The bill: one virtual dollar.
Hawkins and Boskie are members of the Walnut Hill Time Bank, an online community of 47 members who trade services and goods priced in hours instead of U.S. dollars.
It's free to join, and new members start with five virtual dollars, with which they can buy five hours of services such as swimming lessons, Spanish tutoring, nutritional counseling, and teen mentoring. Every time a transaction occurs, an online account adds a virtual dollar to the seller and subtracts a virtual dollar from the buyer.
The Enterprise Center Community Development Corp., a nonprofit organization in West Philadelphia, manages the time bank and approves changes in account balances. Besides that, members post services they want to sell on the time bank website, then contact one another through a time bank e-mail system when they look to buy.
Bank members are mostly residents of Walnut Hill, a predominantly low-income neighborhood bordered by 45th, 52d, Market, and Spruce Streets.
"We saw a real need for people to interact with each other and receive service that wasn't necessarily going to cost them money," said Imanni Wilkes, one of the organizers of the Walnut Hill Time Bank.
It is one of about 200 time banks in the United States with the common goal of fostering a sense of community by providing a platform for exchanging services using an alternative currency.
"It's better than a traditional barter system. With the time dollars," said Wilkes, "it doesn't have to be directly one to one."
With 80 hours of transactions since its founding in 2009, evidence for its liquidity is uncertain. However, it has given members access to services they otherwise could not have afforded.
