This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, Feb. 8, 2011 - Chinyere Oteh sees equal value in a job well done, whether that is a freshly mowed lawn, a creatively painted sign on the window of a store or a completed IRS tax return.
Oteh is the founder of the Cowry Collective, a time-banking network in St. Louis in which members exchange services based on time spent on a project instead of the dollar value of their work experience or professional degree.
"Everybody's hour is worth everybody else's hour. That is an equalizing factor," said Oteh. "It's a bartering system, but there's no barter in terms of, 'My hour is worth more than your hour.' So it gets rid of the hierarchy that exists in society."
Oteh will discuss the concept of time banking at the Missouri History Museum Saturday. She said in a recent interview that the mission of the Cowry Collective is to strengthen the African-American community by matching member resources -- time and talents -- with unmet needs. The collective is named for the seashells that were traditionally used as currency in Africa and other cultures.
The collective allows both individuals -- and even the owners of small businesses -- to share resources and support one another, particularly in the current economic climate, she said.
"Even though my mission does mention ethnicity, no one is barred from the collective," she said. "We are definitely looking for like minds and like souls, but I am definitely targeting the African-American community because I think there is a definite need there."
A Cowry for a Cowry
Oteh has recruited about 20 members since forming the network last summer. To remain active and keep the cycle of giving and receiving going, each member is asked to contribute two hours of service each month.
Members range in age from their mid-20s to 60-somethings and a fair share of them are artists, she said. Most members offer several skills -- everything from teaching art, languages and yoga to running errands, household chores and tax preparation.
"People may think they have nothing to offer, but they should think about what they do in their daily lives that might have value to others," she said.
Oteh administers the network, and members keep in touch through a Yahoo Groups page, where they post their "wants" as well as "offers." Members fill out an enrollment form and may be asked to provide references regarding their services. An annual membership fee of $40 supports the collective, but no money is exchanged by members for services.
An hour of provided service earns a "cowry," which is redeemable for an hour of a needed service. All cowries are equal in the collective, Oteh said. A member who has a law degree will earn the same rate -- one cowry an hour -- as a self-taught artist.
"The Cowry Collective is seeking to remind people that the skills they possess can actually be used as a means to get the things they need in their life, even when the currency we use -- which is cash -- may not be available. And so it's kind of reminding people of their value,'' Oteh said.
The concept of time banks circumvents class divisions, she said.
"Within all communities we have divides by class," she said. "There are class divisions within the African-American community -- people who have gotten professional degrees and now feel separated from other members of the African-American community. I don't see a reason for it. The skills that we all possess we all need, whether we need to pay $60 for them or $10 an hour for them."
'Not Pie in the Sky'
Oteh, 30, was born in Florissant and moved with her family as a child to Detroit and Washington. She returned to St. Louis in 1998 to attend Washington University, where she earned a degree in American culture studies. She has worked in various local education programs combining arts and creativity with learning.
Barroom Conversations
"Class" Is in Session: The Beacon's every-other-Monday conversations on race and related topics are conducted at 7:30 p.m. at Six Row Brewing, Spring and Forest Park avenues. This year, our conversations focus on class distinctions and how they affect our lives. Discussions are both spirited and civil, and free and open to all. The next conversation is Feb. 21.
"I have a passion for teaching; I see myself as a teaching artist and organizer," she said. "I love connecting people and putting people together, creating a network for people to work together."
She became interested in the concept of time banking in 2007 when she had a community arts training fellowship through the Regional Arts Commission and a classmate brought in an article on time banking. She was not only struck by the benefits of time banking but could relate personally to the need for a local network. She began recruiting members from her circle of friends and colleagues.
"I was feeling like I was strapped for money -- raising a child, working as a teaching artist, working part time here and there, putting sources of income together," she said. "I was thinking of ways that the value of things you place in your life could be shifted a little and that given the instability that all of us feel, there is a way to feel stable in who you are, what you can offer to others and what you can receive in return just by sharing."
Last summer Oteh joined the YeYo Arts Collective, which is comprised of five women artists of African descent. The collective opened Gya, a community art gallery and fine craft shop, at 2700 Locust in May. The collective hosts the Cowry Collective, as well as exhibitions, art programs, a community reading room, and cultural presentations.
"Yeyo is all about family, youth, community, relationship building, community arts -- and the Cowry Collective fits nicely under that umbrella," Oteh said.
She recognizes that bartering isn't a new concept, and that time banks already exist in St. Louis. She sought advice from the organizers of the Grace Hill Settlement House, which has been running a time banking program for years.
Oteh said she hopes people will embrace the power of an idea that might feel different but is far from new.
"It's not a pie-in-the sky idea. It's something that is happening and is working,'' she said. "The more of us who are involved, the more services we can get from one another. The possibilities are endless in terms of the exchanges we can make."
More on Time Banking
* Time banking is a twist on the age-old concept of bartering. No dollars are exchanged, but hours of service are "banked" and redeemed for services provided by other members of the network.
* Edgar Cahn, an attorney who built a career on seeking social justice for the disadvantaged and disenfranchised, developed the concept of "time dollars" in the 1980s. He is the founder of TimeBanks USA, a national organization that promotes the development of local time banking networks.
* The Grace Hill Settlement House in St. Louis has a long-established time bank called the Member Organized Resource Exchange (MORE). Since the program was computerized in 1991, it has generated several millions of dollars worth of service activity by community residents. To read more about that program, visit the organization's website.
