Community Mediation Program Map

Community Mediation Does Amazing Work. NAFCM Promotes It!

With over 400 community mediation programs operating throughout North America, these programs make a real difference every day. As a field, we have a lot to be proud of. With all these programs' regularly updating services and contact information, NAFCM has a lot for us to stay on top of.

NAFCM strives to maintain a complete, accurate list of all community mediation programs available to assist those in conflict. To make this list accessible to those in need, we've made it freely available on NAFCM's website as an interactive online map.

Each month, this map is accessed thousands of times by those in conflict seeking nearby assistance. It helps families locate programs to help with parent/teen mediations. It helps neighbors find more constructive options than relying upon code enforcement to encourage neighborly behavior. It helps local organizational leaders find a skilled facilitator for a difficult upcoming meeting. This map connects people facing all manner of conflicts to an entire field that's prepared, ready, and willing to help. We encourage anyone confronted with a particularly difficult situation to explore this online map and contact a nearby community mediation center to discover which services may be available for you.

We also encourage our colleagues throughout the field to regularly review and update the contact information contained on this map to ensure the public continues to have the best possible resource when called upon. Help NAFCM ensure it has your program's most accurate contact information. Confirm and, if necessary, update the details of your program. (Lend a hand by updating a neighboring program's info, as well!)

We're proud of the incredible work performed throughout the community mediation network. And we're very pleased to help make their work more accessible via the Community Mediation Program Map.

In community,

Justin R. Corbett

Executive Director, NAFCM

NAFCM Awarded a Google Grant!

NAFCM has been awarded a grant from Google allowing us to further promote public awareness of community mediation services.  As a recipient of a generous Google Grant, NAFCM will have extensive access to in-kind advertising designed to promote community mediation and constructive conflict engagement skills.  

Soon, links to NAFCM's online program map, interactive FAQ webpage, creative phone-in testimonials, and other resources will appear atop and alongside typical results when people search for such things as "sue my neighbor," "crazy in-laws," "hostile work environment," and many other common conflict-related terms.  Of course, we'll also be promoting NAFCM's resources alongside more 'industry-specific' terminology, such as "alternative dispute resolution,""community mediation," and "third-party neutrals," amongst others.

This grant will help introduce those in conflict with the helpfulness of community mediation services.  It provides our entire field priority access to those who are both experiencing some sort of conflict and casually or desperately seeking out advice and/or resources to deal with that conflict.  Being prominently showcased within results for many conflict-related searches means the public will now have truly helpful alternatives to the countless heavily optimized commercial websites which promote adversarial, combative, or other less-than-constructive remedies for seekers' queried quandaries.

This is a wonderful opportunity for NAFCM and, by extension, the entire community mediation field.   We encourage other 501(c)(3) nonprofit community mediation programs to apply for their own Google Grant to further raise public awareness, expand our collective reach, and do even more good.  

(Congratulations are in order for Community Mediation of Greater New Haven, which was also recently awarded a Google Grant!)

Thanks, Google!

In community,
Justin R. Corbett
Executive Director, NAFCM

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