About Us
The Sharehood began in September 2008 in Northcote, a lentil belt suburb of Melbourne, Australia. Theo Kitchener delivered a letter inviting 250 neighbours of his neighbours to create a local community and share household goods, skillshare with each other, and get to know one another. Theo then developed the beginnings of this website. Since then, we have grown into a small collective and have become an incorporated not-for-profit association.
As you can imagine, the Sharehood has a lot of aims. Mostly it is about building community. Individuals with community are much more empowered, secure and active. Additionally, the environment is one of the major things the Sharehood is all about, composting and community gardens are often the first issues that come up for a community, and additionally, sharing resources means less production, consumption and transportation, all good for the environment.
Not only is sharing also good for saving money individually, it also directs resources away from the mainstream economy and back into the community sphere. Thus reversing the trend of markets expanding into areas such as cooking and childcare previously provided by the household and local community. The Sharehood also incorporates a local currency which can be used for bigger trades with the aim of creating local non-exploitative community economies.
There are now over twenty 'hoods' operating mainly in Melbourne, but also around Australia and the world. There is massive potential for the Sharehood to grow globally, and if you're interested in helping spread the Sharehood in your city or region, please let us know as we want to get regional groups started all over the place.
The Sharehood organisation itself is just starting to grow, we've got a small core group of volunteers now working on the project, and we've just hired an admin person to work one day a week. Media attention has been growing mostly by itself, including an article in Adbusters and an article in The Sunday Age, though we want to start being more proactive about getting media attention and promoting ourselves. We've recently redesigned the site, are constantly adding to and updating the content and programming new features. We're learning more about community development, consulting with those in existing hoods and community development workers to put together resources for the site and figure out ways we can help communities grow. We have really big plans to change the world and we're only just starting to scratch the surface. If you'd like to get involved, that would be fantastic.
We hold information evenings in Melbourne on the third Monday of every month at 7pm and fortnightly meetings on the first and third Monday of the month at 8pm. Everyone is welcome to come along and join us at these meetings at our office at 17 Kerr St, Fitzroy, Melbourne. If you aren't in Melbourne, get in contact with us and maybe you can skype in to the meeting. You're also welcome to let us know and drop by for a chat at our office, or just get in touch to talk to us about anything you like, feedback, criticisms or suggestions, the Sharehood is here to be shaped by its community.