The Center for Dispute Settlement Recognizes and Celebrates

Black History Month

Since its inception 50 years ago, our work at the Center for Dispute Settlement has been shaped by the legacy of Black leaders in the field of mediation and alternative dispute resolution.

This month, we honor the contributions of Dr. Bernadette Tracy, who has served as a volunteer mediator with the Center for 20 years. Dr. Tracy was recently elected President of the Board of Directors at the New York State Dispute Resolution Association (NYSDRA), a position she holds for the second time. Dr. Tracy has had an eclectic career, with experiences in the worlds of higher education, corporate America, state/federal governments, and community organization development. Most recently, Dr. Tracy has concentrated on sharing, strengthening, and broadening her knowledge and skills in interpersonal communications, mediation, and negotiation processes. She is a practicing organizational and personal consultant/ coach, mediator, and facilitator/trainer. Her memberships include: Advisory Board of Office of the Aging, Advisory Board of Relatives as Parents Program (RAAP), Advisory Board of Family Court Child Care Center, Member of Court Improvement Project, Member of National Association of Professional Women, Board Member of NYSDRA. She is a former member of the New York State CASA Board where she served from 2013 to 2015.

In her recent remarks to the NYSDRA Board of Directors, Dr. Tracy expressed her hope that the Community Dispute Resolution Centers (CDRCs), which represent a unique and almost unfathomable potential, will find a pathway for cohesion across our state network. In her view, we can no longer accept that our centers are the "best kept secret in town" - rather, we need to open lines of connections with other local systems, including our local government agencies, so that we can become integrated into the communities in which we live, and thereby become a resource for conflict resolution and peacemaking throughout our counties and beyond.

As our work at the Center continues to evolve, we look to the leadership of Dr. Tracy and other Black and African-American leaders - both now and in the future - to guide our work in serving our communities, over the next 50 years and beyond.

In peace,

Shira May

President/CEO

Congratulations to

Dr. Bernadette Tracy,

President of the NYSDRA

Board of Directors

Additional members of our Center team also on the NYSDRA Board include:

• Board Secretary: Kim Reisch (Director, Ontario/Yates Counties)
• Board Member: Shira May (President/CEO)

Did You Know?

When our organization was founded in 1973, there was little attention paid in history textbooks to the contributions of African-Americans. Carter G. Woodson, a historian and Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Howard University, made it his mission to bring the neglected aspects of Black life and history into the mainstream of education. Woodson helped to establish what was then called Negro History Week in 1926, to coincide with the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass. Woodson also published numerous books elevating the accomplishments of African-Americans as well as founded the Journal of African American History.

In 1976, 26 years after Woodson's death, the month of February was officially designated nationally as Black History Month.

The Center and Untrapped Ministries Receive Grant from the

Rochester Peace Collective

The Center is proud to announce that Untrapped Ministries is part of the inaugural cohort of 19 local agencies to receive funding from the City of Rochester's new initiative, The Rochester Peace Collective. This grant will support Untrapped Ministries, a grassroots community organization led by founder and CEO Justin Morris (pictured above, holding an "End Gun Violence" sign), in providing professional development and career readiness skills to a group of young people age 18-24 known as Community Vanguards, who will receive training and certification in CPR/first aid, mental health first aid, peer mediation, restorative circles, and advocacy.

The Center serves as the fiscal and administrative partner to Untrapped Ministries and is proud to support its mission to change the lives of Rochester’s most vulnerable youth. Their unique and powerful model is based on the understanding that Economic Empowerment, Health and Wellness, and a sense of Connectedness and Belonging are inextricably connected to violence prevention and intervention. To date, this partnership has received three contracts from the NYS Division of Criminal Justice Services, as well as funding from Monroe County and RochesterWorks!.

Congratulations to all our fellow cohort members, and thank you to the City of Rochester for your investment in this critical violence prevention initiative.

For more information about the Rochester Peace Collective: https://www.cityofrochester.gov/rochester-peace-collective/

And 2Morrow

Today is filled with anger

fueled with hidden hate

scared of being outcast

afraid of common fate

Today is built on tragedies

which no one wants 2 face

nightmares 2 humanities

and morally disgraced

Tonight is filled with rage

violence in the air

children bred with ruthlessness

because no one at home cares

Tonight I lay my head down

but the pressure never stops

gnawing at my sanity

content when I am dropped

But 2morrow I c change

a chance 2 build a new

Built on spirit intent of Heart

and ideals

based on truth

and tomorrow I wake with second wind

and strong because of pride

2 know I fought with all my heart 2 keep my

dream alive

--Song lyrics by Tupac Shakur   

Custody and Visitation Mediation Training

Monday and Tuesday, February 27th and 28th, 2023

9:00am- 5:30pm (both days)

First Federal Training Center, 28 East Main Street, 19th Floor, Rochester, NY 14614

Training provided by Donna Durbin

New York State Unified Court System Certified Trainer

Successful completion of Basic Mediation Training is a prerequisite.

Registration Fee: No Charge to CDS Mediators & Apprentices. Fee charged for other CDRC mediators. Please note that space is limited. Registration Deadline: February 20, 2023. 

If you have any questions, please contact Donna Durbin at ddurbin@cdsadr.org or (585) 546-5110 ext. 108.

Community Impact Survey

In December of 2022, the Center published a Community Impact Survey to invite feedback from our constituents, including past clients, referral sources, partner agencies, and community members. The survey was disseminated through email and social media.

Here is a summary of the results of the survey:

• When asked "How satisfied were you with your experience at the Center" on a scale of 1-5, 77% of respondents indicated a score of 4 or 5.
• Positive experiences with the Center included:
• Knowledge and professionalism of staff
• Responsive, timely, and efficient processes
• High quality of trainings
• Negative experiences with the Center included:
• A sense that the mediation process lacked productivity when working toward agreements
• Barriers for volunteers in terms of engagement and achieving mediator certification
• Obstacles to participation included:
• Mediations only offered during working hours in some areas
• Refusal to participate by the other party
• Suggestions for improvement included:
• More advertisement and media coverage to promote our work
• More guidance and support for volunteers to complete mediator certification
• Increase diversity of mediators and trainers



The feedback we received from this survey will help us in developing the key results we will focus on accomplishing during our next fiscal year starting April 1, 2023.

If you have additional feedback or suggestions, please don't hesitate to contact us at info@cdsadr.org. We would love to hear from you!

Thank you for helping us to continually improve our services.

A Black History Month Playlist

(Disclaimer: By A White Girl)

by Maia Taub,

Case Manager, Monroe County Custody & Visitation Program

Black History Month began on February 1, 2023. In February, we honor not just the birthday of Abraham Lincoln, but of Frederick Douglass, our hometown hero -- there is a statue of him behind the Reynolds Arcade Building, where our main office is located. February 4 is also Rosa Parks Day in California and Missouri, honoring her on her birthday (in Ohio and Oregon, they celebrate on December 1, the day she was arrested. Thanks, excellentpresence.com!).

Many people join book clubs and discussion groups for the month, but I speak primarily the language of music, and so I have put together a short Black History Month playlist for you to listen to and learn from. Don't rely on me to make meaning out of these songs and speeches for you. Go out and make meaning of your own!

All songs and speeches available on YouTube. Here we go!

Letter from a Birmingham Jail - Martin Luther King, Jr.

https://youtu.be/ATPSht6318o

"I am in Birmingham because injustice is here. . . Moreover, I am cognizant of the interrelatedness of all communities and states. I cannot sit idly by in Atlanta and not be concerned about what happens in Birmingham. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."

Birmingham Sunday - cover by Rhiannon Giddens

https://youtu.be/4_T5KlTpvoM

https://genius.com/Rhiannon-giddens-birmingham-sunday-lyrics

"And the choirs kept singing of freedom..." Rhiannon Giddens' smooth bluegrass voice slides lovingly over the names of the children killed on Birmingham Sunday, September 15, 1963, in the bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church. Giddens sings the story with such heart that it's hard not to cry.

A Change Is Gonna Come - Sam Cooke

https://youtu.be/wEBlaMOmKV4

https://genius.com/Sam-cooke-a-change-is-gonna-come-lyrics

A classic from the civil rights movement, written in 1964, Sam Cooke's lyrics resound through the years. According to Genius, he was inspired by Bob Dylan's "Blowin' In The Wind" -- I think Cooke surpasses Dylan here, but maybe I'm biased.

White Privilege II - Macklemore and Ryan Lewis feat. Jamila Woods

https://youtu.be/Y_rl4ZGdy34

https://genius.com/8559323

"Is this about you, well, then, what's your intention?" Macklemore is not only interrogating himself, he's reflecting on his entire career, all the way back to the first "White Privilege" he released in 2005. Because there is no White supremacy without White people, one White voice gets to sneak in here -- and it's a voice that's joined by a Black voice in the end. "Your silence is a luxury, hip-hop is not a luxury . . . What I got for me, it is for me. What we made, we made to set us free." Preach it, Jamila.

Glory - from "Selma" - cover by Jacqui Lewis and Alex Bertrand

https://youtu.be/a4affZ3zImY

Has that promised change come yet? Not according to Jacqui Lewis of Middle Church in New York City, but she preaches a message of hope in her take on this iconic song.

Cory Booker getting emotional over Ketanji Brown Jackson's appointment

https://youtu.be/v8NiPzEJ4po

I slept on this speech, but when I finally listened to it, I understood something I had never really gotten, and maybe you will, too.

At The Purchaser's Option - Rhiannon Giddens

https://youtu.be/6vy9xTS0QxM

https://genius.com/Rhiannon-giddens-at-the-purchasers-option-lyrics

I'll let Giddens speak for herself: "Last year I came across an advertisement from the 1830s for a young woman; thinking about her, and how she had to maintain her humanity against horrific odds inspired this song named for the end of the ad: 'She has with her a 9-month old baby, who is at the purchaser’s option.'"

I Have a Dream - Martin Luther King, Jr.

https://youtu.be/smEqnnklfYs

"When we let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, 'Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!'"

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