New Staff Joins CMI
Tuesday, 10 August 2010 00:00 | 
ASSISTANT TO THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Susan Spight has been hired as the Assistant to the Executive Director. Susan’s background has been in the non-profit mental health sector for the last fifteen years as a Development/Community Relations Coordinator at Fellowship Place, Inc., in New Haven, CT, supporting the financial development team and directing public and community relations’ efforts for the organization. She was the Promotion’s Consultant for a local author in the field of Autism and for a Financial Advisor. She received her BA degree from Albertus Magnus College in New Haven, CT. Susan has been certified as a Facilitator through Community Mediation, Inc. She was trained through the Graustein Community Leadership Program of greater New Haven and continues to be an active member of that training cohort.
COURT MEDIATOR
Ana Maria Martinez volunteered at Community Mediation, Inc. for five years before being hired as a Court Mediator. She became certified as a mediator in the fifth grade and later began working with adolescents at the Middle School and High School level in conflict management. Ana says, “I’ve always been naturally community oriented and Community Mediation has helped me to fulfill a dream to help others.” Ana attended Southern CT State University studying Business Administration, and she hopes to return to college within the next year to work toward her degree.
New Associate Executive Director Friday, 30 July 2010 13:26 |
Brenda Cavanaugh Becomes New Executive Director of Community Mediation, Inc. Monday, 26 July 2010 02:04 |
 As of July 1, 2010, Ms. Brenda Cavanaugh has been hired as the new Executive Director of Community Mediation, Inc. Brenda has been the Associate Director since 2007 and has provided strong program and staff leadership during this period of time. She is originally from Massachusetts, having received a Masters Degree from Wheaton College with a major in history and a minor in education. She has been a High School Special Education teacher for several years, focusing on behavior and emotional disorders. During this time she was trained to set up a peer mediation program in the high school. Brenda was also trained as a mediator in 1997 at the Charlottesville, VA, Community Mediation Center. She worked with the C’ville Community Mediation Center and another nonprofit mediation group – James River Associates – until 2007 having mediated over 200 cases. Brenda set up peer mediation programs and created a conflict resolution workshop at Fluvanna Women’s Prison, facilitated town vision discussions throughout central VA, and was an adjunct Faculty Member at Southern CT State University teaching “Interpersonal Conflict” from 2007 - 2009. Brenda received training through the Graustein Community Leadership Program of greater New Haven and continues to be an active member of that training cohort. Join Us On FacebookCMI has finally found its way to Facebook and created a fan page. We hope to use this page to help build our presence in the community. We ask that you hit the "LIKE" button and share our page with your friends. Here is a little about us to help spread the word to others:
People contact CM when they want to solve problems with another party through collaborative means and with an impartial third party. CM staff and volunteers mediate, facilitate, and train individuals and groups to empower them to communicate more effectively and resolve conflicts through methods that foster understanding and win-win agreements. We:
Mediation occurs when an impartial third party facilitates communication between people in conflict with the potential of creating a win-win agreement. Facilitation is when impartial third parties facilitate discussions with large groups holding diverse opinions to create dialogue and understanding and, potentially, action plans to solve community issues. Parent Group Celebrates Schools Translation Progress Wednesday, 30 June 2010 00:00 |
by Allan Appel | Jun 30, 2010 3:36 pm “So when are you going to run to be the first female president of the United States!?”Such exclamations of praise from an adoring audience greeted Nilda Aponte (left in above photo) as she was medallioned for helping to lead Teach Our Children’s recent campaign to improve translation services available in the public schools. Aponte was one of eight parent leaders celebrated on Saturday afternoon as the parent advocacy group gathered 40 strong at the First Presbyterian Church on Whitney Avenue. The group also marked the success of its new partnership with the Board of Education in improving translation services f “Before I got involved with TOC, I was a very shy person,” Aponte said. That shyness, however, has matured into an effective, quiet charisma that was cited by fellow TOC leader Alberto Nieves. He praised Aponte as the “mother of the translation campaign.” “She had a vision to have translation in the schools so the Hispanic voice can be heard,” he said. In past years TOC has been at loggerheads with the Board of Ed on issues such as translation, suspensions, and bullying. After a seeming impasse, six months ago TOC and the board submitted to institutional marriage counseling by Community Mediation. The results have been real. Aponte said communication has improved greatly and a sense of partnership around the translation issue has supplanted sometimes acrimonious confrontation. T • The New Haven Public Schools website was translated into 35 languages including Spanish. Aponte said that the mediation has been so successful, it is no longer needed. “We want to continue the partnership with the board,” she said. An immediate task is bringing more information about the school reforms to the Spanish-speaking parents. “We’ve been attending the meetings, but there are a lot of parents who still don’t know,” Aponte said. Scott said that the parent leaders will decide at an upcoming meeting what issues to take up next.. Nieves added that the city’s nascent school reform campaign requires active parent involvement in order to succeed.  Saturday was a time for appreciating the moment. In addition to Aponte, the other parent leaders cited included: Alberto Nieves, Anna Lucero, Cynthia Shannon, Lorena Torres, Claudia Bosch, Sylvia Navarro, and Joseph Vidro. Scott said that TOC has a core of 30 active members and a larger circle of 250 involved parents. Joseph Vidro (back row left in photo, in yellow), who had nominated Aponte to run for president of the United States, said to her, “You’ve got my vote.” Share this story with others. Share |Last Updated (Monday, 26 July 2010 04:08) |
Samuel “Joe” Brummer has been hired as the new Associate Executive Director of Community Mediation, Inc. Formerly, he was the Assistant Training Director for the Rhode Island Council of Community Mental Health Organizations, Inc., in Cranston, Rhode Island where he did planning, developing, and presenting for training and conferences. Joe has presented workshops in Connecticut, Rhode Island, Vermont and Pennsylvania. He has presented on a variety of subjects including conflict, mediation and Nonviolent Communication℠ at Southern Connecticut State University, the University of New Haven, and Quinnipiac University in Hamden, CT. He has presented a pre-conference workshop on Nonviolent Communication ℠ at the Society for Public Health Education’s 60th Annual Meeting in Philadelphia, PA, in 2009 and did the presentation Engage, Inspire and Challenge Conference sponsored by the American Association for Health Education (AAHE) and the National Association of Health Education Centers (NAHEC) in collaboration with the Pennsylvania Association for HPERD, Harrisburg, Pa. Joe volunteered and did consulting at the Community Mediation Center of RI for three years. He did volunteer mediation and training for two years at Community Mediation, Inc. in New Haven, CT before becoming their Associate Executive Director. 
or Spanish-speaking parents.
OC Director Camelle Scott (at right in top photo) itemized the achievements since November 2009: