We are pleased to share the CDSC 2012 Annual Report with a years' worth of pictures and asking for your continued commitment to CDSC.

Click here to view the CDSC 2012 Annual Report.

We are proud to report that our favorite theme, Be All In, is clearly reflected in our accomplishments:

• BE focused on our mission to provide affordable mediation services and training.
• Make ALL of our efforts inclusive and collaborative.
• Celebrate the many ways volunteers participate IN our work.

As we look ahead to the new year, here are some of the issues we want to address:

•  How do we influence more people to choose mediation at earlier stages of conflict?
•  How do we educate more mediators to understand the impact of culture on resolving conflict?
•  How do we deliver conflict management skills to more organizations and agencies?

Your support matters in helping CDSC provide affordable and accessible mediation and training services to the community. We invite you to join our efforts by making a generous year-end gift.

    Be All In!

 Click here to make your gift to CDSC.

The Mimi Grosser Scholarship Fund

For more than two decades, Mimi Grosser has been an invaluable player in the CDSC lineup and a real role model for at least two generations of CDSC volunteer mediators, interns and Board members.
 

In Mimi’s honor and in recognition of the extraordinary service of CDSC’s volunteers, we created a permanent fund in Mimi’s name in 2013 that honors exceptional CDSC volunteers and provides scholarship support for deserving participants in CDSC training and professional development programs.
 

 The first winners of the Mimi Grosser Scholarship Fund Award were Judy Abrams and Harry Manasewich. Melissa Brodrick and Steve Lilly-Weber are the founding co-chairs of the Mimi Fund.

2013 Mimi Grosser Scholarship Fund Award:  Harry Manasewich & Judy Abrams
 

2014 Mimi Grosser Scholarship Fund Award: Roberta Kosberg & Jo-Ann Leinwand
 

2015 Mimi Grosser Scholarship Fund Award: Steve Morr-Wineman & Janice Durham

2016 Mimi Grosser Scholarship Awards: Ruven Liebhaber and Ellen Sullivan
 

Click here to make a gift to the Mimi Fund. All proceeds of the Mimi Fund are used to provide scholarship support for deserving CDSC training participants.

In Memoriam: Helen Ladd
1924-2012

Our mediation community has just lost an extraordinary person with the passing of Helen Ladd, a shining star to so many of us. Helen was an outstanding mediator, combining her compassionate understanding with her social worker sensitivity. Helen was affiliated with the Community Dispute Settlement Center for the past 20 years. She enthusiastically and generously supported CDSC as a mediator, board member and most recently a member of the advisory board. In 2004, she received one of our first Community Peacemaker Awards.

To read more about her amazing life's journey and the ceremonies
arranged to celebrate her, click here.
If you are interested in attending the gathering in Cambridge on Saturday, November 24th, please contact CDSC for RSVP information.

Click here to make a donation to CDSC in Helen's memory.

CDSC proudly announces the recipients of the 2013 Community Peacemaker award, to be honored at our annual Spirit of Mediation Celebration.

The CDSC Spirit of Mediation Gala was a huge success!

A special thank you to all of our friends and supporters.

This year's Gala was held on Thursday, October 18, 2012 at the Hotel Marlowe in Cambridge.

CDSC proudly announces the recipients of the 2012 Community Peacemaker award, to be honored at our annual Spirit of Mediation Gala.

Mediator House Party
June 13, 2012

Mediator House Party: CDSC had a wonderfully successful gathering to celebrate our pro bono Mediators and to thank them for their significant part in the success of FY2012. Our Executive Director, Gail Packer,  provided a “state of the union” and shared details of our 3-year strategic plan. Special thanks to Steve Manos, CDSC’s Board President & Mediator, and his wife Barbara Rubel for hosting the event.

CDSC has become involved in a very exciting and innovative collaboration with MA Coalition of Domestic Workers, comprised of member organizations who work with and advocate for nannies, housekeepers and personal care attendants. Together we just completed a 30 hour Mediation Training with 21 domestic workers and employers. The group was rich in cultural diversity as many of the trainees are bi-lingual in Portuguese and Spanish.This initiative will launch a new mediation program to address workplace disputes for domestic workers and employers, a first in Massachusetts and a model for the country.
This Phase One has been coordinated by the Brazilian Immigrant Center and Lydia Edwards, Director of Legal Services, with grant support from the Herman and Frieda Miller Foundation.

Phase Two of this project moves forward now, with support to CDSC from the JAMS Foundation.

Conflict & Culture: Mediating Locally is Mediating Globally

A Three-Part Seminar Series

CDSC is pleased to offer the mediation community a unique opportunity to explore Conflict and Culture. Mediators and disputants come from rich and varied cultural and ethnic backgrounds. Often disputants and mediators are not consciously aware that these backgrounds provide strong messages about a culturally perceived "right way" to fight and make up.

This first ever three-part series includes a workshop, a panel and a potluck seminar.

Congrats to CDSC Mediator, Roberta Kosberg!

Roberta made a donation to CDSC and hit a home run!

She is the lucky winner of the 4 pack of Red Sox tickets.

Thank you to all of those who supported CDSC.

Special thanks to Ralph W. Dunham and Wakefield Co-operative Bank.