“10th Annual International Cyber-Conference on Dispute Resolution” Theme: Community Engagement and Human Flourishing Wednesday, April 8, 2020 9 AM – 11:30 AM (HST) Join Zoom Meeting: https://csudh.zoom.us/j/668129425 Meeting ID: 668 129 425 (Zoom Conference Room Opens at 8:15 AM) Click here for more details. Contact: Nancy Perry at nperry@csudh.edu Website: https://cyberconferencedr.wordpress.com Co-Sponsors: Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI), Center for Service Learning, Internships & Civic Engagement (SLICE), Woman’s Leadership Workshop CSUDH, Campus Climate Initiatives, Center for Alternative Dispute Resolution, Conflict Resolution Alliance (CRA), Conflict Management Institute, Hawaii State Bar Association Alternative Dispute Resolution Section, The Mediation Center of the Pacific, and the Matsunaga Institute for Peace
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Sharing information about the Hoʻāla Assistance Program (HRF) that will provide one-time emergency financial assistance (up to $1,000 per household) to Hawaiʻi residents facing hardship due to the COVID-19 pandemic. HRF is made possible through a partnership between the Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement, Hawaiʻi Community Foundation, and Pierre & Pam Omidyar. The program aims to provide stability to families during this emergency situation. Online application opens up on Thursday, April 2, 2020. Contact hrf@hawaiiancouncil.org for more information.
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Sharing Essay By a CRA Memeber
Tom DiGrazia, who is a member of Conflict Resolution Alliance (CRA), wrote the following essay, and thought it may be useful to share with the rest of the CRA membership. Please note that the views and opinions expressed in Tom’s essay are exclusively his own, and do not necessarily reflect a policy or position of the Conflict Resolution Alliance (CRA) membership, or the Board of Directors and Officers of CRA. That being said, we appreciate Tom’s thought-provoking ideas in response to the turbulent times we are all facing. Thank you, Tom! THE CORONA VIRUS (COVID-19) PANDEMIC: CHAOS OR OPPORTUNITY? Some Background A formidable enemy has invaded our world. It is a pathogen called the Corona Virus. The Virus first appeared in the Chinese city of Wuhan, where nine million Chinese reside. It is believed that the Virus was developed in bats and passed on to small mammals that are considered delicacies, and sold in open-air food markets for human consumption. The Chinese government suppressed news of the outbreak of the Virus for weeks, thereby allowing the Virus to spread throughout Wuhan, and then to the rest of China. Given the commercial and travel interconnections between citizens of different countries, the Virus has turned into a pandemic, spreading to almost every nation on the Planet. Thousands of people have died in China, Italy and France, and soon in the US. The world’s response to the pandemic has been mostly slow, especially in the US, where the present administration has through inadvertence, incompetence and design hidden the Virus truth and its potentially dire implications from Americans. NY, California and Washington State have been particularly hard hit with thousands already dead. The present occupant of the White House has early on in his administration dismantled a key Center for Disease Control medical component…
Our efforts in trying to stop the spread of the COVID-19 will need to continue for a while before we come out of this battle. While we are mandated to work from home and practicing social distancing, stress and anxiety are building up in our community and coflicts will not stop. Are you adapting to this new environment? How can you continue helping your clients while staying away from them physically? In order to ensure that you are positioning yourself to thrive coming out of this battle, you may want to think about: How can you stay connected with your clients and potential clients? Are you actively engaging with your clients digitally? What else do you need to consider for your business aspect of practice? You may want to gather tips from various business related organizations, for example, SBA, Better Business Bureau and Chamber of Commerce Hawaii have dedicated resource pages for the special business environment amid COVID-19 pandemic. How can you provide the safe space for the parties to creatively come together to resolve conflicts while physically separated? Fortunately, we have technologies that are readily available that will help us stay connected while practicing social distancing. For example, The Mediation Center of The Pacific offers skype mediation and Online Mediation Program (OMP brochure) that enable their clients to use their services while staying safe at home. There are number of free video conferencing available, especially now. What logistical obstacles you may need to overcome to offer alternative venue to mediate? If you offer virtual mediation (video conferencing), will all the parties have devices to access internet, will they all have good connectivity, and the sofware is compatible? Security and privacy of connection? If you are not able to offer your services while staying put at home, how will that…
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Good News for our fiends in Hilo!
MEDIATION & CONFLICT MANAGEMENT MASTER CLASS Art, Craft, Science with Peter S. Adler, PhD & Louis Chang, Esq. Saturday & Sunday, March 7 & 8, 2020 in Hilo, HI Registration/Coffee/Tea/Refreshments: 8:00 am Saturday: 8:30 am to 5:00 pm Sunday: 8:30 am to 12:00 pm ABOUT THE MASTER CLASS & INSTRUCTORS Please read attached. Includes detailed description, agendas, and bios for both instructors. ELIGIBILITY The workshop is limited to persons who: Have completed one or more mediation, facilitation, or conflict resolution trainings; Have acted as neutrals on at least 20 or more cases/projects and for at least 3 years; Are interested in continuing their work, expanding their practices, and applying their skills and experience to challenging negotiation problems; Will complete a pre-class survey and review several short read-ahead pieces prior to class. COST Participation includes: copies of selected resources; a light breakfast on both days; a nice lunch on Day 1; and coffee, tea, juice, and snacks throughout. Cost is $475 payable in advance. RSVP REQUIRED RSVP to Julie Mitchell: julie@hawaiimediation.org or 934-7844 x 5. Seating is limited to 25, so please RSVP by February 28, 2020 (if possible). Flyer – Mediation & Conflict Management Master Class 3-7&8-20 – PUBLIC
The first event we hosted as Conflict Resolution Alliance, “Navigationg the Changing Legal Climate” with Ron Ousky was a great success! Hope you were able to join us. If you missed it, now you have a chance to catch it again! Check out our new page at http://www.crahawaii.org/events/event-recordings-videos/.
Sharing information about $24,000 Grant Opportunity: The JAMS Foundation and National Association for Community Mediation (NAFCM) are pleased to announce the seventh Community Mediation Mini-Grant Program (“Program”). The purpose of this year’s Program is to fund the development and refinement of innovative and emerging community mediation center services that: Involves young adults (21-35-year-old) in addressing issues of race, ethnicity or economic marginalization. This is an opportunity to focus on how to engage and bring into the life of the center the energy of young adults (21-35-year-old) and in turn, create opportunities to address institutional or community conflicts that arise because of racial, ethnic or economic marginalization. To be considered for this two-year $24,000 grant opportunity you must first complete the Solicitation of Interest (Si) step. This step invites you to submit a two to three-page short answer proposal for review. There is no request for attachments, a structured budget or an in-depth justification of your work. To find out more please paste the following link in your browser: https://www.nafcm.org/news/483344/JAMS-Foundation-NAFCM-Solicitation-of-Interest–2020- 2022.htm Submission Date Interested organizations are required to submit a 1-3-page Solicitation of Interest (SI) (using the guidelines of the SI) to NAFCM no later than 11:59 PM local time of the organization’s legal/main location, February 21, 2020, at siminigrant2020@gmail.com.
Renown storyteller ALTON TAKIYAMA-CHUNG will help us bring in the New Year with a special Shinnen Enkai once-in-a-lifetime performance highlighting the Japanese American story on Saturday, January 18, 2020 from 1:00 pm to 3:00 pm at the Clubhouse (100th Infantry Battalion Veterans, Education Center). This event is suitable for all ages and is open to the public. Alton will perform selections from three of his popular pieces: 1. A yet unnamed story about early life of our ancestors on the plantations of Hawaii; 2. “Heroes” which tells the story of two brothers from Hawaii who join the 100th and 442nd to fight in Europe during WWII where they learn about courage and honor, how to be a part of a team, and the reality of war. 3. “Spark Matsunaga: Warrior Poet” which is a docudrama about Hawaii’s beloved son and 100th veteran, the late Senator SPARK MASAYUKI MATSUNAGA Click below for more details: Microsoft Word – 20200118 Alton Takiyama-Chung.docx
The Kindness Challenge result… We would like to say Mahalo to everyone who participated in 5:1 Kindness Challenge and spread positiveness in the communities around you. Thank you also to Keahi Tucker – Hawaii News Now, Kristy Tamashiro – KHON, and Amrita Mallik – UH Manoa for spreading the words about our challenge. Special thanks goes to Ms. Pamera Fujita of Mililani Middle School for having her entire class participate in the challenge to spread kindness widely!! Here are some of her students’ feedbacks: “… We started the quarter by doing the 5:3:1 as our project. We do 5 minutes of meditation. we then have a journal where we decorate each day and write down 3 good things about the day. Along with that we write 1 random act of kindness we did that day. Ms.pam heard about your contest and had a challenge between each track….. Our goal overall was to spread kindness. I believe our class achieved our goal to spread kindness to others who need it….” Jazmine O. “Ms. Pam’s Class dedicated a whole quarter to teaching about kindness and 5-3-1. She told us to write in our journals 3 things that made us happy that day, and one act of kindness that we did that day. This assignment helped us to improve on many things, mostly on becoming a happier and all around better person.” Piha’eu A. Let’s keep it going this holiday season. A small kindness goes a long way in making a positive impact on someone’s day 🙂
Aloha, We enjoyed a lovely evening gathering at the 2019 ACR Hawaii Annual Meeting. Hope you were able to join us. In case you missed it, here is what happened at the meeting. New Board of Directors and Officers were elected. Congratulations! Click here to see our new leaders. Our members also voted on two items: Shall ACR Hawaii’s status as a chapter of the Association for Conflict Resolution be terminated and shall it become an independent non-profit, tax exempt organization by the end of 2020? -> Approved. Shall the Board be authorized to decide the new name of the organization? -> Approved. Recapped what we did this year: Then, Tom & Dick reminisced John F. Kennedy and his achievements, and shared how the tools of his success can be applied to our work as conflict resolver / peacebuilder. Special Mahalo to 100th Infantry Battalion Veterans Education Center for graciously welcoming us. We had a great time!