One way to fight polarization: become a mediator

In the early days of the Center for Peace Learning here at George Fox, I worked with Lon Fendall to lead what may have been the first community mediation training in Yamhill County.  After a few years of fits and starts, the Yamhill County Mediators came into existence in the mid 1990's.  

For the next quarter-century, I worked with YCM.  Among other things, I led their mediator training every second year, connected to a Community Mediation class I taught at George Fox.  

YCM did a lot of great work,  including community mediation, small-claims mediation, and victor/offender mediation connected to the Yamhill County District Court.  However, COVID disrupted some of the connections YCM relied upon, and the organization began to struggle. 

Last fall, YCM agreed to hand  Yamhill County mediation work over to Marion County's Neighbor-to-Neighbor Community Dispute Resolution Center (N2N).  N2N has a similar arrangement with Linn and Benton Counties, taking advantage of N2N's robust resources and larger staff. 

The Civility Project invited two leaders at N2N, Executive Director Heather Wright, and Director of Operations Jared Rogers, to come to campus on the evening of January 23 to talk about N2N's plans for Yamhill County.  Those plans will depend on finding people willing to be trained in mediation skills, and then to use those skills to help people in our community discover ways to resolve often bitter and seemingly hopeless conflict. 

If you have been restless to be DOING the work of building a more civil,  welcoming, and cooperative local community, I strongly recommend you check out Neighbor-to-Neighbor and consider volunteering to become a mediator.