![\"Conflict](\"https:\/\/sandiegodowntownnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/canstockphoto27849331.jpg\")
\u201cOver time, our mediation programming continued to grow outside of community mediation to a range of business disputes, malpractice issues, and divorce,\u201d Dinkin said. \u201cAs the Center developed, many people became interested in the field of mediation, so we set up a training institute to begin training lawyers, and retired judges. We\u2019ve now been doing that for several decades.\u201d<\/p>\n
As the years went on, he said NCRC began to focus on how the organization could have a more significant impact across all levels of society \u2014 in the community, businesses, and throughout the country in government.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we realized is that in the mediation methodology, there is a very powerful tool on how to resolve conflict,\u201d Dinkin continued. \u201cPeople started coming to our offices and 85 percent of the time people would walk into the room with a dispute and walk out with a resolution. We tracked it over time and 90 percent of the time those resolutions would actually be sustained. We figured out the reason why is that because we engage people in the resolution. As an active participant, if you\u2019re coming up with the solution you are more likely to sustain it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dinkin said if they took the methodology of mediation and supported it, the organization could impact the San Diego region at all levels of society. NCRC developed a series of trainings all based in communication and the mediation methodology that it now utilizes in universities, companies and neighborhoods. This organization\u2019s impact has now expanded internationally.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s very timely today where everybody feels a sense of instability, starting with our government, within our families, the neighborhoods, these trainings have become ever more critical,\u201d Dinkin said.<\/p>\n
The Art of Inclusive Communication focuses on empowering individuals to communicate effectively across cultures and differences in society. The Exchange is a formal mediation process for supervisors and managers to proactively manage conflicts in the workplace. For the Bystander Challenge, NCRC worked with the Lawyer\u2019s Club to empower individuals in the workplace to stand up when they see inappropriate behavior before it escalates to a serious problem. This program is a response to the #MeToo Movement. NCRC is now working on a couple of significant issues across society as it grows and develops.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of our signature programs is Avoiding the Pipeline to Prison,\u201d Dinkin said. \u201cIt is grounded in restorative justice with the idea that right now there is an inordinate number of youths of color that find themselves caught in a pipeline to prison.\u201d<\/p>\n
NCRC partnered with the San Diego Unified School District, law enforcement agencies, and the District Attorney\u2019s office for this program. If a youth commits an offense, a misdemeanor or even a felony, and if NCRC is able to come to a resolution through restorative conference, then the DA;s office will drop the charge so the offense will not follow that youth throughout the rest of his or her life.<\/p>\n
\u201cSometimes our youths make a mistake,\u201d Dinkin said. \u201cThe key is that if they make a mistake and they are willing to meet with the victim and other community members and come to a solution, work through that issue, then they can be reintegrated into society as opposed to continuing on through juvenile hall.\u201d<\/p>\n
The cost to society. It costs $150,000 a year to house a youth in criminal justice, opposed to $6,000 to complete NCRC\u2019s program.<\/p>\n
A second major initiative, the Galison Campus Civility Program, comprises of 12 college campuses across the region and the state. With an increase of diversity at universities, there is arguably a lot of tension on these campuses. NCRC trains youth on how to communicate more effectively and have more confidence to interact with others who are different from them.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are instilling the skill set that they can use on the campus but then, as they go into society and enter into the workforce, they will become citizens with the critical skill set of how to work around differences,\u201d Dinkin said.<\/p>\n
The Lawyer\u2019s Club of San Diego\u2019s mission is to advance the status of women in law in society. With both male and female members, this year\u2019s theme was to demand equality.<\/p>\n
\u201cI came up with that [theme] because there is such a divide,\u201d Cotman said. \u201cWe are still, at least in the legal profession, very lacking in advancement for women in equal opportunity, especially in the private sector.\u201d<\/p>\n
As a community-based program, Avoiding the Pipeline to Prison caught Cotman\u2019s attention. She said it was there that she learned all of NCRC\u2019s programs. At the same time, the Lawyer\u2019s Club had partnered with Council member Barbara Bry\u2019s Workplace Equity Initiative, Athena, and Run Women Run in developing a code of conduct for employers in San Diego to adopt, which stemmed from the #MeToo Movement.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were getting real synergy and the next step was partnering with NCRC,\u201d Cotman said.<\/p>\n
She attended the early brainstorming session for the Bystander Challenge and was so impressed with the training that NCRC does and the conscientiousness of how NCRC works to be inclusive.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat it really boils down for me is how to be kind and still be on different sides and how to listen,\u201d Cotman said. \u201cHow to express yourself in a way that is not demeaning to somebody else. That was everything that I was trying to accomplish.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cotman adopted the four I\u2019s that she now runs her business by. \u201cIf you want to be successful you need to do or have four things. You need to take initiative. You have to work hard, so you need industry. You have to be educated on what you are doing, so you need intelligence. And then, above all, you need integrity,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Cotman said there is a real need for the civility component in society in general, but especially in law. So there was kind of a movement with what NCRC was doing, what the Lawyer\u2019s Club was doing, what the federal courts were working on, and it all started forming together.<\/p>\n
Lawyer\u2019s Club sent its staff to each of the trainings. Each one is certified in the Civil Workplace Training and Initiative.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe trainings are so impactful because every single person I know that has gone comes back just gushing with how positive the trainings are and what they found out about themselves, like what they were insensitive to, and the communication is facilitated [forward in the workplace] because they are so excited about it. It can really make good change in workplaces.\u201d Cotman said. She added that some in her own office have gone through the trainings as well.<\/p>\n
Dinkin said understanding the instability that society is facing is crucial. NCRC identified the workplace as where people spend most of their waking hours \u2014 even more so than with members of one\u2019s own family.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we want to tackle issues of incivility the workplace is a perfect place to focus on,\u201d Dinkin said. \u201cWe entered into a partnership with the [San Diego] Union-Tribune to set up an initiative where we would certify companies across the region who were dedicated to a civil workplace. If they send 50 percent or more of their employees to one of three critical trainings that focused on different components of civility and communication then they would be taking a very positive step in the right direction.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dinkin said if NCRC could get a majority of companies in the region committed to a civil workplace, as a community, San Diego could be a model for other cities taking a stand for appropriate behavior in the region and across the country. In order to gain momentum, NCRC needed more key organizations to join in this effort, so they started with the Lawyer\u2019s Club. NCRC also linked with San Diego Downtown Partnership, and Procopio.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want to get leading organizations in various sectors to become part of this process,\u201d Dinkin said. \u201cThat is our initiative in the workplace. This has been a significant effort.\u201d<\/p>\n
NCRC is headquartered in San Diego, but it trains nationally and internationally. It has approximately a $5 million budget, a well as a host of mediators and trainers who help implement its work.<\/p>\n
Dinkin said in working on college campuses there is a lot of interest from other universities across the region. NCRC also works with local government employees, teaching them the same set of skills. Additionally, it works with the Department of Homeland Security and many other federal agencies.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe thing about conflict is that it is like water that seeps into all types of crevices, so it is across society, and as an organization [we] have developed some innovative tools to address that,\u201d Dinkin said.<\/p>\n
Dinkin said if people are avoiding the tough conversations we can\u2019t really evolve as a society.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople tend to be isolated into their own groups and with like-minded thinkers,\u201d Dinkin said. \u201cWe, as an organization, are looking at all different ways that society can continue to engage in dialogue and debate around challenging issues. That\u2019s critical.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dinkin said one way that NCRC promotes its work is with its annual Peacemaker\u2019s Awards Dinner. The 31st Annual Peacemaker Awards will be held on April 6 at the Hilton Bayfront Hotel.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that all the concepts of conflict resolution and civility needs to penetrate through society,\u201d Dinkin said. \u201cThis dinner is a great opportunity to create exposure of all these ideas. That’s really the goal of the dinner, to engage people so that everyone feels that they can help in being a role in transforming society.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rev. Greg Boyle, founder of Homeboy Industry \u2014 which is the largest gang intervention prevention program in the nation \u2014 will receive this year\u2019s National Peacemaker Award. Additionally, the Philanthropy in Peacemaking Honoree will be recognized, and The Local Peacemaker Awards will be presented. Learn more about this year\u2019s honorees and the awards dinner at bit.ly\/2MFAfDa<\/a>.<\/p>\n For more information about the National Conflict Resolution Center, visit ncrconline.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u2014Albert Fulcher puede ser contactado en albert@sdcnn.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n