NDG Barter Network Is a Project Which Evolved out of the Planning Process for the Wesley

NDG BARTER NETWORK MISSION

NDG Barter Network brings together individuals, groups and community-minded businesses in NDG and surrounding areas through the exchange of services and goods without dependency on cash.

Our goals are to:

a) Create a healthier community and economic environment based on a spirit of generosity, caring and the abundance of local resources.

b) Improve access to services, goods and community resources through the establishment of a community trade network and regular barter events.

c) Develop an awareness of the multitude of skills available in our community, and give credit to work, which often goes unrecognized.

Through developing mutually beneficial community partnerships, we are striving to create an environment in which each person will gain a sense of social and economic empowerment.

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How It All Began

NDG Barter Network is a project, which evolved out of the planning process for the Wesley Community Centre. During the early period of excitement and new ideas, Martha Nell Thomson was urging members to consider projects of their own. Wendy Lloyd- Smith, bringing together her experiences in community work at Project Genesis, St Columba House, and time spent in Haiti, began to research community barter systems, and discovered that there is a growing movement throughout the world to encourage communities faced with globalization to create local economies which respond to their own particular needs.

In Socio-Economic Solidarity and Community Exchange in Asia, Africa and Latin America, December 2003 (www.appropriate-economics.org), such Community Exchange Systems are described as “community-based networks of sharing which encourage mutual aid, reciprocation, self-reliance, local production, community planning and socio- economic solidarity by providing a means of exchanging goods and services for the meeting of needs, cultural revitalization, socio-economic harmony and … (community/regional) reconstruction.”

Supported by Martha Nell, Wendy and Oliver Cole brought together a planning group of community members. On March 19th, 2002. A public consultation meeting was held to introduce NDG residents to new ideas about money, economics, and two popular community currency systems; our task was to consider what kind of system was best suited to the values and realities of NDG.

Based on this consultation process, Wendy designed and presented for discussion a unique system combining features of both the Time Dollar and LETS systems and the NDG Barter System was born.

The summer of 2003 was spent organizing sales at Cinema V in partnership with Head and Hands; this would sustain the project through its first year of development. Thanks to the generosity of Wesley Church, a small office and meeting space was made available for that first crucial period. In the autumn of 2003, with the support of community mentors, Jason Prince and Debbie Harrison, the mission was clarified and the pilot project launched.

“NDG bucks’, used alone or in combination with Canadian dollars, are becoming a new way of doing ‘business’ in NDG.

Over the past year, Wendy has attended three international conferences on community currencies; and connections with other projects in Canada and the States continue to be built. Wendy is a member and in regular contact with the Time Dollar Institute founded by social justice lawyer, Edgar Cahn, who, with his colleagues, has been responsible for the establishment of many time-based community currency systems in the U.S. and U.K.

Now incorporated as a non-profit community organization, the NDG Barter Network is located in the heart of the community, half a block from the NDG Food Bank and Info Depot. The project has received the interest and support of a wide range of individuals, groups, media people, and student researchers.

Having completed a successful pilot project, the NDG Barter Network has received a small grant from CDEC to develop a three-year business plan; we expect that a salary subvention from Emploi Quebec will be following shortly. With paid staff, we will be able to upgrade the data management system and services provided by the central office, and work on new programs as well as fundraising. We will finally be able to expand and include the people who have been eagerly waiting to join us.

As a membership-driven organization, we will continue to hold monthly potlucks where members get to know each other, trade, and share in the development of the project. Special activities being discussed for 2005 include a community taxi project, and game nights to be held at various venues along Sherbrooke Street.

Come and join us! Help build a stronger, happier NDG! We welcome your ideas! We welcome donations – and shared fundraising!

For more information, contact:

NDG Barter Network (514) 486-4050 2255 Oxford Avenue [email protected] Montreal, QC H4A 2X7 www.ndgxchange.org