Grace Hill's MORE: Neighbors Helping Neighbors
Professional services can never meet all the needs of a community's residents, nor would it be desirable for them to do so. Tapping people's natural caring and capacity to help one another broadens the sources of support for children and their families and bolsters the sense of self-worth and personal efficacy of those who give as well as receive. This idea of "neighbors helping neighbors" is the foundation of Grace Hill's Member Organized Resource Exchange (MORE), which uses the Time Dollar concept developed by Edgar Cahn. Time Dollars are an alternative form of currency that allows bartering of services to operate on a community-wide basis; an hour of service performed for someone else in the network earns one Time Dollar. Through MORE, members earn Time Dollars by providing help to other members, and can use the Time Dollars to obtain goods and services that they in turn need. Making a "bet" that this organization's well-developed implementation of the innovative Time Dollar approach could inform and inspire others, the Annie E. Casey Foundation provided a modest amount of funding over a number of years so that Grace Hill could serve as a demonstration site and source of technical assistance.
- Since MORE was fully computerized in 1991, service activity by residents has generated over 670,000 Time Dollars which, calculated at minimum wage, would have an equivalent monetary value of $3.5 million.
- With support from the Foundation, Resident Ambassadors hosted visits by over 260 groups from across the country and from foreign countries such as Japan and Germany.
- The Annie E. Casey Foundation’s endorsement and the strength of the MORE system have played an important part in Grace Hill's ability to secure a wide variety of grants and contracts, including being designated as one of the two Head Start providers in St. Louis, with responsibility for over 1,500 children and their families.
For more information, see the full Grace Hill's Member Organized Resource Exchange Program Profile, which provides background information, why this was of interest to the Casey Foundation, and return on investment. Also, Dr. Theresa Mayberry-Dunn, former president/CEO, Grace Hill Settlement House; Vickie Lomax, board member and resident ambassador; and George Eberle, former executive director (1960 – 1998), talk about the program In Their Own Words.
Contact:
Grace Hill Settlement House
www.gracehill.org
2600 Hadley Street
St. Louis, MO 63106
314-539-9500