When Farah Tanis began to meet with a group of low-income women to discuss their economic challenges, she found that nine out of 10 were survivors of domestic violence or sexual assault.
“Most of us had grown up in poverty and we started looking at what were the systemic causes of poverty for us,” said Tanis. “We started looking at economic security as a human right and an extension of the civil rights.”
Out of those conversations came the Black Women’s Blueprint, a group that now anchors a bartering network, a sou-sou (savings pool) and several other cooperative projects.
“Through our barter network we were able to barter food for the week, for a car ride for the week, and that’s what sustained many of us.
“It prevented homelessness, starvation and kids being left at home alone by themselves. The barter network builds community and it builds trust,” Tanis, co-founder and executive director of Black Women’s Blueprint, said at a panel discussion co-sponsored by GRITtv.
[For more of this story, written by Laura Flanders, go to http://billmoyers.com/2014/09/...y-through-bartering/]
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