If you are wondering, "Why should I support the Sharing Cities Network?" We thought you might want to hear from the movement's leaders in their own words.
"Besides the practical benefits like sharing tools, learning from others' successes and mistakes, and growing a new economy movement, there's energy from connecting with other thoughtful, creative folks around the country who 'get it.' This work is rewarding, but in some parts of the country, working to grow a sharing economy can ironically be lonely. It's so important to belong to a community of supportive peers engaged in similar experiments daily." –Jess Daniel, Director of Foodlab Detroit
"Building a Sharing Cities Network is so important because we are all interconnected and have a responsibility to teach each other how to build a more humane world." –Autumn Rooney, founder of California Federation of Timebanks and LA Map Jam
"Without true economic democracy, we may never see racial nor economic justice, and therefore the tools to implement economic democracy through networks of sharing are imperative to our collective liberation. Virtually every race and ethnic group in this country has embraced economic cooperation and meaningful sharing as a cultural value and survival tactic within their own community" – Esteban Kelly, AORTA Collective and New Economy Coalition
"To correct deep injustices in the world and to pull back from the environmental precipice, relying on each other may be our only hope of surviving. It's crucial to re-imagine our economy rooted in scarcity and unlimited growth and create one based on the ancient human values of sharing & cooperation, living in symbiosis with nature. The Sharing Cities Network can help create the sustainable and equitable communities we know are necessary." -Zay Thompson, Founder of KC ARTS Ecovillage Project and the Kansas City Map Jam
"The Sharing Cities Network could be an amazing platform for leaders and innovators to share best practices, insights and successful models with those in other cities. It helps to create a catalog of projects in the sharing economy so that any city can start being more shareable." –Lucy Gao, Marketing Director of Unstash, Canadian Curator of Collaborative Consumption, Toronto Map Jam
"Because policy makers love precedent. Very few cities are willing to be the first to adopt untested new policies. But with a network, you can show examples and data from other cities that you couldn't get before." –André Primus, Founder of RocShare, Rochester Map Jam
"SCN can help cities incubate breakthrough solutions that enable people to actively participate in the co-creation of essential systems like food, energy, transport and governance." –Darren Sharp, Coordinator of Melbourne, Australia Map Jam
"The impact of our consumption has begun to take its toll on the environment, our community and ourselves. In the last 60 years our national happiness rate has gone down in direct relation to our increased consumption of (mostly) junk. The Sharing Cities Network has the power to shift how we create real happiness in our lives and communities." -Tom Llewellyn, Founder of Share Asheville and Asheville Map Jam
"Free information and communication is essential to leverage power towards the local democratic control of the people. Technology has made this possible and the Sharing Cities Network is making it happen." –Ricardo Simon, Coordinator of Bay Area Community Exchange and Oakland Map Jam
"The Sharing Cities Network is important for us who live in cities to remember the beauty of seeing, hearing, touching, understanding and connecting with each other. The Sharing Cities Network is important to make us see we have enough, we have our community just around us if we can only see." –Ayşegül Güzel, Coordinator of Zumbara, Instanbul
"The Sharing Cities Network is an important part of the new economic movement because it fosters and reawakens the sense of social connection, empowerment and humanity in people instead of making us feel isolated, unfulfilled and desperate as the old economy does." –Kent Palmer, Coordinator of Denver Map Jam
"Sharing has shifted the dynamic of entire communities. With families dispersed, high unemployment and cuts to services, having strong, networked sharing communities is critical. When people pool and share skills and resources, everyone wins – individuals access services they need freely and organizations sustain themselves." –Mashi Blesh, Director of VNSNY Timebank, New York
"If we are to reverse the trend towards greater economic inequality – we will need very different ideas, organizations, and policies to transform our society than currently dominate public discourse. The Sharing Cities Network will be a vital tool to help these new ideas take root and change, well … everything." –Noah Heller, Founder of Share Portland
"Grassroots organizing is strengthened when local groups are able to connect with others who share principles and are engaged in similar practices and strategies. For grassroots economic organizing especially, the Sharing Cities Network holds the promise of connection that is essential to building a solidarity economy that values democracy and social justice." –Cheyenna Weber, Co-founder, Project Coordinator of Solidarity NYC
"It's not often that we have the opportunity to build something this big together that addresses social, environmental and economic issues simultaneously. It's here now, and we should seize the potential to launch a movement on a worldwide scale. There is strength in numbers, and with a networked sharing economy, the whole truly is greater than the sum of its parts." –Ryan Gourley, Founder of A2Share, Ann Arbor
"Think about it, what project has more potential for deep, lasting change than sharing as a blueprint for the transformation of our culture?" –Mira Luna, Organizing Director of Shareable
It's a huge project to build a worldwide network from the grassroots. You can help by making a donation today and sharing it with your friends. If you'd like to participate as a sharing city connector or volunteer for the network, please contact mira@shareable.net. Thank you for your support!
