lent an open ear of support as I shared my hopes and dreams while embarking on the campaign.   We can't wait to see you at our unique and social sharing economy events!  Stay posted...

How Solidarity Economy St. Louis Prevents Another Mike Brown Tragedy

Cowry member Julia Ho talks to Mira Luna from Shareable about SE St. Louis:
Why did MORE shift into solidarity economy organizing from more traditional political organizing?
In St. Louis, a major symptom of racial oppression is the criminalization of poverty, which leads to further economic insecurity and segregation. For example, cities depend heavily on traffic fine revenue to sustain themselves, which creates an unfair burden on the working poor and those affected by racial profiling because unpaid fines often lead to bench warrants and jail time. Currently, we are working on an initiative to get traffic fines paid through community service projects that are managed through our local timebank, the Cowry Collective, while also putting pressure on the municipal courts to stop issuing these warrants in the first place. 

Timebanking is a Beautiful Solution!

 We are honored to be featured in the gallery in Beautiful Solutions / This Changes Everything - click to check out The Cowry Collective and so many other wonderful projects across the globe.  Many reflections are offered here on being the change you wish to see in the world.  The Beautiful Trouble collective is excited to announce a new partnership to develop an online “solutions gallery” with This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs the Climate, the forthcoming book by Naomi Klein and documentary by Avi Lewis. The Beautiful Solutions gallery will launch as part of the This Changes Everything website in September, and will highlight the solutions, tactics, values, and theoretical concepts needed to build new institutions grounded in justice and sustainability. 

Get2gether To Bring Resources to St. Louis!

The dream expands and we are elated to have been 1 of 10 chosen finalists by The Center For A New American Dream Get2gether grant! We aim to raise $4000 by September 15th and here's what we will do with the monies raised:

In 2014-15 The Cowry Collective Timebank seeks to expand its offerings to the community in the form of four areas: 1) Timebanking 100 Series, 2) skillshares, 3) film nights connected to our lending library and 4) urban farming workshops. The expanded offerings we propose are all geared toward growing individual and organizational membership, thus increasing our collective non-monetary ‘buying’ power. We will be working with Yeyo Arts Collective and New Abundance Farm and are open to other collaborations!

The Cowry Collective Timebank is needed in our community as a tool for addressing economic inequalities that exist across racial lines and for bridging racial divides through community building that happens one hour at a time, between individuals.

Will YOU pledge a donation that will be matched, today? Spread LOVE in the LOU!

FALL into Timebanking

Join us for Timebanking 101 + Potluck 
Sunday, September 14, 2014
Yeyo Arts, 2-4 pm
2907 S. Jefferson Ave.
St. Louis MO 63118

We continue to meet more like-minded folks at our monthly meet-ups and we look forward to meeting you in September.  Thank you to Eileen for offering face painting for the kiddos and Dail for hosting us at Yeyo and taking photos - count those cowries!  The Net Works and it is growing.

Save the Date! July 27th A Cowry Summer Social

Meet us in Tower Grove Park at the Humboldt North Pavilion on Sunday, July 27th 3-6pm for fun and food.  This purely social event is to celebrate our members and our growth as a collective.  Come and catch up with members or meet others and talk about your next exchange!  Spread the word / invite a friend!  Drinks and utensils/dishes will be provided.  Please bring a dish to share (cowries will be awarded) and any outdoor games you'd like to share with the group.  

Join Us At Our Meetup In July!

On Sunday July 13th, we head back to the home of Yeyo Arts in their new South City location for our monthly meet-up.  Join us from 2-4 pm for Timebanking 101, a potluck and learn how to use our Time and Talents software from hOurworld to set up your community exchanges. Yeyo Arts is an organizational member of The Cowry Collective.  Learn what they have to offer and what needs they have to fill. Bring a friend or a dish to share and earn your first Cowries!

The Convergence June 12-14th was Phenomenal!

The Cowry Collective was honored to present our method of community organizing through our Timebanking 101 Workshop at The Convergence - the first conference of its kind organized by Yeyo Arts Collective.  The Convergence looked at three areas: 
Self Care, Community Work, and Collective Action, as catalysts for economic and cultural achievement. The weekend was rich with opportunities for catching up with one of my favorite people and fellow presenter, Chicago-based archivist Skyla Hearn, mentorship by wise elders such as author and spiritualist Luisah Teish and enjoying the great communion of forward-thinking women in St. Louis. Kudos to Yeyo Arts Collective founder, Dail Chambers for committing to her vision and then sharing the fruits of her labor with the St. Louis ARTivist community.  During our workshop we gained the interest of Urban Bush Woman Maria Bauman, a choreographer and dancer based in NYC who would like to do some out-of-state intertrading.  Let the connections continue to unfold and weave us more tightly together!

Meet us on Meet-up!

We joined Meet-up.com earlier this month to complement our current tools of social media outreach.  Find us on MeetUp to meet others who are into local economy and sustainability and get updates on our happenings!  

June Meetup At Hyde Park Art House

Following our second Sunday of the month pattern, we held our June Cowry meet-up at the Hyde Park Art House of Rebuild Foundation on June 8th.  The house served as perfect space to do The Net Works! game outdoors with Derek by a brightly painted orange tree and as we moved inside for Timebanking 101 with Chinyere, the children present were entertained and watched by easy-going Cowry member Harry who has travelled to northern Missouri to stay at the Possibility Alliance for several months and was in town for the weekend.  We nibbled on freshly picked mulberries, homemade soup and chips and salsa while we learned more about using software from hOurworld to set-up community exchanges.  Vanity, our gracious host and Program Manager at the Art House, gave us a brief talk and tour and so concluded our meet-up.  Thank you for sharing part of your summer Sunday with us!  

How We Do Timebanking in St. Louis - Our First Animated Film!

A big thank you to Cowry Collective member, artist + animator, Sarah Paulsen who received cash + cowries to help us create this film.  Think creatively to get projects completed!  Please help us spread the word by sharing with friends!

Delmar Divide, The Finale Panel

We have been working with Cowry Collective member, animator and artist - Sarah Paulsen for a couple of months and this week we debut our first very short, very informative film!

See you at the Delmar Divide Finale discussion!

Thursday, May 1, 7:00p 

Missouri History Museum

Join us for the Delmar Divide finale discussion that has spanned over the course of two years. This evening will include reflection from the organizations involved and updates from the organizations you selected, such as the Cowry Collective and the Sweet Potato Project. Feel free to bring information to distribute from your own division addressing projects.
__________
Background: In early March of 2012 Franz Strasser, a reporter for BBC World in Washington was researching background information on St. Louis for a news report. He found himself filming a second news report based on what his research uncovered; a city still segregated. The video features St. Louisans, as they share their insights into racial and socioeconomic segregation in the city.

Currency as Art

"Currency" 
This work initiates a conversation about individual value and our sense of self-worth.  It explores how seeing ourselves in a positive light can increase our value as helpful members of society.

The work poses several questions:  Can achieving our highest self be our maximum currency?  Can everyday life be thought of as spiritual currency?

"Currency" consists of a series of paintings, 11x14.  Each painting is a portrait with a coin drawn around it with the words of our familiar 1, 5, 10, and 25 cent coins....The words, "Liberty" and "In God We Trust" line the walls along with everyday extraordinary humans--and animals--for the viewers' contemplation.  www.sylviamaier.com

As an artist and a person wedded to the idea of 'Self-actualization For All' I am so thankful that a friend shared the work of Sylvia Maier with me today!

April showers bring May garden and urban farm exchanges through The Cowry Collective!

Join us at our next meet-up for Timebanking 101 and a potluck.  

Bring your interest, a friend, and a dish to share.  You earn cowries for this! 

If you have recently signed up and want to start making exchanges and meet others in the collective, this is the event for you. We had a lively and packed meet-up in March and we cannot wait to see you.  In the meantime, sign-up at www.thecowrycollective.org.

Sunday, April 13, 2014
Rowan Community Center

1401 Rowan Avenue

St. Louis, MO 63112

2-4 pm

The Cowry Collective at Washington University!

 Please RSVP here. 

Questioning Consumerism Is Newsworthy!

When I was contacted in December by Rosalind Early of St. Louis Magazine to do a story on the collective I was happy for the exposure we would gain and also tickled by serendipity playfully dancing into my life again.  I patiently waited for two months for the article to surface and this week it has!

The Cowry Collective is featured in the March edition of St. Louis Magazine.  We are so excited to have our timebank highlighted and to gain exposure in St. Louis which is the home of timebanking.  I look forward to meeting Renee Marver who was involved in the organization of the M.O.R.E network at Grace Hill Settlement House to gain insight into the rich history of timebanking in our fair town and properly situate our work within this context. There is no other way to effectively and justly do community work than learning what people and groups have contributed before you as you aim to continue a legacy.  Here's to honoring the past and collaborating in a RICH money-free St. Louis!

“Everyday is a bank account, 

and time is our currency.  

No one is rich, no one is poor, 

we’ve got 24 hours each.”

 -Christopher Rice

Monthly Meet-ups Every Second Sunday!

Join us every second Sunday of the month from 2-4 pm to have a fun timebanking 101 experience where you will meet other collective members and share in a potluck.  Our next meet-up is:

February 9th, 2-4 pm at 
Gya Community Gallery 
2700 Locust Avenue

Bring a friend and some food to share!  Cowries (timedollars) will be given for attending and participating!

We would like to rotate locations and are on the lookout for other community collaborators to host our meet-ups.  If you have any leads, do let us know!