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Baltimore Hours: Defunct Community Currency



I’m disappointed to find out that Baltimore had a local currency system for a couple of years which failed.

A Baltimore Hours program ran from 2001 to 2003. At its peak, there were about two hundred members. According to one of its founders, Brad Johnson, “The system we had was mostly individual services, not businesses. The concept was that people have extra time, but currency is scarce, so we’ll create some.” Johnson went on to explain why he believes the Baltimore Hours model failed. “The truth is people don’t have any extra time since we don’t have mass unemployment or a deflated currency. Also, in a big city there isn’t really the desire or sense of community that would support collective work exchanges without a clear guarantee that you could redeem the money. We really had no goods backing the system.”

In other words, they couldn’t figure out how to motivate people to use the system - ie, their branding was probably bad. This seems to be a major hurdle with explaining alternative currency systems to people: why bother? Why not just trade in dollars? People need to be able to immediately see the benefits of modifying their habits, or else they will not do so - no matter how good an idea may seem.

I find that line about there being a lack of desire or sense of community in a big city to also be kind of a crock of shit: Baltimore has all the characteristics of a small town, and there are within it some very tightly knit communities. So I think it could completely work, but it needs to be presented to people in a better way.

I would love to get in contact with some of the people involved with the Baltimore Hours initiative and talk to them about what happened, why it happened, and maybe look at if there is a way to try it out again. I think Baltimore has a lot of great characteristics which could dovetail really nicely with community currencies and other alternative models of community-building.







5 Reader Responses

  1. Tim Boucher Says:
    October 15th, 2007 at 11:55 am

    Another brief mention of Baltimore Hours on the Indymedia Center:

    http://baltimore.indymedia.org/feature/display/1258/index.php

    And also this is part of the Baltimore Green Party platform:

    http://www.baltimoregreens.org/platform.php

    * Encourage the development of an informal economy, including volunteerism and a credit barter system, such as Baltimore Hours.

    * Support development of “intentional communities,” residential communities that have come together for a common purpose and have some degree of economic sharing. Revise zoning laws that inhibit such development.

  2. Tim Boucher Says:
    October 15th, 2007 at 12:10 pm

    BerkShares - a New England community currency:

    http://www.ktre.com/Global/story.asp?S=6142671&nav=2FH5

    “We want to encourage everybody to do their business locally rather than going to a mall or shopping online,” said Sharon Palma, executive director of the Southern Berkshire Chamber of Commerce. “Using Berkshares, you have to do business locally, and the other really nice piece of that is it’s face-to-face business.”

    Why do these systems flourish in some communities and languish in others?

  3. Tim Boucher Says:
    October 15th, 2007 at 12:11 pm

    Same article:

    Witt, who spent years dreaming up a local currency project, said it “takes a local population that understands and is committed to supporting the buildup of their own regional economies.”

    That is certainly the case in this picture-perfect town with its Main Street lined with mom-and-pop shops. It’s the type of community where people seek out locally-produced food, and where buying into a program such as Berkshares is, in itself, a sort of social currency.

    Some business owners have reported an increase in foot traffic and customer loyalty. Because the Berkshares users get a 10 percent discount at the point of exchange, merchants say customers have incentive to use them.

    Steve Carlotta, the owner of Snap Shop, a photo store said, “We find that there are some people doing business with us at this point who are very, very loyal customers because we accept Berkshares … without any restrictions.”

  4. Julia Says:
    October 16th, 2007 at 6:31 pm

    The truth is people don’t have any extra time since we don’t have mass unemployment or a deflated currency.

    The good news is that the ideas are out there and all people need are concrete plans. Collapses are always power grads but they don’t have to be.

  5. Tim Boucher Says:
    October 16th, 2007 at 9:54 pm

    I think also that people have as much extra time as they want to have. Most people who say they are busy just make up a bunch of shit they “have” to do and then pretend like it’s real. If people change their priorities though, time becomes readily available.



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