December 2023 Newsletter

Monday, December 4, 2023 - 11:00am

December 2023 Newsletter

Holiday Party and

Joint Fundraiser

Presented by

Center for Dispute Settlement

and Untrapped Ministries

Thursday, December 14, 2023

5:00-7:00pm

First Federal Building 19th Floor

28 East Main Street, Rochester, NY 14614

Click to Reserve Tickets

About the Event

Untrapped Ministries and the Center for Dispute Settlement have formed a groundbreaking partnership based on our shared values and purpose to promote peace, reduce conflict, and prevent violence in our communities.

Please join us to celebrate our work together and learn about our next steps to create a Gun Violence Prevention Hub in Rochester - the first of its kind in the nation.

Light dinner, beer/wine, soft drinks, and free giveaways will be provided.

The event will include opening comments from:

Shira May, Ph.D., President/CEO, Center for Dispute Settlement

Justin Morris, Founder/CEO of Untrapped Ministries

Surprise Guest Speaker

Can't attend the event?

Please consider making a meaningful donation to strengthen our communities.

Your year-end donation made before December 31 is tax-deductible.

Thank you for helping us to create conflict-resilient communities across our region!

DONATE TODAY

Volunteer of the Month: William "Bill" Daniels

Date Certified: 2005

About Bill: A recipient of numerous awards for his community activism, teaching in higher education, and positions in state and national government as well as in community associations, Bill is dedicated to giving back to his community through peaceful dispute resolution. Bill is certified in many agency programs, including Divorce mediation, Special Education, Lemon Law arbitration, Commercial Arbitration, as well as Demolition Hearings for the City of Rochester.

Not only does Bill mediate with professionalism and impartiality, but he does so with humor and grace.

What Would You Like Us To Know About You?

"Mediation is the KEY to my success"

Let’s face it, I’ve got rings. Key rings.

Hundreds of them surround me in my office.

Key rings from cities, rings from states,

rings for islands and rings for musicals.

Key rings for events and for monuments,

rings for colleges, universities also cruise ships.

But no rings of fire in my space,

where thoughts of mediation prevail.

Transformative of course;

Because that’s the key.

Steuben County Domestic Abuse Review Team (DART) Holds Tabling Event

The Center for Dispute Settlement is proud to be part of the Steuben County DART Team, which held a tabling event in October.

The domestic violence tabling event was coordinated by Arbor Housing and Development, Steuben County Department of Social Services and the Steuben County Domestic Abuse Response Team (Arbor Housing, LawNY, Steuben County Sheriff’s Department,, Family Services Society, Steuben County Mental Health, Steuben County DSS, Center for Dispute Settlement, and Local Law Enforcement).

The event included a basket raffle at the Steuben County Office Building. All proceeds went to the Shop with a Cop 2023 program sponsored by Arbor.

There were 10 donated baskets, including one by a survivor. The event received a high level of support, with over 200 people buying tickets in 4 hours.

Pictured below: Steuben County DART coordinator, Kelly Perine (LawNY) with Alise Mahr (Steuben County Program Manager, Center for Dispute Settlement).

The B Word

by Martha Scott Chazanoff

Sometimes in life I find myself willing to accept “the gist” of something with little to no acknowledgement of the fact that the very topic I am willing to understand at a surface level has a depth and complexity that is totally missed by skimming the surface.

Such was the case with “the B word” as used in the acronym “D.E.I.B.”

Here’s what I knew– it had something to do with “belonging”-- okay, actually that is LITERALLY what it stands for in “D.E.I.B.”: Diversity; Equity; Inclusion; Belonging, but I didn’t understand its placement and context until I attended a recent “Anti-Bias Training” at the Center for Dispute Settlement led by Kim Reisch and Shirley Thompson.

During the training, we had opportunities to explore our own biases through photographs, conversations, and writing for the purpose of better enabling ourselves to be promoters of inclusivity and cultural responsiveness. I went into the training thinking, “Yeah, I have the gist of this. It will be a good refresher.”

I understood that “Diversity” referred to ensuring that communities included multiple cultures, gender identities, religions, skin colors. I understood that “Equity” referred to ensuring that power was shared and that the “top-down” triangle was inverted so as to allow all equal access to decision making. I understood that “Inclusion” referred to ensuring that everyone’s perspectives were respected and included– no one was to be left out.

I also understood that “B” stood for “Belonging.” I suppose that I thought of “belonging” as something that would be added to a bulleted list in the “D.E.I.B.” line up of letters. “Belonging” to me meant to ensure others understand that they belong. So I DID have the gist of it. But, what I lacked prior to this training was a visual of how ensuring a sense of “Belonging” was possible. My aha-more-than-a-gist moment came when this slide went up:

The “Belonging” part of it is only possible in the presence of all other aspects of the framework. People won’t experience a sense of belonging in a given organization unless they recognize that the group consists of people from diverse backgrounds, that their input matters, and that they have power within a given organization to affect change. THAT is where the “Belonging” happens.

So my take-away on this topic is essentially a question: How can I do my part to ensure that multiple voices are brought to the table? Questioning how my own upbringing and experiences have impacted and helped to create an unconscious bias which I, like everyone else on the planet, carry feels uncomfortable and challenging at times. However, it is necessary in order to move beyond those biases and be a part of creating a community in which everyone experiences that sense of belonging. Despite the discomfort, it is oh so necessary if we are to move forward embracing one another as equals– and ensuring that “Belonging” is more than just a word connected to “B”-- but rather it is a reality for everyone.