On July 19th, the Volunteer Council sponsored a book club event, "Between the World and Me," by Ta-Nehisi Coates. The event was facilitated by Kelli Covey and Thomas Toney. Audience participation was a focal point of the event - the consensus of which seemed to be extraordinarily deep and profound reactions to the writer's "letter to his son" about growing up African American in Baltimore. Attendees held a stimulating discussion about racial issues that are part of our past, present -- and future. Thank you to everyone who came! We're looking forward to the next book club event, hope you can attend!
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Romance is in the Air!
Congratulations to Whitney Trumble and Matt Parrilli
Whitney Trumble, CCR's Finance & Operations Director, was married to Matthew Parrilli on July 9, 2016. The ceremony was held at sunrise at Foster Avenue Beach and the reception was in the evening at Pinstripes, Oakbrook.
Congratulations to Maryam Arfeen and Talha Ali
Maryam and Talha were married over Memorial Day weekend. They
met a few years back while Maryam was working as a graduate fellow for CCR.
Congratulations to Mackenzie
Drutowski and
Matthew Beamer
Mackenzie and Matthew were married on
August 20th in Stillwater, Minnesota. It rained on their wedding day, therefore, for those who believe in superstitions, they will receive a lifetime of good luck!
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A Warm Welcome to the Newest Member of the CCR Family
Brad and Emily Lorden welcomed
Ryan Henry Lorden
Born July 7, 2016
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New Talent Added to the CCR Team
Please join us in welcoming our newest talent to CCR!
Rachel Consoles
Rachel Consoles is CCR's Development Intern.
Rachel Consoles is a senior at Loyola University Chicago, studying advertising and public relations. Originally from Sandwich, MA, Rachel hopes to pursue a career in internal and employee communications. She likes to read, go to the beach (weather permitting), and explore the many neighborhoods of Chicago in her free time.
Deanna Parrish
Deanna Parrish is CCR's Legal Fellow for the fall. Deanna is a Miami, Florida native who has spent recent years braving winters in Boston, New York, Washington D.C., and St. Louis. After studying International Relations and Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Washington University in St. Louis, she had the opportunity to work at The White House and Clinton Global Initiative. These experiences inspired in her questions on getting different parties to the table and helping them succeed once there.
She recently graduated from Harvard Law School where she called the Harvard Negotiation and Mediation Clinical Program (HNMCP) home. During her time at HLS, she studied negotiation, facilitation, mediation, collaborative lawyering, and dispute systems design.
We are excited to have Deanna working with the case management team this fall!
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Fiscal Year 2016 was another great year for CCR. We saw an overall increase in cases and growth in a number of key areas. In FY16, CCR opened 1,745 non-foreclosure cases, an increase of 10.8% from last year. CCR mediated 1,450 cases, a 10% increase from last year. Incredibly, we have seen an increase in mediations of 33.6% over the last two years. That's a lot more cases!
One of the biggest areas of growth has been our Post-Decree and Parenting Agreement cases. These cases involve divorced or never married parents who come to mediation to work on their parenting plans. Topics for mediation often include parenting time schedules, communication and child-related expenses. In the past few years, we have seen an increase in referrals of more than 40% for this case type.
CCR certainly could not do this work without the dedication of our volunteers. Thank you to all of you for mediating and helping CCR provide mediation to so many participants in the Chicagoland area.
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Looking for Meeting or Event Space?
We have you covered!
CCR has a wonderful Training Room which can accommodate 35 people.
If you are interested in learning more, or wish to reserve the space, please contact Pari Karim, Training Director at
(312) 922-6464,
ext. 12
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LETTER FROM EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Dear CCR Community:
It has been a great summer (and a busy one!) at CCR! Thanks for taking a moment to read up on all the new developments.
As you mediate over the next few weeks, be on the lookout for our new-and-improved mediation evaluation forms! We are moving to evaluation forms that can be electronically scanned directly into our database. The forms will still allow for qualitative comments to be captured, but will dramatically reduce the amount of time spent by program staff in manually entering the evaluation data. A big thanks to our Public Interest Law Initiative (PILI) intern, Jenna Silver, and fellows, Mackenzie Drutowski and Will Gohl, for helping us bring this project to fruition. A big additional thanks to the PILI organization for their support of CCR.
CCR's Volunteer Council (VC) continues to work on initiatives designed to improve the experience of serving as a volunteer for CCR, fostering community among our volunteers and assisting staff in carrying out our strategic initiatives. Their latest project is a series of focus groups taking place in September. Insights gleaned from these groups will help the VC to better serve our volunteer community. Thank you to the VC for leading this effort, and thanks to the volunteers who are participating!
Please join me in welcoming our newest class of Mediator Mentorship Program (MMP) participants! Trainees Linda Durack, Sunil Harjani, Virginia Keller, Mark Levine and Tanya Woods are participating in their mentorship activities and working towards certification. Our thanks to the participants and their mentors for all of their hard work. They will join the proud ranks of our volunteers - committed to continuous learning and providing the highest quality mediation services to our clients.
I look forward to seeing many of you at the CCR Auxiliary Board's fall fundraising event, Comedy for Conflict Resolution! The Auxiliary Board is dedicated to raising CCR's profile in the community and growing our funding sources. Comedy for Conflict Resolution will take place on Thursday, 9/22 from 5:30 - 8:00 and is being generously hosted by Plante Moran, 10 S. Riverside Plaza. Come to celebrate and support CCR's mediation services.
Cheers,
Cassie
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Please join us for Comedy for Conflict Resolution
On Thursday, September 22 from 5:30pm to 8:00pm at Plante Moran, 10 S. Riverside Plaza, the Auxiliary Board will host their annual fall event, Comedy for Conflict Resolution.
The evening will feature delectable fare from Chicago restaurants and beer from Lagunitas Brewing Co. and Revolution Brewing. Guests will be entertained by local Chicago improv artists and comedians.
You will have the opportunity to purchase raffle tickets to win four court-side seats to a 2016-2017 season Chicago Bulls game (parking pass and access to Ketel-One Club included!), as well as other great prizes.
To purchase tickets to the event or raffle tickets, please click HERE.
We are truly grateful for the generosity and support we receive from our sponsors.
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CCR Auxiliary Board in Action!
On Thursday, July 14, Graystone Tavern welcomed the Auxiliary Board who served as guest bartenders. Expectations were high and the board certainly lived up to them! A great time was had by all and the board raised $310 in raffle sales and $372 in tips.
Our sincere thanks to everyone who joined us for the evening - the ongoing support and generosity of the Board and the Auxiliary Board, along with the CCR community, is greatly appreciated.
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| Thank You to Our PILI Intern and Fellows
A big thank you to our PILI Intern and Fellows for all their work with CCR this summer!
Our PILI Intern, Jenna Silver, has begun her 3L year at Loyola University Chicago School of Law.
Jenna recently completed her PILI internship at CCR. She looks forward to continuing to stay involved as a mediator and coach, and hopes to apply her mediation skills in all areas of her life.
Mackenzie Drutowski recently graduated from Northwestern University School of Law. Upon finishing her PILI Fellowship at CCR this month, she will join the corporate department at
Kirkland & Ellis.
Will Gohl is a PILI Graduate Fellow sponsored by Sidley Austin LLP. He graduated in May 2016 from the Northwestern University School of Law. Upon completion of his fellowship with CCR, he will clerk for Judge John Z. Lee of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, and then for Judge Neil M. Gorsuch of the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit.
All three worked with CCR's case management team in program development, research, and the new evaluation database. Best of luck to all of them on their future endeavors!
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w David Steiner's
Film Debut!
A member of our volunteer community, David Steiner, directed a documentary about a Chicago Public School that was featured in this year's
Black Harvest Film Festival.
Saving Barbara Sizemore
In 2015, the Betty Shabazz-Barbara A. Sizemore Academy in Englewood was one of four charter schools put on the chopping block, and teacher/filmmaker Steiner captured the struggle in this engaging, persuasive film, which conveys the school's unique family atmosphere and emphasis on African culture.
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