| Program: | Just Solutions Community Mediation Service, Louisville, KY | | Contact(s): | Claudia K. Grenough, Executive Director: (502) 581-1961 | | Purpose: | To provide mediation services and conflict management training to citizens of the Louisville Metropolitan area | | Background Just Solutions Community Mediation Service was founded in 1991 by the Council on Peacemaking, a local nonprofit corporation, to make mediation and conflict management available to all citizens of Louisville and the surrounding area. Recognizing that racism is a major source of conflict, Just Solutions began immediately to recruit and train African American mediators who now co-mediate and train for Just Solutions. All trainings include a component on cultural diversity so that every mediator is competent to work with people of different races and cultures. Just Solutions has a racially and professionally diverse panel of mediators, including human resource managers, educators, counselors, attorneys and business leaders. Program Operations
Just Solutions is a full-service community mediation program, providing mediators who can work with disputes including divorce and custody, neighborhood, workplace, civil and commercial and public policy issues. Classes in basic mediation are offered to the public six times a year, and conflict management classes are given on a bi-monthly basis. All trainings include a module on the multiculturalism of the Louisville community and teach participants to prepare for working across cultures. Specialized trainings are given to businesses and industries as well as neighborhoods. Recently instituted programs include conflict management and mediation training in two of Louisville's most densely populated and poverty-affected African American neighborhoods. The Community Partnership for the Protection of Children funds mediation for abuse and neglect cases from Child Protective Services, and a new grant funds training of home health care workers in a facility that serves residents who are elderly and/or have disabilities. Outcomes and Significant Accomplishments Mediation in Louisville has been shown to produce satisfactory outcomes in at least 85% of all cases. During 1997, Just Solutions held 281 family, civil, dependency and community mediations. Seven basic mediation trainings and three divorce and child custody mediation trainings were offered in 1997. |
