From the Illinois Municipal League’s web site:
How can the Center for Conflict Resolution be an asset to my municipality?
When community members have a problem, they often reach out to their government officials who may not have the staff, time and resources necessary to handle the dispute. This is when Wilmette Police Chief Brian King has found CCR to be “an exceptional resource.” Chief King first referred a particularly difficult case to CCR as an experiment and has been referring cases ever since. Chief King’s officers are often called when neighbors have a dispute. The officers are able to successfully mediate many disputes on the spot, but some disputes take much longer than the 15-20 minutes the responding officer has to spend on the call. This is when Chief King refers the case to CCR.
Outsourcing dispute resolution to a third-party mediation organization like CCR has a number of benefits for municipalities. First, getting outside help with disputes saves huge amounts of staff time and resources. Concerned or upset community members can take up vast amounts of time in multiple departments within a municipality. CCR has trained mediators who can spend multiple hours with the community members in dispute, working through their problems. Second, sometimes disputants feel uncomfortable having the government involved or believe that the government favors one side or the other. CCR can come in as a neutral third party. Third, CCR mediators have gone through extensive training and are prepared to handle difficult and highly emotional disputes. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, CCR’s services are free!
What does a relationship with CCR look like?
If the parties are willing to try mediation, the municipality refers the case to CCR, and trained case managers will work with the community members to set up a date and time for the mediation. Many mediation sessions take place at CCR’s office, located in downtown Chicago; however CCR has also worked with different communities to hold mediations on-site throughout the Chicagoland area.
I’m interested, now what?
If you are interested in learning more about mediation and how CCR can be a resource for you and your municipality, feel free to visit our website at http://www.ccrchicago.org or contact CCR by phone at (312) 922-6464 x22 or by email to cm@ccrchicago.org.
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