Charities Team Up to Bring Time-Bank Project to Ravaged Gulf Coast

The hurricanes that ripped through the Gulf Coast region in August and September brought catastrophe to that region — but

they have also created an opportunity to see whether the idea of bartering volunteer services is effective in helping large numbers of needy people get social services.

Time Banks USA, a nonprofit group in Washington that promotes the notion of earning “time dollars” via neighborly deeds that can be exchanged for similar favors, is aiding Houston Hope, a new effort to help the poor, by helping it set up 20 time-bank registries at technology centers around the Texas city. The facilities are among 200 run by local community centers with the aid of the Houston charity Technology for All, whose leader, William S. Reed, also heads Houston Hope. The Washington organization is donating time-bank registry software and training Houston organizers how to use it.

Although the time banks, like the technology centers, will be open to all Houston residents, the impetus behind the effort is to help hurricane evacuees find and swap services, such as transportation, tutoring, and help filling out Federal Emergency Management Agency forms, according to Morris Fountain, who is overseeing the project for Houston Hope.

Mr. Fountain, who was hired two months before the hurricanes struck, had spent the summer investigating the possibility of using time banks as a means of solving inner-city woes in Houston. The city already has two small-scale time-bank efforts, one aimed at teenagers from poor families that is run through the nonprofit group Youth Advocates, and another called Skills for Living, which serves Habitat for Humanity homeowners.

He says he liked the idea because it had the potential to bring together young people and older ones, and bridge a generational gap.

“It was the perfect match in terms of reaching out and restoring hope to neighborhoods, for neighbors to come to know each other, as we used to, as our parents used to, back in the olden days,” says Mr. Fountain.

‘Not Enough Dollars’

The ravages of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita spurred him and his group to speed up their efforts. Some 132,409 hurricane evacuees now in Houston have sought emergency relief aid from the federal government, according to Houston Hope, of which 17,060 come from the seven neighborhoods Mr. Fountain’s organization serves. In some local ZIP codes, says Mr. Reed, the number of residents has jumped by as much as 40 percent.

Technology for All set up a “community technology center” in the Astrodome, home to thousands of evacuees, which aided 15,000 people in tracking relatives and friends and completing the paperwork to receive aid.

“We became aware of the great need of Katrina evacuees,” says Mr. Reed. Many of the people who fled to Houston, he says, “had low literacy rates, and particularly low computer-literacy rates.”

The demand for help, Mr. Reed says, enhanced time dollar’s attractiveness as a solution, especially when the region’s donors have already been tapped so thoroughly for cash and other donations.

“There’s a limit to the charitable capacity in a community, in terms of philanthropic dollars,” he says. “There are just not enough dollars to solve every problem.”

Thus, Houston Hope contacted Time Banks USA to ask for help.

‘Where Are They?’

The Washington organization sees Houston Hope’s project as essential to helping the hurricane survivors over the long term, says Edgar Cahn, chief executive officer of Time Banks USA.

“Volunteers disperse once a crisis is over,” he says. “It will shift from a massive influx of aid to asking [evacuee] families how they can contribute, and how they can shape their future. The only way to prevent depression and despair is to get involved.”

Houston Hope organizers traveled to Washington in November for training, and Time Banks USA representatives journeyed to Houston in mid-December to integrate their software into the technology centers. Next month the time banks will test their operations, and they will start regular operations in the spring, according to Mr. Fountain.

Although the project now relies on donations from individuals and government agencies, no foundations have thus far given any money. The effort — like many hurricane-relief efforts in Houston, says Mr. Reed — is so seat-of-the-pants that he is uncertain how much money has been raised so far for the project, or how much will be needed. However, Mr. Cahn says that the time banks-registry software his organization is donating is valued at $1,000.

Persuading Houstonians new and established to participate in the new time banks will be the next step in the process, says Mr. Fountain: “I just sent an e-mail off today to one of our community leaders who has a radio program — I’ve asked to be on the program.”

Churches, he says, will probably offer another good way to spread the word. He estimates that a total of 400,000 people have come to the Houston metropolitan area because they lost their homes on the Gulf Coast. “Where are they?” he asks. “It’s a publicity challenge. But it’s a necessity to find these people.”

“We just have to step out on faith,” says Mr. Fountain. “I don’t know what the magic bullet is, but we’re going to find it. We have to do it. And Edgar believes it, and I believe it.”