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There are many practices present within the solidarity economy space, including time banking, cooperatives, community land trusts, and participatory budgeting. Some are more complex in their implementation than others, and most of them involve some level of work and commitment. Our guest today believes that time banking, a bartering system for services, where people exchange services for labor-time-based credits, rather than money, is a simpler practice to implement and allows people to practice collaboration at a micro-level. It allows for the building of foundational communication skills ultimately leading to big projects, like practicing your scales before playing a symphony.

Today on the show, we are joined by Mike Strode. Mike is a writer, urban cyclist, facilitator, and solidarity economy organizer with the Kola Nut Collaborative. The Kola Nut Collaborative is Chicago’s only time-based service and skills exchange that provides an open platform for mutual aid, community organizing, and network weaving. Through practices like the Offers and Needs Market, they develop programming to support Chicago-based organizers in facilitating non-monetary exchange networks. Mike is also a program manager at Open Collective Foundation and serves on the boards of the US Solidarity Economy Network, the New Economy Coalition, and more.

In our conversation with Mike, we hear from him about how he found his way into solidarity economy work, the journey and inspiration that sparked his interest in time banking, and why he believes time banking is so important in the solidarity economy space. He opens up about what he’s excited about and shares a multitude of amazing resources with listeners. If you want to stir your thoughts about the type of world you want to live in, experience, and engage with, then tune in now.

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Key Points From This Episode:

•   How Mike got into Solidarity Economy or Next Economy line of work. [0:01:45]

•   The journey, and inspiration, that got him into time banking. [0:05:27]

•   His thoughts on why time banking is important in the solidarity economy space. [0:09:30]

•   Things that Mike is passionate and excited about in the space he’s working in. [0:14:55]

•   Resources Mike is learning from around holding conflict in generative ways. [0:19:48]

•   He elaborates on his experience with The Healthy Food Hub. [0:24:14]

•   Challenges that keep Mike awake at night. [0:30:20]

•   How listeners can support the work Mike is doing. [0:33:55]

•   Other ways to give back to Mike and his work in Chicago. [0:35:55]

•   Why his favorite games are conversational and his last encouragement to listeners. [0:37:10]

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Tweetables:

“[All of those things] have really transformed me into someone who not simply wants to engage in solidarity economy but really wants to help people translate ideas into ways that are able to be digested by a broad range of people.” — @aomuse [0:04:30]

“Something that people immediately notice about me is that I am very clear that I don’t get here alone. And because I’m very clear that I don’t get here alone, I am always clear to credit other people.” — @aomuse [0:05:30]

“I was interested in a time bank that could connect to a broader social movement and could connect to broader social ideas.” — @aomuse [0:07:10] 

“Time banking, while it does take a level of work and a level of commitment, it is something that is a lot simpler to implement and it is something that allows people to practice collaboration at a micro-level.” — @aomuse [0:09:55]

“By practicing time banking in my community and by doing things like hosting Offers and Needs Market on such a regular basis, I’ve actually built up my own capacity to ask for what I want and to name my own needs and to be very clear about what I have to offer when I enter into a space.” — @aomuse [0:12:58] 

“If we don’t know how to navigate tension we increasingly find ourselves going toward conflict.” — @aomuse [0:18:33]

“A really important element of conflict is just understanding: is this conflict a power dynamic issue — or is it some other element at root here.” — @aomuse [0:22:20]

“One of the things that I encourage people to do, wherever you are, is start a conversation. And start a conversation about nothing at see where it goes.” — @aomuse [0:37:21]

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Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode: 

Mike Strode on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/mjstrode/

Mike Strode on Twitter — https://twitter.com/aomuse

Mike Strode on Instagram — https://www.instagram.com/aomuse/

Kola Nut Collaborative — https://kolanutcollab.org/

Kola Nut Collaborative Linktree — https://linktr.ee/kolanutcollab

Donate to Kola Nut Collaborative — https://opencollective.com/kolanutcollab/contribute

Healthy Food Hub — https://www.healthyfoodhub.org/

Black Oaks Centre for Sustainable Renewable Living — https://www.blackoakscenter.org/

Dr. Jifunza Wright-Carter on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/jifunza-wright-carter-m-d-m-p-h-053293248/ 

Babba Fred Carter — https://www.linkedin.com/in/fred-carter-829471a/

The Cowry Collective on Instagram — https://www.instagram.com/cowrycollective/

The Chicago Time Exchange — https://chicagotimeexchange.com/

Turning Towards Each Other: A Conflict Workbook: https://96cd8e90-7f87-4399-af6b-c7156e91189a.filesusr.com/ugd/05f4b7_cec53ab03dcd4f32b1fecaf66ede2d80.pdf

In It Together Toolkit — https://www.interruptingcriminalization.com/in-it-together

Turning Toward Eachother — https://communityresourcehub.org/resources/turning-towards-each-other-a-conflict-workbook/

The Right Use of Power Institute — https://rightuseofpower.org/

The Offers and Needs Market — https://offersandneeds.com/

The Offers and Needs Market Training — https://offersandneeds.com/training-1/bft/

Open Collective Foundation — https://opencollective.foundation/

Open Collective Foundation (How to Donate) — https://docs.opencollective.foundation/how-it-works/financial-contributions

Where Should We Being Game — https://game.estherperel.com/

Healthier Together Conversations — https://shop.lizmoody.com/products/healthier-together-deck

We’re Not Really Strangers — https://www.werenotreallystrangers.com/

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