Talk. Listen. Resolve.

Community Mediation Program

Older Adults Mediation Project

Community Mediation Program offers mediation for low-income seniors on the following topics and many more:

▪ Arguments within families about types of care, levels of independence and the like

▪ Roommate or neighbor disputes within retirement homes and nursing homes

Fights between children about the care for the Consumer disputes between the families of seniors and the facilities where the senior lives of receives services

Senior mediation gives a voice to the senior in their care and their life choices, and brings families together to discuss very difficult topics directly and openly in a comfortable setting.

CMP mediators have received 4 hours of sensitivity training regarding the mental and physical effects of aging, and staff have received a 20-hour advanced training in guardianship and caregiver mediation. 

CMP is also in dialogue with Circuit Court Guardianship judges and masters, to create a referral partnership for Guardianship cases. 

Currently being developed, Community Mediation Program’s Senior Mediation Project is a partnership with: Baltimore Commission on Aging and Retirement Education, Community Mediation Maryland; AARP; and Bob Rhudy, a CMP mediator and consultant who formerly ran Maryland Legal Services Corporation.

 

Blessed are the Peacemakers Project

Currently in development, the Blessed are the Peacemakers project is a community outreach, training, and fundraising campaign to support mediation and conflict resolution training within the faith communities of Baltimore city.  By reaching out to houses of worship of all faiths with a the promise of peace, reconciliation and empowerment that mediation can offer, CMP also hopes to build more and better partnerships in neighborhoods across the city.  This project has been funded in part by the Catholic Campaign for Human Development.

 

School Mediation Projects

Positive Personal Relationships is a two part project through which [1] we have trained every student in four middle schools; [2] we are conducting a 75-hour conflict resolution course for middle and elementary school teachers in partnership with Community Conferencing Center, Family Skills Alliance, and the Baltimore City School Police Force.

▪ Through the School Police force we will be training with teachers and students at 4 middle schools in Baltimore in collaboration with Community Conferencing Center and the Family Skills Alliance.  The project is called “Positive Personal Relations” (PPR) and we hope it will be renewed in the fall of 2006.

▪ In addition, we have agreed to train 60 teachers in conflict resolution skills.  The teachers are part of a year-long, 26-session weekly 3-hour course.  The project was developed by the School Police Force and with Title I funds.  Our contract is for $19,500.

▪ MACRO is funding CMP and the PPR partners listed above to create a marketable curriculum of PPR content, so that the training can be offered throughout the school district, in teacher’s colleges, and potentially in other jurisdictions.

Open Society Institute is funding CMP & Community Conferencing to completely transform the culture of one school by offering mediation, conferencing and skills training to every student and staff person.  The goal is to reduce suspensions and expulsions at Carter G. Woodson.

 

 

Young Mediator Initiatives

High-school aged mediators are mediating Parent-Teen and Youth-Youth conflicts throughout Baltimore city, serving as equals with adult co-mediators.

YO Centers. 

CMP will train the staff of the Youth Opportunities Centers across Baltimore youth conflict de-escalation training, and will recruit young mediators.

Mediation Camp.

CMP and Baltimore Urban Debate League recently completed their first joint summer camp in which middle schoolers learned both competitive debate and mediation.  The project was funded by the Crane Foundation, and the Maryland Mediation and Conflict Resolution Office (MACRO).

Young Mediators on Probation.

CMP has partnered with Community Mediation Maryland and the CHOICE Program of UMBC to recruit young mediators from among youth currently on probation.  The young people selected, who are in the process of changing their relationship to conflict and violence are being trained as mediators and outreach workers, and will receive a stipend for participation.

 

Parenting Plan Mediation Initiative

CMP mediates Parenting Plans for parents who are separated or were never a couple, who both want to be involved in their child’s life.  These emotional, often multi-session mediations help address a whole range of co-parenting issues, some of which are often labeled “custody & visitation” disputes.

Partners in this initiative include an array of family service centers as well as: the Baltimore City Circuit Court Family Division, Baltimore City Child Support Enforcement Agency, where 250 caseworkers have been trained to make referrals; and Community Mediation Maryland.

 

Juvenile Detention Center Mediation

Community Mediation Program was recently invited by the Maryland Department of Juvenile Services to train 40 staff in conflict resolution skills, and to train 20 youth currently in detention at the Baltimore City Juvenile Justice Center as young mediators.

CMP is also mediating youth-youth and staff-youth conflicts within the  Baltimore City Juvenile Justice Center (BCJJC).  These mediations, which happen weekly, have been a powerful alternative to violence.

 

Baltimore City Police Department Partnership

In 2006, Community Mediation Program again trained over 2000 police officers in conflict de-escalation, through 48 weeks of 2-hour inservice trainings. 

This year, CMP has placed two mediation liaisons in the Northern & Southwestern Districts to:

▪ Promote mediation while riding along with patrol officers;

▪ Present at Police Roll Calls;

▪ Process officer referrals using a tear-off referral pad; and

▪ Collaborate with Community Affairs officers.

This project has been funded in part by the Baltimore Community Foundation and the Police Department.

 

Maryland Office of the Public Defender Partnership

Community Mediation Program and the Office of the Public Defender have designed a comprehensive dispute resolution strategy within their office to:

▪ Provide 6 hours of conflict resolution training for all 1000 staff statewide;

▪ Provide a 50 hour mediator training for Baltimore City Public Defenders;

▪ Create and internal employee mediation system; &

Provide 50 hours mediator training for two groups of 24 mediators across the state.

 

 

Bilingual Mediation Project

Community Mediation Program has just launched mediation services in Spanish, following a planning process led by a Bilingual Mediation Roundtable of local service providers in the Latino Community.

Eleven fully bilingual Spanish- and English-speaking mediators have been trained and apprenticed. 

Non-Latino mediators at CMP have also received inservice training regarding mediation in the Latino Community.  The training was co-led by  Adriana Medina, a bilingual mediator and professor at UMBC, and Lydia Crafton Espinoza, .

This project launch was made possible by the Annie E. Casey Foundation and the National Association for Community Mediation.

 

College Mediator Training

Community Mediation Program is training a new generation of community mediators by partnering with local universities to offer 50-hour mediator trainings and apprenticeships.

UMB School of Law. 

The UMB School of Law’s Alternative Dispute Resolution Club hosts a January term training.

Johns Hopkins University.

JHU’s Center for Social Concern hosts an Alternative Spring Break mediator training for a mixture of undergraduate and graduate students.

University of Baltimore Apprenticeships.

In the UB Master’s Program Conflict Management and Negotiation, CMP offers apprenticeships to students who complete the mediation skills course taught by CMP founder Dr. Lorig Charkoudian.

 

Prison Re-entry Mediation Initiative

In October 2006, CMP launched a new project to mediate between soon-to-be-released inmates and the loved ones they are hoping to live or co-parent with.  Up to three mediation sessions will be offered to inmates and loved ones pre-release, and will be continued in their home community.  Initially, mediations will take place at Maryland Transition Center, Baltimore Pre-Release Unit, and Baltimore Pre-Release Unit for Women.

The project is a partnership between CMP and:

▪ Community Mediation Maryland;

▪ St. Frances Academy;

▪ Maryland Department of Corrections; and

Catholic Charities’ Maryland Re-entry Partnership.

 

 

Neighborhood Mediation Initiative

Community Mediation Program works with local neighborhood associations, community development corporations, community centers, rec centers, libraries, houses of worship and umbrella groups to help people resolve neighborhood conflicts.

 

State’s Attorneys Office Partnership

Community Mediation Program provides three Mediation Liaisons stationed at the three Baltimore City State’s Attorneys Office District Court locations. 

These Mediation Liaisons search for mediate-able neighbor disputes among criminal misdemeanor cases.  By working closely with Assistant State’s Attorneys, these Liaisons have referred over 1000 cases for possible community-based mediation. 

 

Baltimore City Employee Mediation Project

By contracting with the Baltimore City Office of the Labor Commissioner, Community Mediation Program helped design the Baltimore City Employee Mediation Project. 

City government union leaders and the human resources directors of seven city departments have been trained by CMP to mediate worker disputes within each others’ divisions. 

The new mediators have also designed a promotion plan to market the service within city government.  Case management will be provided by CMP in the first years of the project.

 

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