ACR Public Education

Building Widespread Public Awareness of

Conflict Resolution and Its Many Advantages

The Association for Conflict Resolution is working to achieve high visibility for our profession as the representative national voice and leader in the field. Your partnership in this effort will help generate interest, understanding, demand, and appreciation for conflict resolution.

You can help educate the public about conflict resolution. Here are a few suggestions:

• Offer to speak at an upcoming professional day hosted by your chamber of commerce, service club, school district, or religious institution.

• Promote your professional activities and achievements through the media.

• Participate in a Conflict Resolution Day activity. Held annually on the third Thursday of October, Conflict Resolution Day is an international celebration.

Tools and Activities

In response to a call from ACR, conflict resolution professionals have shared numerous tools and activities being used to successfully educate the public about our profession. Take advantage of these resources to help others understand the important work you do. Stay tuned - more resources to come!

Public Education Tools and Resources

The resources included below may be valuable to you in your efforts to educate the public about conflict resolution. If you have additional resources to recommend, please contact Audrey Rothstein at arothstein[at]ACRnet[dot]org.

Resources from the Association for Conflict Resolution:

ACR Public Education Task Force Report

Free download

The ACR Public Education Task Force Report was submitted to ACR’s Board of Directors in 2005. It provides recommendations and an action plan for the Association and it provides insights into the work ahead. Download a pdf of the full Public Education Task Force Report.

Family Mediation Brochures:

What Is Mediation?

Brochure

Designed specifically for use by family mediators, this brochure gives readers the basic facts about mediation and its benefits and briefly describes some of the different approaches to mediation.

Additionally, the brochure provides answers to difficult questions, including:

·        Does mediation work for separating couples?

·        What if there is a decision to divorce?

·        Can mediation help divorced parents face changing circumstances?

The “What is Mediation?” brochure will prove useful to any entrepreneurial mediator interested in growing his or her client base. These brochures are customizable.

Price:
ACR Family Section member:              $25 plus S & H per pack of 50

Non-Family Section members:            $35 plus S & H per pack of 50

To order, contact the ACR Sections Manager at sections@ACRnet.org.

Making Family Mediation Referrals

Brochure

If you are looking to increase your referrals from attorneys, therapists, teachers and physicians, consider the “Making Family Mediation Referrals” brochure.

This pamphlet explains the differences between mediation and therapy, debunks the myth that mediation is the same as practicing law, and lists numerous reasons for a variety of professionals to utilize the services of family mediators.

The “Making Family Mediation Referrals” brochure provides clear and concise information that will prove indispensable to any mediator looking to grow his or her referral network. These brochures are customizable.

Price:

ACR Family Section member:             $25 plus S & H per pack of 50

Non-Family Section members:           $35 plus S & H per pack of 50
 

To order, contact the ACR Sections Manager at sections@ACRnet.org.

Resources from the American Friends Service Committee:

A Short Guide to Dialogue

This booklet introduces the basic ideas and approaches for bringing a group of people together with different and often antagonistic views for meaningful discussion. To download your own copy as a pdf click here .To read the guide on your computer screen, click here.

Price: Free

Resources from the Maryland Judiciary’s Mediation and Conflict Resolution Office (MACRO):

Posters

There are 24 posters, available in English and Spanish, covering disputes involving business, community, neighbors, custody, family conflicts, school, small claims, and the workplace.

Price: Free to all in Maryland. The posters are available to non-Maryland entities and individuals for the cost of printing and shipping only. For complete details and to view the posters, click here.

Videos

“Resolutionary People – Mediation in Five Settings”

This 26 minute video features real people in real conflict. It helps the public understand what conflict resolution is about. Included are individuals resolving various types of conflict including: family, workplace, peer-to-peer, commercial, and community.

Resources from the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission:

10 Reasons to Mediate

The video 10 Reasons to Mediate introduces businesses to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's (EEOC) National Mediation Program. Mediation is usually a preferable alternative to a traditional EEOC investigation and to enforcement and litigation steps that may follow. Mediation allows the parties involved in a charge of discrimination to resolve their differences quickly and amicably without a determination by the EEOC on the merits of the case.

Hear from other employers who already have participated in the EEOC's voluntary National Mediation Program and believe that you should, too, if a charge is filed against your company.

To obtain a Free copy of the video download

If you have a CD-ROM writer, you can download a CD-ROM disk image in .iso (ISO 9660) format and create your own CD-ROM (please refer to your CD-ROM writing software's documentation for instructions). The CD-ROM, which you are free to copy and distribute, includes the video and its own video player software, and will run automatically when placed in the CD drive of a computer running Windows. The video runs 14 minutes and is open captioned.

Download disk image

You can also download the MPEG video file without the player, if you want to watch the video without creating a CD-ROM. This is also the best option for use on Mac OS X, Linux or Unix, or for sharing on an intranet.

Download video

To order a Free CD-ROM

For a free copy of the 10 Reasons to Mediate video on compact disc, please send an e-mail request to MediationCD@eeoc.gov or call (202) 663-4823.

Resources from the City University of New York Dispute Resolution Consortium at John Jay College of Criminal Justice:

Make Talk Work^® bookmarks include 24 bookmarks with tips on effective ways to manage talk with others. The bookmarks have been designed to provide the public with simple messages that draw on complex dispute resolution principles and processes. Regardless of the processes or techniques used by dispute resolvers, all dispute resolvers help to make talk work between and among individuals and groups. The CUNY DRC worked on the bookmarks project with dispute resolvers in NYC, with graphics designed by Susan Spivack, and with funding from the JAMS Foundation.

For images of the bookmarks, click here

To order complimentary bookmarks or to purchase, click here.

Resources from the Courter Films & Associations:

Permanency Toolkit: Dependency Mediation
VHS: Running Time: 30 minutes.

An exploration of how mediation empowers parents and other parties in a child protection case to find solutions that are in the best interest of the children.

The video shows how the process of mediation is often organized through the court system, useful at many stages of cases, and especially applicable to issues that would otherwise be litigated. The viewer sees how resolving child protection and dependency cases through mediation allows parents and other interested parties to discuss and settle cases in ways that support families to find solutions that are in the best interest of their children. Various models of mediation are shown and discussed, while common issues including who will be included in the mediation, how confidentiality issues may be handled, potential savings in court time and costs, how the cases are resolved and endorsed by the bench, and ongoing compliance issues are illustrated.

For more information and to order: Call 352-795-2156.

Price: $145.00 (Quantity discounts available.)

Public Education Activities

See How Your Colleagues Are Spreading the Word:

Microsoft and Yahoo: Where were the Mediators?

ACR member David A. Hoffman, Esq., wrote an op-ed piece that recently appeared in the Christian Science Monitor and focused on the Microsoft-Yahoo negotiations. Hoffman argued that businesses should consider using mediation when they are trying to close deals. Hoffman is a lawyer, mediator, and arbitrator at Boston Law Collaborative, LLC. He also teaches mediation at Harvard Law School. The full text of Hoffman’s piece can be found at http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0512/p09s01-coop.html?page=1

Connect with Colleagues Eager to Share their Experiences with You:

Your colleagues are willing to share their successes and lessons learned in their efforts to educate the public. Click here for a listing of activities and contacts to turn to for more information.

Story Ideas for the Press:

ACR can provide the media with information and resources on a variety of topics including:

·        Teaching Conflict Resolution in Schools/ Anti-bullying Programs

·        Mediating Family Disputes

·        Conflict Resolution in the Workplace

·        Alternative Dispute Resolution in the Courts

·        International Crisis Negotiation and Resolution

·        Advancing the Field of Conflict Resolution

·        Using "Round Table" Discussions to Help Groups Reach Consensus

For media interviews, contact Audrey Rothstein at arothstein[at]ACRnet[dot]org or 202-464-9700, ext. 209. Click here for additional details. 

Celebrate Conflict Resolution Day:

Thursday, October 16 is Conflict Resolution Day this year. Here are some ideas and resources to get your planning started.

For ideas on holding events in K-12 schools or with K-12 students, check out conflict resolution lessons and activities for elementary, middle and high school classrooms in the book Peaceful Schools Build Peaceful Communities, produced by the Florida Law Related Education Association, Inc. and the Florida Dispute Resolution Center. Additional resources for the classroom include School Activity Suggestions, also produced by the Florida Dispute Resolution Center.

For a toolkit on planning school-based Conflict Resolution Day events, including sample proclamations, click here.

Interested in securing a proclamation in your state? To view a request letter that helped secure the Pennsylvania gubernatorial proclamation, click here.

To see the Mediation Week Proclamation from the Governor of Florida, click here.

To download posters that will help you spread the word, click here.