START A MEDIATION CASEPast Events
Cultivating Common Ground
Restoring our Schools, From Empathy to Community
October 20, 2011
Nile Hall, Preservation Park
668 13th Street
Oakland, CA
Honoree: Rita Renjitham Alfred
Honoring Rita Renjitham Alfred, Restorative Justice and Crisis Response Consultant, for her notable restorative justice work in Oakland schools.
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Keynote Speaker: Lorraine Stutzman Amstutz
Co-Director of MCC Office of Justice & Peacebuilding
Co-Author of The Little Book of Restorative Discipline for Schools
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SEEDS' 3nd Annual Cultivating Common Ground event is an annual series of programs and workshops open to the community in celebration of National Conflict Resolution Day and will take place at Nile Hall in historic Preservation Park in downtown Oakland. At this year's breakfast, we will be focusing on the restorative justice work being done at local schools. The activities of the day will begin with an early morning breakfast program, where we are expecting over 100 government and community leaders, judges, attorneys, and professional and volunteer peacemakers.
After the breakfast, SEEDS will host a free program showcasing model restorative practices in East Bay schools. In the afternoon, Rita and Lorraine will put on an informative workshop on restorative practices in schools.
Breakfast: 7:30am-9am ($35)
Complimentary Program: 9:30am-12pm (complimentary)
Restorative Practices in Schools Workshop: 1pm-4pm (led by Rita Renjitham Alfred and Lorraine Stutzman Amstutz) ($50)
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Honorary Committee
Wayne Brazil, Professor from Practice & U.S. Magistrate Judge, N.D. CA (ret.), Berkeley Law
Millie Burns, Deputy Chief of Programs, Catholic Charities of the East Bay
Fania Davis, Executive Director, Restorative Justice for Oakland Youth
Keith Carson, Alameda Co. Supervisor, District 5
Lynn Cooper, Professor Emeritus, Sacramento State University
Edwin M. Epstein, Professor Emeritus, University of California, Berkeley
Paco Furlan, Principal, Rosa Parks Elementary School
Michael Hannigan, Give Something Back
Ron Kelly, Professional Mediator
Congresswoman Barbara Lee, California’s 9th Congressional District
Beatriz Leyva-Cutler, School Board President, Berkeley Unified School District
Russom Mesfun, Principal, Montera Middle School
Nancy Nadel, City of Oakland Councilmember District 3
Hon. Jean Quan, Mayor, City of Oakland
Libby Schaaf, City of Oakland Councilmember District 4
Julie Shackford-Bradley, Professor, University of California, Berkeley
Claudia Viera, Mediation Law Offices of Claudia Viera
David Yusem, Restorative Justice Program Manager, Oakland Unified School District
2011 Event Sponsors
SEEDS VISIONARY
Bay Area Association of SMACNA Chapters, Inc.
SEEDS LEADER
Give Something Back
SEEDS BENEFACTOR
Anonymous
Jane Gottesman and Geoffrey Biddle
Kaiser Permanente
Kazan, McClain, Abrams, Fernandez, Lyons, Greenwood, Harley & Oberman Foundation, Inc.
Paul & Hanley, LLP
SEEDS PARTNER
Bohbot & Riles, LLP
Lynn Cooper
Kim Garrett
Nina Senn, Mediator
SEEDS FRIEND
Wayne Brazil, JAMS
Edwin M. Epstein, Professor Emeritus, University of California, Berkeley
Judy Gordon
Diana Gray
Adele Grunberg
Evelyn J. Herrera, Attorney & Mediator
Greg Leventis
Mariana Moore Consulting
Mo Morris & Paul Steckel
Oracle Corporation
Nettie Pardue
Mark S. Rudy
Seven Generations
Barbara Steinberg
Arline Tyler
Van-Mulder Sheet Metal, Inc.
Claudia Viera, Mediation Law Offices of Claudia Viera
Walsh Property Management
Mediation & Conflict Resolution Skills Training
What Will be Covered: Communication Skills, Conflict Styles, Culture and Cultural Identity, Mediations Skills and SEEDS’ Mediation Model, Extensive mediation practice in small groups with coaching
Who Should Attend: YOU! It's for community mediator candidates, attorneys, therapists, human resource professionals, supervisors and managers, board members, CEO's, educators, community organizers, public officials, and many others.
When: Friday 4/8 6:30 - 9:30pm
Sat.-Sun. 4/9 & 4/10 9:00am - 5:00pm
Sat.-Sun. 4/16 & 4/17 9:00am - 5:00pm
Monday 4/18 6:30 - 9:30pm
Where: Berkeley Technology Academy, 2701 Martin Luther King Junior WayBerkeley, CA 94703
Workshop Fee: $435.00
Enrollment: Contact Adrienne @ SEEDS Community Resolution Center, 1968 San Pablo Avenue, Berkeley, CA 94702 or call (510) 548-2377
Online Registration Fee: $435, register here: Registration Page
Mail-in Registration: mail fee to 1968 San Pablo Avenue, Berkeley, CA.94702
Partial scholarships available.
Cultivating Common Ground - Connecting Peacemakers, Connecting Communities - October 21, 2010
The theme for SEEDS Community Resolution Center’s “Cultivating Common Ground” event on National Conflict Resolution Day - 2010 was “Connecting Communities, Connecting Peacemakers”.
Nina Senn, SEEDS President of the Board, introduced members of the audience to each other and highlighted indivi duals from several leading peacemaking organizations such as RJOY, Insight Prison Project, Community Works, FACES of the East Bay and SEEDS. Nina noted that “Even as effective and as wonderful as these people are, they cannot do it alone. We have whale-sized crises in our communities and we will only be successful if we all continue to do our work -- and we do so together.”
SEEDS Executive Director, Shar Etebar, highlighted some of SEEDS many successes this year:
• Provided SEEDS mediation, facilitation, and restorative justice services to close to 2000 clients.
• Achieved a 65% - 85% resolution success rate.
• Offered 37 high quality trainings, workshops and educational forums to over 700 people.
Shar also introduced Lisa Abregu. Only a few weeks into her SEEDS Restorative Justice Coordinator position at Longfellow Middle School in Berkeley, Lisa described the enthusiastic and quick acceptance of restorative circles by the students and staff there. She shared a moving story of a middle school student who was so inspired by the circle process that he apologized to his teacher in front of the other students.
Karen Haney-Owens, Court Mediation & RRIDRO Programs Manager, introduced SEEDS honoree, Commissioner Tom Surh. Commissioner Surh has been a strong supporter of mediation in his Small Claims courtroom for the past three years. She spoke for all of the volunteer mediators when she thanked Commissioner Surh for providing an alternative judicial approach, one which encourages the parties to resolve their conflicts themselves rather than relying on the judge’s determination. Commissioner Surh spoke about his longstanding commitment to mediation, and recognized the Small Claims Court mediation
program for its consistent and successful presence in his court.
The keynote speaker Wayne Brazil, Federal Magistrate Judge (ret.) and Professor from Practice at U.C. Berkeley Law School, had two inspiring messages that day as part of the journey to finding common ground, first to praise and then to challenge. He validated SEEDS community peacemaking work by saying “You don’t watch, you do. And you do without glamour or clamor, without drama or financial reward. You commit, you engage, you give. You and your work give reality to the word “community.” You are community, and we are deeply in your debt.” He then challenged the audience with a number of thought provoking questions such as: “Do we have the courage and the wisdom to turn to the people we serve and to ask them to teach us? Do we have the courage and the wisdom to ask them to permit us to venture, quietly and on their terms, into the parts of their world that are most real and most important to them?” His address was met with a standing ovation.
A SEEDS client, Claudia Ruiz, brought SEEDS into her world by asking SEEDS for help in resolving a dispute. She described how her experience with mediation had a significant positive impact in her life, including becoming a volunteer with SEEDS. Lynn Cooper, volunteer and former SEEDS Board member, encouraged the audience to support SEEDS so its services could be available to a greater number of community members.
Nina Senn closed by thanking the audience and by urging them to “stay in touch and stay connected.” She invited everyone to stay for the conflict resolution training and to join SEEDS and other leading peacemaking organizations at the “Peacemaker’s Café”.
2010 Annual CCG Honorary Committee
Claudia Albano, City of Oakland
Anthony Batts, Chief of Police, Oakland Police Dept.
Wayne Brazil, Professor from Practice & U.S. Magistrate Judge, N.D. CA (ret.), U.C. Berkeley School of Law
Millie Burns, Catholic Charities of the East Bay
Keith Carson, Alameda Co. Supervisor, District 5
Fania E. Davis, Ph.D., Restorative Justice for Oakland Youth
Edwin M. Epstein, Professor Emeritus, University of California, Berkeley
Michael Hannigan, Give Something Back
Ron Kelly, Professional Mediator
Alice Lai-Bitker, Alameda Co. Supervisor, District 3
Grande Lum, Accordence
Nate Miley, Alameda Co. Supervisor, District 4
Jean Quan, Councilmember, City of Oakland
Larry Reid, Councilmember, City of Oakland
Julie Shackford-Bradley, Professor, University of California, Berkeley
Gail Steele, Alameda Co. Supervisor, District 2
Claudia Viera, Mediation Law Offices of Claudia Viera
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2010 Event Sponsors
SEEDS VISIONARY
Bay Area Association Of SMACNA Chapters, Inc.
SEEDS LEADER
Give Something Back
Kaiser Permanente
SEEDS BENEFACTOR
Jane Gottesman and Geoffrey Biddle
Kazan, McClain, Abrams, Fernandez, Lyons, Greenwood, Harley & Oberman Foundation
Paul & Hanley LLP
SEEDS PARTNER
Lynn Cooper
Kim Garrett
Mary Mona
Mo Morris and Paul Steckel
Nina Senn, Mediator
SEEDS FRIEND
Bohbot & Riles, LLP
Denise Coleman
Gillian Edgelow
Peter & Margaret Edgelow
Diana Gray
Evelyn J. Herrera, Attorney & Mediator
Lieff, Cabraser, Heimann & Bernstein, LLP
Mariana Moore Consulting
Arline Tyler
Van-Mulder Sheet Metal
Claudia M. Viera, Mediation Law Offices of Claudia Viera
2 Day Conflict Resolution Skills Training: November 2010
The topics we covered at this year's training included:
♦ Communication skills: active listening, empathizing, asking clarifying questions, checking assumptions, identifying possible solutions
♦ Exploring hooks and triggers
♦ Strategies to de-escalate conflict
♦ Understanding positions and interests in conflict situations
♦ Conflict Styles: identifying and dealing with different styles
♦ Culture & cultural identity and how it relates to conflict
Please contact Barbara Lispon, Training and Facilitation Program Manager, if you would like to receive notices regarding upcoming trainings at barbara@seedscrc.org or (510) 548-2377.