CDRC History
What inspired the formation of CDRC was the idea that people should have an informal, quick and inexpensive option for dealing with conflict. Mediation offers that opportunity by providing people with a neutral third party who helps them have the most productive conversation possible. CDRC chose to be community-based, recruiting and training community volunteers to act as its mediators. The community members trained in mediation skills would be able to put those skills to use in all of their interactions, not just in the formal mediations held at CDRC.
Several things came together to allow a smooth start for CDRC. New York State's court system was encouraging communities to start mediation centers. By providing mediation as an alternative or adjunct to court action, the courts hoped to focus its resources on the situations that required judicial intervention to resolve. No one in Tompkins County offered mediation, and Cornell University's Center for Religion, Ethics and Social Policy (CRESP) was willing to sponsor this work.
So in September of 1983, CDRC began as a project of CRESP with a $20,000 grant from Unified Court System of New York. Co-founders Jeff Furman and Judy Saul split one full-time staff position. They recruited a group of willing volunteers, brought in a trainer from an existing mediation center in Syracuse and trained CDRC's first mediators.
CDRC's history has been marked by many milestones, including:
• 1986: began to work with area schools on peer mediation and staff training
• 1988: began mediation between teens and their parents and caregivers, now called Family Talk
• 1991: become an independent non-profit
• 1992: began Parenting Plan Mediation, allowing separated or divorced parents to work together on parenting plans
• 1996: began to offer services to organizations, community groups and local government, assisting them in more effectively responding to conflict
• 1997: became a three-county agency, providing services in Chemung, Schuyler and Tompkins Counties
• 1998: CDRC's mediators received the Agda Osborn award for Community Service presented by Ithaca's Family & Children's Services
• 1999: presented first annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Peacemaker Award to Marcia Fort, director of GIAC
• 2002: celebrated five years of service in Chemung and Schuyler Counties
• 2003: celebrated twenty years of service in Tompkins County
• 2004: began Permanency mediation, helping parents, caseworkers, attorneys and others involved with providing services for the family to resolve conflicts arising in child protection cases
• 2005: developed Family-School Conferences, helping parents and caregivers work with school staff to improve their child's behavior and performance
• 2005: worked with Newfield Elementary School to develop Kid Talk, skill training targeted to elementary-school aged children
• 2006: began Wise Talk, mediation services targeted to elders, their families and caregivers
• 2006: Talk Works Players launched, an interactive and humorous way to educate people about the value of mediation
• 2009: CDRC celebrated it's 25th Anniversary
The changes are remarkable. In 1983 CDRC consisted of two people splitting one position, supplemented by 12 volunteer mediators. In 2008, CDRC employs fifteen people in three counties, supplemented by 75 volunteer mediators. During the past 25 years, CDRC has trained a total of 429 individuals who volunteered with the agency for at least a year. During 1984, CDRC's first full year, the agency handled 77 cases, compared to 949 in 2008. Mediations and conciliations, which numbered 19 in 1984, were at 528 in 2008. CDRC served a total of 377 people in 1984. In 2008, the agency served 4,395 people - 3,782 through mediation and other casework, 88 through Interface and 525 through outreach and training.
Though we've grown, CDRC's mission is essentially unchanged. We understand the ways in which conflict makes each of us less than our best selves. By fostering constructive responses to conflict, we help people get clear about their own needs, the perspectives of others and, weighing both, make the best decisions they can. Twenty-five years has proven that talk works!
