Introducing The NAFCM Clearinghouse

NAFCM is pleased to announce the most exciting resource it's ever produced, one which will change the way our community collaborates and shares information. Introducing: the NAFCM Clearinghouse!

Overview

The NAFCM Clearinghouse is the field’s one-stop-shop for community mediation resources. From archived content to ongoing projects, this resource compendium is a home for the field’s digital and intellectual assets. Through the collaborative engagement of NAFCM program members, the Clearinghouse serves as an aggregated, searchable hard drive containing all the best of what was once scattered across centers and software. It’s a place to source and share materials that chronicle our accomplishments and propel our progress in ways which are faster and more connected than ever before.

2012 Year in Review

Happy New Year, Community Mediation!

2013 marks NAFCM's 19th year as the Voice of Community Mediation, and we're planning to take that voice into some pretty exciting new directions! Before we do, however, let's take a look back at some of our notable 2012 accomplishments... countdown style!  

10. New Member Benefits

As a member-supported organization, NAFCM is always seeking ways to support those who support us. Our growing package of member benefits is one way we're pleased to say "Thank You!" In 2012, we added several new options, including the ability to secure professional email addresses for all NAFCM members and the continued discount on Mediate.com's Case Manager for program members.

9. Community Calendar

Community mediation happens. When and where it does, NAFCM has it scheduled! This past year we continued to expand our Community Mediation Calendar by freely promoting over 600 local community trainings, gatherings, and celebrations. 

8. Conference Circuit

Each year brings a new slate of exceptional international and regional ADR conferences. This past year we had the pleasure of connecting with community colleagues at the ABA Section of Dispute Resolution, ACR, and SCMA annual conferences. We're planning even more gatherings for 2013! 

7. Webinar Series

2012 was a smashing success for NAFCM's new Community Mediation Webinar Series. We hosted over a dozen sessions on all manner of topics, most of which were FREE for current members! Moving into 2013, we'll continue to expand our offerings, including access to recordings from many of our archived events.

6. Publications Revisions

Early in 2012, NAFCM concluded the monumental task of completely revising many of our key publications. Thoroughly updated to reflect the field's evolving wisdom, NAFCM now offers the most up-to-date set of community mediation guides available anywhere. Moving into 2013, many of these will be available digitally to current program members! 

5. PeerMediators.org

Constructive youth-focused conflict resources are a must-have in today's schools. This past year, NAFCM collaborated with APADRC and Wendy E. H. Corbett to develop a new set of peer mediation resources that are now freely available to schools and community mediation programs everywhere. Available at PeerMediators.org, these training manuals, implementation guide, and digital resources, have already been shared with colleagues literally across the globe!

4. New Board Members

NAFCM is driven by the creative energies and dedicated work of its exceptional Board of Directors. This past year, NAFCM grew its Board by 50%, adding five inspiring field leaders and plenty of new energy to our continued renaissance. Our Board now includes representatives from 12 states and D.C. 

3. Outreach & Policy Committee

Capitalizing on the increased size and energy of the NAFCM Board, 2012 saw the establishment of our Board-level Outreach & Policy Committee. This committee will tackle some pretty important issues, including a number of pressing community mediation advocacy and public awareness initiatives. New Committee members are always welcome!

2. State of Community Mediation

For the first time in nearly a decade, NAFCM has outlined the contours and complexity of our field in its State of Community Mediation report. This extensive review included the contributions of over 100 field leaders and includes dozens of never-before-reported statistics about who we are and what we help our clients and our communities achieve. The entire report is freely available online and has been the subject of numerous presentations throughout the preceding year.

1. NAFCM Clearinghouse

One of NAFCM's top focus areas for 2012 is about to make 2013 unbelievably exciting! The NAFCM Clearinghouse, a digital, crowd-sourced collection of 6,000+ resources for and about community mediation, is now ready for its grand debut! Stay tuned to NAFCM's discussion group for release details and take a sneak peek at all that we've included.

Here's to an amazing year ahead!

In community,

Justin R. Corbett

Executive Director, NAFCM

Meet the NAFCM Board - Diane Featherstone

"Meet the NAFCM Board" is a series of guest blog posts designed to introduce you to those shaping the agenda and direction of our field.  We invite you to welcome new Board members and reconnect with our returning leadership by leaving a comment below.

Thank you members for having faith in my ability to serve your interests as a member of the NAFCM Board of Directors. I look forward to talking with you, learning with you, and supporting the power of community mediation centers with you. Together we can “be the light at the end of the tunnel” for members of our communities. The Board of Directors for the Dispute Resolution Center of Montgomery County (DRC) is very supportive of this appointment and look forward to hearing all the great things NAFCM will be doing to make a difference.

Our local DRC has been supporting the citizens of Montgomery County (and surrounding counties) Texas are 23 years. Our county commissioners, judges and attorneys have been active participants in the success of this program. In 2010 we opened over 1,200 cases…these cases were mediated by volunteers (many have over 10 years of dedication) with an average 86% settlement rate. Our “mediators rock”!!!!

As a “very active” member of the NAFCM Board of Directors I look forward to extending skills I have gained over a lifetime, gathering more skills from a wealth of knowledge amongst the members, and collaborating to share the value of community mediation centers. It will also be great to work with Justin and other members to expand the clearinghouse resource tool.

Diane Featherstone

Executive Director
Dispute Resolution Center of Montgomery County

NAFCM's New Website!

We are thrilled to unveil 

NAFCM.org 

NAFCM's new website!    

Developing this website has been a substantial labor of love (emphases definitely appropriate!). We have tried to pull the best from our former site and combine them with an extensive array of new features we're pleased to introduce.  You can still find much of NAFCM's historic materials on our new site, but can now also easily connect and share resources in exciting new ways.  With our redesign and continued enhancements, we look forward to serving as the online portal for all things community mediation.

Here are just some of the exciting features we are pleased to provide in our brand new website:

1. LOCATE A CENTER! - This feature has been the number one request of visitors to our website.  Previously, visitors could find programs by searching for their state and scrolling through lists of various lengths to hopefully find a nearby program.  Now, finding a center is as easy as zooming into an interactive Google map!  Place markers identify community mediation centers, their address, and basic contact information.  We encourage programs to search for their current listing and notify us of any additions/corrections using the link directly below the map.  We anticipate making numerous corrections in the early days of this feature, so welcome your feedback to making this feature as accurate and accessible as possible.
2. NEW DISCUSSION GROUPS - Join one of the many new community mediation discussion groups hosted by NAFCM.  These groups, centered around geographic and topical interests, are an interactive way to connect with colleagues, share resources, and stay on top of the latest developments.  These groups act as a listserve for those interested in participating via their email, and as an online community space for those who want to login, upload profile pictures, and engage the conversation directly through their browser.  Get connected, join a group today!
3. COMMUNITY MEDIATION CALENDAR - Community mediation happens.  NAFCM has it scheduled!  We are now hosting a centralized calendar of events relevant to our field. Whether its a conference in California, a gathering in Grand Rapids, a training in Tucson, or a teleseminar or online event, we'll publish your event details for all to see.  Adding events couldn't be easier.  Simply send an email to events@nafcm.org.  We'll also be adding a simple online form for additions soon.  
4. COMMUNITY MEDIATION SEARCH - Looking for just the right resource, but can't quite put your fingers on it?  Now, you can use NAFCM's custom Community Mediation Search Engine to quickly find resources directly related to our field.  Using the drop down box at the top of our new website, you can choose to search NAFCM's site, the entire Web, or perform a custom "Community Mediation Search."  This last option allows you to target your search to community mediation programs' websites and related resources.  We have indexed hundreds of websites and thousands of webpages to help you quickly find the best community mediation information and resources directly from NAFCM's website.
5. PUBLIC TESTIMONIALS - Mediation programs are too often referred to as their communities' 'best kept secrets.'  Now, through NAFCM's website, those we serve can also serve us by sharing their experience.  Visitors to NAFCM's website can choose to leave a general or program-specific testimonial by completing a quick online form, conveniently submitting a letter of support, or recording an audio message to be featured on our website.  These testimonials will help inform and encourage others to consider community mediation services for their own conflicts.  (For quality assurance and confidentiality reasons, all submitted testimonials will be reviewed prior to sharing to ensure their appropriateness for public posting.)

Those are just some of the exciting new features we've been working on, but there's more.  We're going live this week with a big list of additions yet to be unveiled.  Here are some of the features we look forward to releasing over the next month:

1. MEMBER LOGIN - NAFCM's members are dedicated professionals who are asked to do a lot with very little.  We're working to make their work easier by providing a members-only area that houses a crowd-sourced clearinghouse of countless resources, enhanced program member profiles to be included in future map releases, and other resources to help members better connect and enhance their centers.  As we continue building this members area, you can get an early start by beginning to share resources to the new online community mediation clearinghouse using our simple upload gadget or by sending your files to share@nafcm.org.
2. NEW CONTENT - While our new site isn't old enough to have collected any dust, not all pages and features may be completely polished either.  We're working hard to quickly upload the latest content about NAFCM, the field, and our members.  As we do so, we appreciate any feedback you have about new material you would like to see included. Share your ideas, additions, corrections, or comments about new content today!

We hope you enjoy NAFCM's new website.  It is an incredible pleasure to build and publish a site featuring the truly remarkable achievements of so many working and volunteering in the community mediation field.  We hope you find our website a fitting online portal for those in conflict and those working toward its constructive engagement.

In community,

Justin R. Corbett

Executive Director, NAFCM