• Posted by ADRhub.com- Werner Institute on September 13, 2016 at 11:45am in Featured News & Articles (Change)
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What's Happening in Conflict Resolution" is a weekly roundup of the all the ADR news, jobs, events and more. Check it out each week and view past versions [HERE].

Weekly Conversation

ADRHub is now hosting a topic for discussion and debate!

The Association for Conflict Resolution (ACR) hosts their annual conference this week in Baltimore, MD. The conference culminates on Saturday with a civic engagement town hall to discuss approaches to constructively engage communities facing civil unrest due to escalated tensions between law enforcement and minority communities.

The issues may not be new, but the age of social media provides a spotlight and voice that is unique to times of civil unrest in the past. In an effort to expand the conversation that will take place in Baltimore on Saturday, this week's topic asks

What approaches have you read about, experienced, or would you propose to increase the potential for constructive conflict engagement aimed at effectively deescalating the tensions existing in our society?

Click here to join the conversation!

Conflict Engagement and ADR in the News

Program seeks to reduce youth crime, violence

By Staff at the Courier Journal (9/26/16)

An initiative designed to help break the cycle of crime and violence committed by young adults is being expanded to a third neighborhood, Mayor Greg Fischer has announced.

The program, called REImage, is coordinated by Rashaad Abdur-Rahman, director of the city’s Office for Safe and Healthy Neighborhoods and focuses on intervening with those who have been charged with a crime or are at high risk of criminal behavior.

Launched in September 2015 by the Office for Safe and Healthy Neighborhoods, REimage has targeted youth in the Shawnee and Russell neighborhoods and is now expanding to include the Park Hill area... find out more about this innovative program in Kentucky here.

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Schools' new 'restorative' discipline aims to keep kids in the classroom

By Cindy Huang (9/26/16 Capital Gazette picture included in story)

In the past two decades, Anne Arundel County schools have moved away from a zero-tolerance policy that's quick to punish students and dismiss extenuating circumstances. School officials plan to implement a disciplinary approach that focuses on repairing harm between offenders and the community. This fall, the school system created a new position, a school climate specialist, to start training administrators in restorative practices.

Kathy Rockefeller, who worked at the Mediation and Conflict Resolution Center at Howard Community College, will train Anne Arundel school administrators to teach students to reflect on why they fight or disobey their teachers.

Sounds like an intriguing plan. Click here to learn more!

Good Reads: Blogs, Books, and More!

To offer first or not?

By Jim Mathie (Bridgetower Media Newswire 9/26/16 Wisconsin Law Journal)

You’ve prepared for mediation as best you can. You know your strongest arguments and what your opponent will probably counter with.

You’ve discovered your client’s interests and have a reasonable guess what the interests on the other side may be. You know your “best alternative to a negotiated agreement,” also known as BATNA, and maybe even the other party’s BATNA.

In other words, you’re ready to go.

So should you make the first offer at mediation or wait for the other side? If you do take the first step, what kind of an offer should it be and what should it include? Find the answers to these important questions here.

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How my village can teach a lesson in conflict resolution

By Ehtesham Shahid (9/24/16 Al Arabiya English)

Scenes of village panchayat (courtroom) are among my best childhood recollections. Disputing parties would gather around a group of wise, usually old, men. Cases such as theft, forgery, property and family disputes would be taken up. Disputing parties would present their cases and then the accused, the aggrieved party and the witnesses would be cross-examined. After a little bit of deliberation, some pressure tactics and open pleas, the verdict would be delivered.

Of course the process would be preceded by lobbying and sometimes followed by murmurs of dissent, even contempt. But there would be general consensus and recourse in the form of appeal, with the same protocol, at a mutually agreed time and place. At the end of it all, grievances would be addressed, the guilty would be punished and the victim compensated. More importantly, there will be no spillover. There were no winners or losers. It was a classic case of collective community compromise brokered and reached within the confines of a village with no outsider getting an opportunity to intervene.

It may sound a bit of a stretch but if you apply the same logic to a group of countries, it seems my village can still teach a lesson in justice, reconciliation and conflict resolution... Find out how here!

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Negotiation Book Club - Tower of Babel symposium

In the runup to symposium to be held at the University of Missouri on October 7: Moving Negotiation Theory from the Tower of Babel Toward a World of Mutual Understanding, Prof. Rishi Batra explains why the negotiation field needs to be familiar with Samuel Arbesman’s book, The Half Life of Facts: Why Everything We Know Has an Expiration Da....

I'm absolutely convinced. Read about it, here.

Upcoming Events

The ACR Conference starts this week! Click here to learn about the events happening in Baltimore September 28 to October 1 including the reception celebrating the Werner Institute’s 10^th anniversary* and the inauguration of the new ACR President (and ADRHub contributor and administrator) Bryan Hanson.

* Note the reception is free and open to the public. You do not need to register to participate in the conference in order to attend the Werner Reception.

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