Right-to-repair refers to a movement where people are fighting worldwide for the right to continue to repair products the we own, as well as for the right for us to choose who repairs them.

“The right to repair refers to proposed government legislation to forbid manufacturers from imposing barriers that deny consumers the ability to repair and modify their own consumer products.” | Wikipedia

Why Right-To-Repair is Needed

• Planned Obsolescence: companies are purposely building their products to break faster, so you have to pay to replace them sooner.
• Unfixable Products: some products will have their components soldered, glued, or riveted, to stop people from being able to repair.
• Brand-Specific Parts: These parts may cost more than buying a new product. As well as that, some companies refuse to let independent repair technicians purchase their parts to try and force costumers to only use the product company for repairs.
• Restrictive Programing. For these, the programs refuse to let you fix your own products (a large example of this happens to farm equipment, where farmers have to hack their own equipment if they want to repair on their own).

How to Help

• Join right-to-repair movements in your area
• Support organizations like iFixIt, Repair Clinic, Repair Cafe and Farm Hack.
• Consider buying repair-friendly products, like the Fairphone.

#righttorepair #repairing #fixing #communitybuilding

Swap:

If you swap something with someone, you give it to them and receive a different thing in exchange.

Collins

Many people today are focused on being hyper-independent; this, however, is not how life has always been for everyone.

Have you ever heard of the term “barn raising?” Barn raisings (aka a raising bee) was when a whole community — especially in 18th-19th century North America — would get together to build a barn or other structure. With so many hands at the ready, they could build an entire barn in a day.

No one would be paid for their work, and the whole community was expected to help. Often, finishing would be celebrated with a feast and dance.

The idea of this is that you help your neighbor with the knowledge that you may need that help in the future.

Instead of taking on every task yourself, you lean on a community to take on some of the load. Here are some examples of how some people are working on this:

Seeds and Seedling Swaps

Some communities organize seed swaps, where you have a gathering for people to exchange seeds. This is a great way to swap something you have a lot of for something you have never tried before.

This system is particularly helpful for people who seed save from the previous harvest.

Can’t go with the community option? There are online seed exchanges as well.

Note: in some places, this is illegal. For example, in some of the USA states, patents are held on the seeds themselves. As well as that, there are also laws “intended to protect farmers” from weeds. Some people host these events anyways, while lobbying their local governments to make changes.

Harvest Exchanges / Crop Swaps / Food Swaps

While seed swaps tend to happen before the growing season, harvest exchanges happen during harvest times. By then, you will hopefully have produce of some kind from your garden, and if you have extra, you can exchange it with the produce of someone else. For example, if you grow tomatoes, you could leave with some carrots and apples.

This does not have to be on a large scale, either. You could set up a plan with friends where you each grow something different, then plan to swap at the end of the season.

There are also online options for this as well.

Some of these also expand into finished goods; such as baked food, canned foods, and so on. These are called “Community Food Swaps.” There are online directories for these.

Clothing Swaps

I hope you are getting the idea by now, but just in case, people gather, and exchange clothes that no longer fit or no longer match their style, for clothes they do need.

Putting it simply, the events have tables (organized by clothing type and size) for you to put your clothing onto. You can go to any table, and grab the clothes you need.

If there are any clothes not claimed by the end of the event, they can be donated.

Knowledge Swaps

If you have a skill of some kind, you may be able to swap it for the knowledge someone has on a different subject. For example, if you know how to fix jewelry, that might be worth trading for someone who knows how to mend clothing.

For these, you literally exchange the skills by teaching the other person. Any skill you have, even holding chopsticks properly, could very well be a skill someone wants to learn, so do not doubt yourself.

Work Swaps

Just as it sounds: you exchange a job for a job. For example, let’s say you are good at graphics design but need a sink fixed; you could give a plumber the logo they need for marketing, while they repair your sink.

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#communities #communitybuilding

Housing First is a powerful, proven approach to ending homelessness—one that starts with a simple but radical idea: people need stable housing before anything else.

Instead of requiring people to get sober, find work, or jump through bureaucratic hoops first, Housing First gives individuals a permanent place to live right away, then connects them with support services like healthcare, counseling, and job training.

Finland’s Success Story

Silta’s community space, where tenants go for gardening or group BBQs. Image by Lilly Dietz. Finland, 2024.

While the Housing First model was originally developed in the United States in the 1990s, Finland has become one of its most successful adopters. In just over a decade, Finland has reduced homelessness dramatically—from over 20,000 people to under 4,000, making it the only EU country where homelessness is consistently declining.

The key to Finland’s success:

• Permanent housing is treated as a basic human right
• Support services are optional but available, not conditional
• There’s a focus on community and dignity, not punishment

One example is Silta, a housing unit with communal gardens, BBQ spaces, and gathering areas where tenants can build connections and find purpose.

• 🎥 Inside Finland’s Approach
• 🎥 Finland’s Housing First Documentary
• 📰 Pulitzer Center – A Look at Finland’s Housing First Initiative

Housing First in the United States

Though the U.S. invented Housing First, adoption has been uneven. Some cities have launched successful programs, but many regions still prioritize temporary shelters or emergency interventions over long-term stability.

• 🎥 Housing First in the U.S. – Explained

Why It Matters

Housing First is a real-world policy that:

• Reduces homelessness and poverty
• Increases public health and safety
• Treats people with respect and dignity
• Reduces long-term public spending on emergency services and shelters

In short, it’s a practical, compassionate model that shows what’s possible when we prioritize people over punishment.

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#communitybuilding #housing

Picture a vending machine where you can rent a space inside, or the whole machine. If you can't afford to rent a building, this would give you a space to try and sell your goods with less risk.

For an example of this in action, vending machines are being used by many farmers so that they can make back more profit than what they get from the store store. This is because they can skip all the middleman fees, and instead sell directly to the customers.

“For every dollar we spend on food, only about 16 cents goes to the farmer. ” Tracie McMillan

In many farming communities, you will come across a “honour code” stand, where farm goods are sold at the end of their property, and they are trusting you to leave the correct amount of money for what you take. The vending machines do the same thing, but in a more secure way for the farmers.

It is not just for farmers, though. In some cities, you can rent boxes within the machine. Machine rentals are also becoming more common, where you can rent a whole machine, so you might see a machine in a local park selling sports equipment, or perhaps one selling books or local art.

On top of being great for the sellers, vending machines can also bring products to neighborhoods that do not have stores in walking-distance.

“Food deserts can be described as geographic areas where residents' access to affordable, healthy food options (especially fresh fruits and vegetables) is restricted or nonexistent due to the absence of grocery stores within convenient traveling distance.” | Food Empowerment Project

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#CommunityBuilding