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Topics:
Youth
Community
Boards of San Francisco Strengthen
"Civic Muscles" through Conflict Resolution
Believing
that the community is where the responsibility for problem solving
and conflict resolution should first fall, where the most effective
prevention work can be done, and where meaningful lessons about
conflict and its impact on friends, neighbors, and community can
best be learned, the Community Board Program provides free community
mediation services in San Francisco and offers conflict resolution-related
program development and training assistance to schools, juvenile
correctional facilities, and other agencies nationwide. Story
and case study plus.
Contents
Story:
Community Boards of San Francisco Teach and Practice Conflict
Resolution
Case Study Plus: Strengthening Our
Civic Muscles, an
essay by Terry Amsler of the Community Board Program.
Story:
Community Boards of San Francisco Teach and Practice Conflict
Resolution
The
community is where the responsibility for problem solving and
conflict resolution should first fall, where the most effective
prevention work can be done, and where meaningful lessons about
conflict and its impact on friends, neighbors, and community can
best be learned. Many disputes are tolerated because people perceive
no effective and available mechanism for their resolution. Legal
remedies may be expensive and time-consuming, or simply not appropriate.
To use adversarial processes, or to simply turn the problem over
to an agency, does little to prepare people for handling ongoing
or future conflicts more effectively. Instead, the Community Board
Program provides free community mediation services in San Francisco
and offers conflict resolution-related program development and
training assistance to schools, juvenile correctional facilities,
and other agencies nationwide.
A Vietnamese
boy hits a Filipino boy over the head with a pipe in the school
yard. A white youth sprays graffiti on a storefront near his school
and gets into trouble with a Latino shopkeeper. An African-American
girl is offended by remarks of a Korean classmate, and the incident
escalates into name-calling and threats on both sides that spill
into the neighborhood.
Encounters
such as these between people of differing racial and ethnic backgrounds
are on the rise, and are potentially explosive. Verbal insults
or threats can rapidly escalate into physical attacks. Hate violence
can kill.
This all-too-familiar
cycle of prejudice and violence is being short-circuited by mediation,
an approach to conflict resolution promoted in schools and urban
neighborhoods by The Community Board Program, also known as Community
Boards.
The purposes
of the Community Board Program are to promote the theory and practice
of conciliation and mediation as effective forms of dispute resolution,
and to develop the capacity of neighborhoods, institutions, and
other types of "communities" to express and resolve their own
conflicts. There is an increasing programmatic emphasis on bringing
such skills and processes to youth and families.
In San Francisco,
nearly 300 Community Boards' volunteer mediators hear and help
resolve a wide range of conflicts referred directly from the community
as well as from Police, Juvenile Probation, Department of Social
Services, Small Claims Court, and other city agencies and organizations.
One-third of the mediators are people of color, and a growing
number are young people, aged fifteen and older.
Terry Amsler,
Executive Director of Community Boards, believes that youth conflict
resolution in the schools is the key to peace in the neighborhoods.
"The issues around youth violence have resulted in a greater awareness
of the need for the mediation process," he said.
Rather than
ending in tragedy or landing in court, disputes handled by conflict
resolution can be resolved peaceably by youths and people of all
ages trained in the skills of mediation. Disputants are brought
face-to-face before neutral parties to tell their stories. The
mediators don't decide who's right or wrong, but assist people
in reaching their own agreement.
Infusing
Conflict Resolution into Whole School Culture
Beginning
in 1981, the Community Board Program began working with San Francisco
schools, developing peer mediation (or "conflict managers") programs
for elementary schools. This model was subsequently adapted for
middle and high schools as well, and assistance is now provided
to interested schools in the United States and Canada through
national institutes, on-site trainings, and the dissemination
of conflict manager curricula.
Additionally,
elementary and secondary school classroom
conflict resolution curricula have also been developed, field-tested
and published for a national schools audience. It has been estimated
that Community Boards' conflict manager programs and curricula
are presently in use in more than 2,000 schools throughout North
America.
Community
Boards offers the following comprehensive services to K-12 schools:
- Scheduled
national Institutes providing training in conflict resolution
skills and implementation of student Conflict Manager programs
for grades 3 to 12.
- On-site
training and consulting designed to introduce and establish
peer mediation programs.
- Classroom
conflict resolution curricula (K-12) including skill building
activities for effective communication and peaceful problem
solving.
- Training
for adults in conflict resolution skill building and mediation.
- Conflict
Manager (peer mediation) training manuals and videos.
- Technical
assistance for building culturally sensitive peer mediation
programs.
- Consultation
services to plan and implement district-wide conflict resolution
programs.
Whole
School Approach to Conflict Resolution
During the
15 years of experience working in the schools conflict resolution
field, Community Boards' approach and philosophy has evolved.
Through evaluation and follow-up analysis, we have learned that
the effectiveness and longevity of peer mediation programs are
greatly enhanced with a school-wide application of conflict resolution
skills and principles involving all school constituencies (teachers,
administrators, parents, and students). Training and consultation
for these "whole school" applications may include: combining peer
mediation with conflict resolution classroom curricula; conflict
resolution skills and processes for adults; building culturally
sensitive peer mediation programs; and managing a range of adult
and large group conflicts (i.e. among students, staff, and parents).
Conflict
Resolution Programming for Juvenile Detention and Correctional
Facilities
"Our wards
are here in part because they have experienced conflict in their
lives and did not know how to resolve it appropriately. Community
Boards' Conflict Manager program teaches these young men the
skills to approach a conflict in a mature manner and resolve
it in a socially acceptable fashion."
-
John Cunningham, Superintendent,
Harold Holden Ranch for Boys, Morgan Hill, California
In 1987,
Community Boards, with the support of the California Office of
Criminal Justice Planning, initiated work to develop a peer mediation
model for juvenile correctional facilities. Self-sustaining programs
have been initiated in the San Francisco Bay Area, and a statewide
conference was held to introduce the peer mediation idea to other
juvenile facilities throughout the State.
The goals
of infusing conflict resolution into juvenile settings include:
- to improve
communication and problem-solving skills among staff and youth;
- to enable
youth to practice alternatives to violence in dealing with conflict;
- to empower
youth to resolve appropriate conflicts at the facility through
mediation;
- to reduce
tension levels, promote safety, and improve staff/youth relationships;
- to reduce
rule infractions and "add on" time for youth;
- to enhance
leadership skills, self-esteem and academic achievement for
youth;
- to improve
communication between youth and their parents; and
- to supplement
and complement other programs at the facility.
Conflict
Resolution Skill-Building among Staff and Youth
Community
Boards provides on-site training in communication, problem-solving,
anger management, and other conflict resolution skills to facility
staff and youth. By giving residents a model for the positive
expression and resolution of problems, they can learn alternatives
to violent and self-defeating behavior. In addition, Community
Boards conflict resolution curricula can be taught in education
programs or living units at the facilities. It has been shown
that youth leaving the facility continue to apply these skills
at home, at school, and in the community.
Youth-To-Youth
Peer Mediation - Conflict Managers Program
Youth trained
as Conflict Managers (peer mediators) help other young people
resolve disputes that arise in the facility. Peer mediation can
reduce the number and seriousness of conflicts and rule infractions,
enhance resident and staff safety, and limit staff time spent
on discipline. The mediation process is introduced not to replace,
but to supplement existing disciplinary policies and procedures.
Peer mediators are equipped to handle many of the day-to-day disputes
that arise in a correctional setting. Beyond conflicts between
individuals, this conflict management process has been successfully
applied to groups or gangs of facility residents. Evaluations
of peer mediation programs suggest a 37% decrease in disciplinary
infractions. The peer mediators themselves develop leadership
skills, improved self-esteem and academic achievement, as well
as reduced recidivism rates.
Parent/Child
Mediation
In an effort
to ease the transition of youth from the facility back to the
home environment, parent/child mediation sessions are encouraged.
The purpose of this mediation is to improve communication processes
and negotiate agreements for day-to-day life upon the youth's
return home. These mediation sessions can be conducted by community
mediation programs serving the geographical area where the facility
is located, or by a combination of specially trained facility
staff and youth. Community Boards can assist in the development
of trained community mediators where necessary.
Conflict
Management for Juvenile Treatment Facilities
This Community
Boards' published manual is an invaluable tool for anyone interested
in innovative approaches to helping young people in trouble. It
provides both a peer mediator training program and a step-by-step
approach to implementing a Conflict Manager program. The manual
also includes detailed program evaluation guidelines and forms
to assess outcomes and goals.
Story written
by Abigail Lawrence, a CPN editorial intern, using material provided
by the Community Boards, including an article published by the
San Francisco Foundation.
Case
Study Plus: Strengthening Our Civic Muscles
by
Terry Amsler
Community Board Program
Reprinted with permission from Lifelines, Summer 1996, a publication
of the San Francisco Foundation. Copyright @copy 1996 by the San
Francisco Foundation.
Paul DuBois,
the Co-director of the Center for Living Democracy has called
Americans "political couch potatoes." He claims that there is
a vast difference between our behavior and "what's really in the
hearts, or troubling our minds." Harry Boyte, the Co-director
of the Center for Democracy and Citizenship and another observer
of the state of our communities, claims that we have let our "civic
muscles" weaken.
Both comments
go to the same questions that have prompted so much of the recent
debate on the state of our civic well-being. These concerns touch
on our capacity to participate in a shared public life, to act
on behalf of a larger common good, to have trust in one another,
and to engage in the "civil conversations" necessary to bridge
the divisions that separate us. In simpler terms perhaps, there
is a sense that we need more "good citizens," not in the legal
or "rights" sense of the term, but as public problem solvers sharing
in some sense of a common purpose.
The American
Civic Forum's "Civic
Declaration" suggests we need a society where "public problem
solving takes the place of private complaint," and where "all
give life to liberty, and rights are complemented by the responsibilities
that make them real."
While any
claims that community mediation makes for enhancing our civic
life must be made humbly and kept in proper perspective, they
are real nonetheless.
Conflict
Resolution skills are the foundational skill for building civil
society. The skills of effective speaking, listening, asking questions,
collaboration and problem solving instill in individuals a willingness
and ability to participate as problem-solving oriented members
of the community. They make us better social listeners and learners.
Mediation
process is a basic building block of an effective civic culture.
The ongoing availability of free neighborhood forums where people
can come together to discuss and problem solve is an indispensable
vehicle for fortifying the civic infrastructure.
Community
mediation programs, primarily through the use of volunteer mediators,
promotes the principle of responsibility. By taking responsibility
for paying attention in the disputing needs of the neighborhood,
these programs are saying that this is not simply the work of
the police, courts, etc.—this is the community's work.
Community
mediation programs strengthen the notion of community service.
Those who are helped to resolve conflicts obviously benefit, but
so do those that provide the mediation. Helping others resolve
disputes provides insightful information about one's community
and offers the opportunity to work in common with others, perhaps
with people quite different from yourself.
The nature
of community service in conflict resolution is particularly empowering
in both principle and in practice. And taking on such responsibility
is exactly the sort of exercise which strengthens those "civic
muscles" described by Harry Boyte.
A stronger
civic culture and an enhanced capacity for civil conversation
does not mean that we can ignore the necessary reforms of our
political and economic systems. However as Ray Shonholtz, Director
of Partners for Democratic Change, and founder of Community Boards,
has said:
Building a primary justice system at the community level affects
not only the conflicts that people have, but the community life
of the neighborhood and the capacity of citizens to work together
in common purposes. The vitality and essentiality of this civic
exercise is a keystone to the success of the democratic experience.
More
Information
Krista Timlin,
Programs Coordinator
Community Boards
1540 Market Street, Suite 490
San Francisco, CA 94102
Phone 415/552-1250
Fax 415/626-0595
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