SCMA Education Foundation

Our Mission:

To support the education of mediators and the increased public awareness of mediation

www.scmaedfoundation.org

Our Vision:

To build a more peaceful society by having the benefits of mediation so clearly understood by the public that it becomes the preferred conflict resolution process for disputes at work, at home, in school, with businesses, and within the community.

Our Organization:

The SCMA Education Foundation, a 501 (c) (3), is the charitable and educational arm of the Southern California Mediation Association (SCMA).

The Foundation, established in 2007, complements the work of the SCMA by supporting organizations that provide mediation services to the public and mediation training to those who want to become mediators or enhance their mediation skills.

Our Focus:

The Foundation focuses on raising public awareness of mediation so that it becomes the first option for conflict resolution in personal, professional and community disputes.

To reach this goal, the Foundation supports projects that educate the public about mediation and teach mediation skills, beginning at an early age with peer mediation programs and continuing with adult community programs.

Our Projects:

We’re working to expand peer mediation programs at the high school level so students take mediation skills to college and to the workplace. Not only do peer mediation programs educate a new generation to the benefits of mediation, making them more likely to seek mediation and mediator services in the future, but students with these skills do better academically, have better peer relationships, demonstrate leadership in their schools and have a head start on the communications and conflict resolution skills needed for workplace success.

We’re increasing public awareness with projects on Nation Conflict Resolution Day in October, including our School Packet with materials for starting a peer mediation program, a strong presence at the SCMA Annual Conference, and the development of a three-county directory of community mediation centers where the public can receive mediation services and training. www.scmaedfoundation.org/peer mediation

And we produced “Making Peace: Kids and Their Conflict Stories,” a nine-minute video on middle school peer mediators. Click on the link at the top of the page to listen to these wonderful students.

The Library Project

The Foundation was established in 2007 to honor Forrest S. (Woody) Mosten, a leader in our field, by supporting Mr. Mosten’s vision of funding mediation libraries. Grants were awarded to:

• The library at CSU Dominguez Hills, to expand the “ebrary,” digital resources on mediation and conflict resolution, available free to students all over the world.
• The Orange County Human Resources Council, to create Spanish language training materials and increase community mediation services.
• The Prison of Peace Project, to purchase training materials for incarcerated women in California to reduce conflict in the prisons and provide skills for use after their release.

Making Peace: Kids and Their Conflict Stories

Click here to watch “Making Peace: Kids and Their Conflict Stories,” our mini-documentary on middle school peer mediators.

These eighth-graders are the most wonderful examples of mediators at their best. Hear from them directly, in their own words and voices, what it means to them and their schools to be a peer mediator. Their commitment to service and to leadership is inspiring, and the best argument for implementing these programs in all our schools. The interviews were recorded at a mediation refresher course with students from a program offered by the LA County Bar Association.

SCMA Education Foundation Video

How to Contribute:

We can’t make a difference without your help!

Here’s what these programs cost (at a bare minimum):

• Training community mediators: $750, only partly covered by fees. 
• Providing community mediations: $800, which most often is not reimbursed.
• Training peer mediators: $150 per student, excluding the cost of developing the training materials.
• Developing training materials for specialized programs: $2500 to serve additional populations and areas of mediation (elder mediation, speakers of languages other than English).

Please contribute as generously as is comfortable for you. All contributions, large or small, are welcome, and all are tax deductible.

Send your contribution to SCMA-EF, PO Box 641185, LA, CA 90025.

Or go to www.scmaedfoundation.org and click on the Blue Donate Button

And find us on facebook!

Contact us at scmaef@gmail.com

We are delighted to announce that the Foundation has been awarded a $10,000 grant from the Judicate West Foundation to support the development of peer mediation programs in the middle and high schools in the Los Angeles Area, and grateful to JW for its generosity. We couldn’t be more excited about this opportunity.

Peer Mediaton Programs vary widely in how they are implemented, what cases they will address, and the resources they have available in their schools. We will contact peer mediation coordinators and ask them what they might need to improve their already existing programs — perhaps funds for materials or additional trainings, or funds for transportation and/or a substitute teacher so that the students can go on a field trip. The needs vary as widely as the state of each program.

Schools will be required to submit a grant application, and we hope to announce the recipients at the SCMA’s November conference for implementation in the Spring semester. Details of the grant procedure will be posted on this site. “Details of the grant procedure will be posted on the Foundation’s website, www.scmaedfoundation.org.”

We want also to thank all of our individual donors who helped make this grant possible. Without your initial support, we could not have demonstrated that the Foundation has the support of the mediation community and was, therefore, deserving of support from other organizations. Our individual donors have made an enormous difference in what we can do and added to the amount we can distribute to schools. These donors are acknowledged on the “Make a Difference” page of the Foundation’s site. Thank you everyone!

So, on behalf of the students who will benefit from this grant, the Board of the SCMA Education Foundation extends its most sincere thank you to the Judicate West Foundation for this generous grant award.

We are really looking forward to giving it all away!

SCMAEF Julie Ware and Marvin Whistler present a check to INVLA’s Jill Frank for Peer Mediation development

In August the Foundation’s Board of Directors announced four mini-grants of $1,000.00 each to local organizations whose wonderful work supports community and school dialogue and mediation training. The funds were raised through challenge grants from the SCMA (Thank you SCMA Board for funding the challenges!) as well as the very generous personal contributions that matched them, and silent auctions held at last years conference end at the Summer Soiree. The grants were awarded to:

• Centinella Youth Services (CYS) for training community mediators;
• Community Service Program (CSP in Santa ANA) to support two university interns;
• Institute for Nonviolence in LA (INVLA) for a Days of Dialogue specifically for students;
• Los Angeles County Bar Association (LACBA) Civic Mediaton Project to support two participants in a training for community leaders and police officers in Long Beach.

SCMAEF Julie Ware and Marvin Whistler present a check to INVLA’s Jill Frank for Peer Mediation development
Contribute today so the Foundation can plan its programs knowing that they are supported by the premiere mediation association in Southern California.

were honored this morning to receive a proclamation from the LA County Board
of Supervisors recognizing the Foundation and Conflict Resolution Day this
coming Thursday. Supervisor Ridley-Thomas presented the proclamation and was
most complimentary in his opening statement. I focused on the work the
Foundation has done with organizations and schools promoting peer mediation
programs and community dialogues. The proclamation is really beautiful, and will
be very proudly displayed at our table at the SCMA conference.

Accepting the proclamation with me were Board members Julie Ware and Marvin
Whistler, and new SCMA member Wescina Fox, who is studying at West LA College.
Sincere thanks go to board member Sally Patchen for arranging the day.

The SCMA Education Foundation is delighted to announce that the recipient of the
2016 Directors’ Award is John Haas, Ph.D., professor of history at Cerritos
College, an educator who has worked internationally with his students and others
around the world to promote peacebuilding and international relations. He will
accept the award at the SCMA Conference Dinner on Friday, November 4.

In addition to his work at Cerritos College, Dr. Haas is Founder and Director of
the Global Consortium for Sustainable Peace, a network of global partners that
share a common goal of bridging cultural gaps in our worlds and promoting peace.
He broadcasts live to over 2.1 million college students internationally. In
addition, Prof. Haas hosted a live international conference of peacemakers on an
SCMA Panel on Technology and Peacemaking.

Dr. Haas has received numerous awards, including a commendation from the United
States Congress. In 2013, he received a Fetzer Grant titled “Humanizing
Conflict,” and he spoke to the UN on the 15th anniversary of the “Revocation of
Zionism as Racism Resolution.” In 2007 he was the recipient of the “Most
Outstanding Faculty Award” at Cerritos College.

We are delighted that he will add to these well-deserved awards the 2016 SCMA
Education Foundation Directors’ Award for Exemplary Contributions to
Peacebuilding.

Previous recipients of the award include Barbara Brown, First President of the
Foundation and former president of the SCMA, and Mary Culbert, Esq., Loyola Law
School.

Advisory Board

• Barbara Brown, Founding President, SCMA-EF, Former President, SCMA
• Jack R. Goetz, Esq., Ph.D., Former SCMA-EF Board Secretary
• Susan North, Mediator
• A. Marco Turk, Esq., Professor Emeritus, CSUDH, Former NCRP Program Director
• Kathryn Turk, Mediator