This Sharing SLO page gives an overview of some of San Luis Obispo’s sharing economy.
Photo by Denise Carbonell (CC BY 2.0)
Every town has a “Sharing Economy,” which sometimes goes by names like “caring economy,” “solidarity economy,” “transition,” and “community resilience.” There are currently movements afoot around the world to try to organize local sharing economies and help them to grow and thrive. Elements of the sharing economy include:
- Making / Repurposing / Repairing / Recycling Things
- Food & Garden
- People Helping People
- Sharing Economy Entrepreneurs & Experiments
- Environmental Protection
- Commons and Public Spaces
- Skills-Sharing & Education
- Neighborhood and Common Interest Groups
- Health & Fitness
- Transportation
- Public & Local Media
- Legal Assistance & Mediation
- Free Public Events and Activities
- Housing
- …and more!
Making / Repurposing / Repairing / Recycling Things
- Bike Kitchen — bicycle maintenance education, parts recycling and do-it-yourself work
- E-Waste Fundraiser — let young techies repurpose your obsolete electronics
- iFixit — creates and hosts open-source repair documentation and produces how-to repair videos
- Recycled Building Materials — Habitat for Humanity ReStore, Box Kite Barnyard, SLO Green Build, Pacific Coast Lumber
- SLO Freecycle — keeping stuff out of landfills while building a sense of community
- SLO MakerSpace — an open, collaborative shop and idea laboratory where people can make their projects
- Studio Stitch — learn fabric arts skills (e.g. sewing) in workshops and classes
- Thrift Stores — giving used but usable clothes and goods a second chance
Food & Garden
Mostly Food & Beverage
- ASN Food Pantry — supplies clients with canned goods, dry goods, and toiletries
- Atascadero Loaves & Fishes Food Pantry — groceries and other household items for those in need
- Avila Valley Farm — teaches home canning/preserving
- Backyard Produce Exchange — SLO gardeners swapping their harvests
- Cal Poly Center for Sustainability — cutting edge topics in sustainable food systems
- Central Coast Home Vintners’ Association — cooperative purchases of grapes, mentoring of new vintners
- City Farm — organic agriculture, youth empowerment, community education and a CSA
- City Farm SLO — nonprofit that champions a sustainable local and regional food system
- Community Café Days — healthy food on a pay-what-you-can plan
- Community Supported Agriculture — several CSA local food delivery programs exist
- Doc’s Cellar — supports DIY homebrewers
- Dumpster Diving — last chance to save food before it goes to the landfill
- Farmers Markets — we have several in town
- Five Cities Christian Women Food Pantry — providing food to hundreds of needy families
- Food Bank — a source of food for people in need
- Food Not Bombs — giving away meals to anyone who'd like one, without asking permission
- Glean SLO — harvests and donates excess produce
- God’s Storehouse — share the Gospel by helping meet the nutritional and spiritual needs of others
- Little Free Pantries — sidewalk boxes of food and other essentials, free for those in need
- Master Food Preserver Program — learn and teach food preserving techniques
- Meals on Wheels — delivers nutritious meals to the homebound of all ages
- Meals that Connect — free, nutritious meals for seniors
- Paso Food Co-Op — maximizing abundance, access, and affordability of fresh, healthy, and local food
- People’s Kitchen — for more than 20 years has provided a noon meal to the hungry
- People’s Revolutionary Garden Network — gardening as a tool to fight oppressive systems
- Public Fruit Trees and Public Berry Bushes — glean a snack
- Real Food Collaborative — working with, learning about, and improving our food system
- SLO County Food System Coalition — promotes a sustainable food system that is equitable, profitable, resilient, and health promoting
- SLO Food Co-Op — provides members with products and information that empower health and wellbeing
- SLO Grown Kids — integrates gardens, farm experiences, locally grown produce, and nutrition into core academic curricula
- SLO Produce Exchange — home bakers and home growers swapping their goods twice a month
- Table Ware Share — borrow flatware for big events rather than buying landfill-filler
Mostly Farm & Garden
- Backyard Breeders — breeding pets at home
- Community Gardens — of which there are several
- FarmBot — automating gardening and open-sourcing gardening expertise
- (defunct?) Farmers Guild — where farmers can network and share resources with one another
- Firstfruits Farm — grows the freshest organically grown fruits and vegetables for neighbors in need
- Four Elements Farm — hosts permaculture design classes
- Growing Grounds Farm — a non-profit wholesale nursery
- SLO Botanical Garden — connecting people and plants
- SLO Permaculture Guild —
- SLO Seed Exchange — encourages the practice of cultivating and saving seeds
- (defunct?) Terra Foundation — programs in deep ecology, permaculture design, and more
People Helping People
- 100+ Women Who Care — pools charitable donations to make a large local impact
- 5 Cities Homeless Coalition — channeling community resources, volunteers, and donor assets to meet the needs of the homeless population through existing and new programs
- 70 Now — provides homes and crucial services for chronically homeless people
- Assistance League — clothing for schoolchildren in need
- SLO Big Brothers / Big Sisters — helps vulnerable children of single, low-income, and/or incarcerated parents succeed through one-to-one relationships
- CASA — advocates for the best interests of abused and neglected children within the court system
- Catholic Charities — family supportive services program
- Central Coast Assistive Technology Center — assistive technology services and ergonomic training
- Central Coast Coalition for Undocumented Student Success — supports undocumented students in our region
- Central Coast Commission for Senior Citizens — funnels taxpayer money to various local programs for seniors
- Central Coast Community Volunteers — matches locals aged 50 and above with local volunteering opportunities
- (defunct) The Common Good — discover opportunities to do good locally
- Community Action Partnership — provides and/or coordinates services for financially struggling people in SLO county
- ECHO — El Camino Homeless Organization, a shelter located in Atascadero, with associated services
- Family Care Network Inc. — serving children and families affected by trauma
- Grassroots II — helps San Luis Obispo residents in need
- Habitat for Humanity — builds and renovates homes to improve communities by partnering with families in need
- HelpSLO — a network for connecting people who need help with people who can help
- Hospice SLO — no one should have to face death, serious illness or grief by themselves
- Homeless Services Oversight Council — ensure that everyone has access to appropriate and affordable housing
- Independent Living Resource Center — promotes independent living and full access for individuals with disabilities
- Life Steps Foundation — meets the health, psychological, and socioeconomic challenges of people who are experiencing mental, developmental, or physical disabilities
- Long Term Care Ombudsman — an advocate for the welfare of people living in nursing or residential care facilities
- Los Osos Cares — food, health, housing, and transportation help for people in the Estero Bay community
- Love SLO — a one-day event that matches a mass of volunteers with short-term volunteering needs
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Lumina — provides services to empower Central Coast residents impacted by sexual and intimate partner violence
- RISE — provides crisis intervention and treatment to survivors of sexual and intimate partner violence and their loved ones (now part of Lumina)
- Stand Strong — assists those local victims of domestic violence who are women (now part of Lumina)
- Morph Project — helping women in crisis feel beautiful again
- PathPoint — helps people with disabilities or mental health diagnoses to build life skills and develop meaningful relationships
- Prado Day Center — the only day center serving the homeless population in the region
- Project Hope and Fairness — improves the economic and environmental sustainability of cocoa farmers
- Restorative Partners — improving the lives of people impacted by the criminal justice system
- Shower the People — brings mobile shower trailers to homeless people to serve them where they live
- SLO Red Cross — responds to disasters, provides lifesaving education, helps families prepare for emergencies, and keeps members of the Armed Forces connected with their loved ones
- RSVP — Retired and Senior Volunteer Program
- Senior Volunteer Services — promotes volunteer opportunities for mature adults & matches their experience, knowledge, and expertise to serve local community needs
- SLO4Home — helping Afghan refugees establish new lives and livelihoods on the Central Coast
- SLO Village — empowers older adults to live happily, healthfully, and successfully in their own homes as they age
- Student Community Services — community-oriented volunteer projects for Cal Poly students
- The Teen's Closet — offers free clothing, school supplies, and basic resources for teen-sized youth
- Tri County GLAD — serves the deaf and hard of hearing
- Tri-Counties Regional Center — provides lifelong services and supports for people with developmental disabilities
- UndocuSupport — helps undocumented and other immigrant families in SLO County
- Volunteer SLO — the volunteer resource for SLO County
- SLO Womenade — a network that donated items, time, and money to meet unmet financial essential needs in the county
- Wilshire Community Services — offers a variety of services to older people
Sharing Economy Entrepreneurs & Experiments
- Bitcoin-enabled businesses — allowing customers to use this innovative currency in "meatspace"
- Cal Coast Trade — local business barter network
- Central Coast Hour Exchange — an alternative time-based currency
- The Innovation Sandbox — helping Cal Poly students create inventions and start businesses
- Mama Ganache — retailer of fair trade chocolates and financial supporter of Project Hope and Fairness
- (defunct?) Cal Poly Net Impact — infuses values of sustainability in the business culture
- SCORE — free and confidential small business counseling
- SLO HotHouse — co-working space
- Slow Money SLO — a meaningful alternative to our current financial system that has run amok
- Softec — advances business formation and growth in the technology sector
B-Corporations
- Athleta — women's athletic clothing
- FarmBot.io — open-source gardening technology
- Ten Over Studio — architectural design
Credit Unions
Worker-owned Cooperatives
- (defunct?) Bike Delivery Cooperative — greener, faster, cheaper local delivery
- (defunct?) SloTech — tech resources supporting the cooperative economy
Cottage food producers
- —
Renewable and Off-the-Grid Energy Providers
- —
Environmental Protection
- Alliance for Nuclear Responsibility — keeping a watchful eye on nuclear power and waste storage
- Bioneers — innovative solutions for healing our world
- California Native Plant Society — increase understanding and appreciation of native plants
- SLO Clean Energy — wants to offer local energy consumers the choice of a local energy provider
- SLO Clean Water — aims to protect the SLO water system from the consequences of fracking
- SLO Climate Coalition — champions high-impact regional climate solutions
- Coastkeeper — defenders of the health of local waterways
- Ecologistics — creating a resilient and healthy community that is sustainable economically and environmentally
- ECOSLO — Environmental Center of SLO
- Empower Poly Coalition — an umbrella group of Cal Poly clubs concerned with sustainabiliy-related issues
- Guerrilla Gardening Club — advances ecological health through education and services
- Land Conservancy — prevent poorly planned development, protect water sources, restore habitat, & promote family farms
- One Cool Earth — a peaceful, abundant planet with a healthy environment for all through planting
- PowerSave Green Campus — makes sustainability improvements to Cal Poly buildings, programs, and activities
- Resilient SLO — helping individuals and households become more efficient and reduce negative environmental impact
- SLO Sierra Student Coalition
- Cal Poly Surfrider — dedicated to the protection and enjoyment of oceans, beaches, and waves
Commons and Public Spaces
- Adopt-a-Road — volunteers keeping county roads free from trash
- Bishop Peak Natural Reserve — the SLO open space that includes Bishop Peak
- Bike Trails — there are a bunch, for road bikes and for mountain bikes
- Central Coast Concerned Mountain Bikers — organizes community members to maintain local mountain biking trails
- Deep Dark — a mysterious and storied subterranean adventure downtown
- Hiking/Walking Trails — hiking and walking trails in the San Luis Obispo area
- Irish Hills — a city open space recreation area that is a popular hiking and mountain biking destination
- Laguna Lake — the city's only lake
- Los Osos Community Park — includes The Red Barn, a skate park, tennis courts, the historic Los Osos Schoolhouse, and picnic areas
- Meadow Park Slacklining Area — do your slacklining in the great outdoors
- Open Spaces — this land was made for you and me
- Parks & Beaches — great opportunities to stretch out and enjoy the outdoors
- Public Art and Box Art — you don't have to go to a museum or gallery; there's art all around
- SLOPOST — SLO Parks, Open Space, and Trails foundation
- SLO Skate Park — a delight for the skateboard fanatic
- Streets & Alleys — the great avenues of the polis, is a grander way of putting it
- Surf Breaks — where to go to catch a wave in the SLO neighborhood
- The Mission Wall — a place to work on your climbing chops, free, outdoors, in the middle of downtown SLO
Skills-Sharing & Education
- Central Coast Coalition for Inclusive Schools — supports safe and affirming school communities (for GLBTQ youth particularly)
- Central Coast Coalition for Undocumented Student Success — supports the education of young people who have immigrated to the central coast
- Child Development Resource Center — provides child development and therapeutic interventions to strengthen families
- CREEC Network — a clearinghouse of environmental education curriculum resources, professional development opportunities, events, programs, field trips, green school, and school garden efforts
- Family Care Network tutoring program — volunteers helping children learn
- Homeschoolers of the Central Coast — local homeschoolers who meet and coordinate activities for their children
- Lifelong Learners of the Central Coast — provides enriching educational, personal growth, and cultural opportunities
- Literacy For Life — assists adult learners and their families develop English communication skills
- Little Free Libraries — free books in your neighborhood
- Outside Now — offers nature-based educational programs
- PPP Cooperative Preschool — a school district program that runs with the active help of parents with enrolled children
- San Luis Coastal Adult School — empowering lifelong learners to reach their professional, personal, and family goals
- SLO Children’s Museum — a place for children to explore hands-on exhibits and programs
- SLO Parks & Recreation classes — classes for youth and adults in a variety of subjects
- SLO Permaculture Design Course — a 72-hour whirlwind of permaculture education
- SLO Transition Towns — hosting a “ReSkilling Expo”
- Spokes — trains and empowers nonprofits to fulfill their missions
- SUSTAIN SLO — learn together by designing and implementing projects that contribute to a thriving community
- Toastmasters — a peer-mentoring and practice group for people who want to improve their public speaking and leadership skills
Neighborhood and Common Interest Groups
- Cal Poly Ballroom Dance Club
- Community Emergency Response Team — learn basic preparedness and helpfulness skills for all types of disasters
- Cal Poly Fair Trade Club — seeking to promote fair and ethical trading practices
- Freeride and Sustainable Trails Association — builds sustainable freeride trails on the Central Coast of California
- GALA — the Gay And Lesbian Alliance of the Central Coast
- SeeClickFix — connects and engages citizens with city officials
- SLOCO Seniors — a social support group for senior citizens
- Talking Back: A Feminist Collective — an informal feminist discussion group
- TranzCentralCoast — supports the health and well-being of all members of the Transgender community
- Young Professionals Networking Group — peer connection, support, and community involvement for local young professionals
Religious Groups
- Front Porch — it's a cafe, it's a Christian outreach opportunity, it's free of charge
Support Groups
- Adult Children of Alcoholics
- Alcoholics Anonymous Central Coast Intergroup
Fraternal Organizations
- Cacophony Society — subverts the mundane and plays the knee-jerk reactions of the populace like a pipe organ
- Fraternities — Cal Poly's communal living and mutual benefit societies
- Rotary — fosters the ideal of service as a basis of worthy enterprise
- Xi Sigma Pi — Cal Poly's forestry honors society
Health & Fitness
- Access Support Network — assisting our neighbors, friends and families who are living with HIV disease / AIDS or Hep-C
- Coast Caregiver Resource Center — resources and assistance for people who care for people with brain injuries
- Community Counseling Center — provides short-term, low-cost, professional counseling for individuals, couples and families who would not otherwise be able to afford it
- Community Health Centers — enhances the health status of people in the Central Coast of California, with special emphasis on the medically underserved
- Fitness Court — free outdoor fitness equipment and a self-guided course
- Jack's Helping Hand — provides community programs that meet the unique challenges of children with cancer or special needs
- Low-Cost Yoga — free and very-low-cost yoga classes in SLO
- Noor Foundation — high quality free healthcare to uninsured people living within our community
- Planned Parenthood — combines medical services with education and public advocacy to enhance the quality of life for individuals and their families
- Pregnancy & Parenting Support — provides free services for local women, their infants, and families during pregnancy and for a year after birth
- RunFreeSLO — connects those who are experiencing life's challenges with the power of running
- Riso Family Loan Closet — short-term loans of durable medical equipment
- SLO Bangers — syringe-exchange program
- SLO Street Medics — emergency medical staff, caregivers, first responders, and friends who want to keep people as safe as possible in the chaos of political action
- Transitions-Mental Health Association — dedicated to eliminating stigma and promoting recovery and wellness for people with mental illness
- Vita Fitness Course — a course around Meadow Park that has stations set up for fitness exercises
- YMCA — helps you develop your mind, body, and spirit in a relaxed atmosphere that makes everyone feel comfortable and welcome
Transportation
- Bike SLO County — transforms San Luis Obispo County into a safer and more livable community by promoting biking and walking
- Cal Poly Bicycle Coalition — promotes and advocates for a better pedestrian and bicycling atmosphere at Cal Poly
- Ride-On — provides door-to-door transportation 24 hours a day every day with advance reservations
- Rideshare — promotes alternative modes of transportation such as biking, carpooling, or taking the bus
- SLO Safe Ride — facilitates safe transportation for people at events that facilitate inebriation
- SLO Transit — bus service in the San Luis Obispo area
Public & Local Media
- Amateur Radio — the local ham radio scene
- Blogs — do you know of a blog that covers the local scene? list it here.
- Cal Coast News — cranky, cantankerous, a thorn in the side of the local political establishment
- HopeDance — a local take on the latest in the left-leaning idealistic harmonic convergence zeitgeist
- KCBX public radio — the local NPR affiliate
- News by the People — reporting contributed directly to this wiki
- wikiSLO — you’re soaking in it
Legal Assistance & Mediation
- SLO ACLU — protecting what's left of civil rights in America, locally
- California Rural Legal Assistance — a nonprofit legal services program that strives for economic justice and human rights on behalf of California's rural poor
- Creative Mediation — provides dispute resolution services to individuals and organizations as a low-cost alternative to filing a suit in court or to resolve suits already filed
- SLO Legal Assistance Foundation — provides and promotes affordable legal-aid services, assistance in self-representation, and conflict resolution for low and moderate income individuals
- SLO Solutions — offers free conflict resolution services to all San Luis Obispo residents
Free Public Events and Activities
- Concerts in the Plaza — a series of a free, two-hour Summer evening concerts in beautiful Mission Plaza
- Disc Golfing — local, public disc golfing courses
- Free Events — some of the many free events in the SLO area
- Geocaching — a GPS-based treasure hunt for hidden containers containing some sort of surprise
- Lunchtime Bocce — free, Thursdays at noon, Emerson Park, all ages
- Write-A-Thon — spread the word and create content for this wiki
Bike Events
- Bike Breakfasts — a part of Rideshare's "Bike Month" that features free breakfasts for bicyclers
- Bike Happening — a monthly night-time bike ride through downtown SLO on the first Thursday of every month
- Bike-in Movie — a free, family-friendly event put on by Rideshare as a part of Bike Month
- Bike Month — an annual event celebrating bicycling in San Luis Obispo
- Full Moon Bike Rides — if you know the right people, you’ll be invited
- Little 500 — a bike race that happens a few times a year around the Terrace Hill Loop
- Tweed Ride — a leisurely bike ride where cyclists are expected to dress in traditional early 20th century attire
Housing
- Community Living — communes, co-housing, and people who happen to share the same roof
- HomeShare SLO — matches home providers (seniors with an extra room) with home seekers (people who need a room)
- Hope’s Village — hopes to provide sustainable community living for local unhoused adults in a tiny house village
- People's Self-Help Housing — provides affordable housing, home-ownership opportunities, and housing counseling services
- RVs for Veterans — links donors of campers and other such inhabitable recreational vehicles with homeless veterans who need a place to live
- SLO Housing Connection — aids people who are homeless and have exhausted standard available resources
- SLO Housing Trust Fund — more affordable housing in San Luis Obispo County for low and moderate income households
- Sunny Acres — provides a clean and sober environment for those with drug and alcohol addictions
- The Lavra — an intentional community of people dedicated to discovering new ways of interdependent living
- Tiny House Consulting — getting tiny homes on wheels in SLO city backyards as housing for low income residents
- Waterman Village — a tiny-house village being planned at the site of a historic adobe in San Luis Obispo
Miscellany
- Animal Rescue Organizations — shelters and rescue operations for animals
- Hack4Impact — engineers and designers who team up to develop technical tools for nonprofits
- Libraries — lending and research libraries of various sorts
- SLO Friends of the Library — supports the local public library and boosts local literary awareness
- Community Foundation of SLO — helps local donors establish, manage, and target charitable funds
- Toy Lending Library — enrich children’s experiences with age-appropriate toys
- United Way of SLO — recruits people and organizations to build a stronger, healthier, more compassionate community