Caucus: Summer 2019
Center for Conflict Resolution
In This Issue of Caucus
Grant News!!
Keep Your Eyes Peeled!!
Upcoming Events
2019 VAP Awardees
Help Us Plan an Upcoming Continuing Ed Program
A Letter from Cassie Lively
Case Management News!!
CCR's Summer PILIs
In Memoriam
Grant News!!

CCR is excited to begin work on our new program in partnership with the Juvenile Temporary Detention Center (JTDC), thanks to the support of Impact Grants Chicago! We are currently screening applicants for our new part-time position. See the job announcement here. Once staffing is in place, we will begin coordinating with JTDC staff to roll out the elements of the program, including focus groups, conflict management training and family mediation.

 
Keep Your Eyes Peeled!!
Be on the lookout for CCR's new look!  CCR has been working hard on a new website design and will debut its new website sometime in August!
 
Upcoming Events

Martinis that Matter

Please join CCR Staff, volunteers, Board and Auxiliary Board members for a beverage on Sunday, August 4, 2019 at Marty's Martini Bar, 1511 W Balmoral Ave, Chicago, IL 60640. Profits from the sales of all drinks purchased from 2-5 PM will be donated to CCR, so bring friends, family, and neighbors!


Improv for Mediators
Join Jenni Dressler, a mediator and CCR volunteer, corporate attorney, and Second City-trained improv actor, along with Chicago-area improv actors and teachers Ron Tolisano and Frank Wernet, to enrich and develop your collaborative skillset. Using improv skills and exercises in a fun-filled, interactive hour and a half of demonstration and practice, learn how to interpret nonverbal expression and emotion cues to build a bridge between the needs and interests of your mediation clients.

WhenThursday, August 15, 2019 from 5:30 - 7:00 PM

Where: CCR, 11 E Adams, Chicago, IL 60603
2019 VAP Awardees
We honored some of our outstanding volunteers at the annual Volunteer Appreciation Party in May.





Peacemaker of the Year, Bob Lipton, has shown so much dedication to CCR's mission. Bob is not only a frequent volunteer, but also participates in Reflective Practice Group, is on the Volunteer Council, and is on the Continuing Education Committee. He is a great advocate and ambassador for what we do at CCR. Thank you, Bob, for all that you do.




Trainer of the Year, Jonah Orlofsky, is a great asset to CCR's training department. Jonah signs up frequently to train and makes himself available for trainings of all different types of clients, from law students and the public to corporate trainings. Jonah also does a lot of work to bring in additional training resources for our volunteer community through his chairing of the Continuing Education Committee. Thank you, Jonah, for all that you do.



David Louis and Jenni Dressler, two of CCR's David Steiner Devoted Volunteer awardees this year, have gone above and beyond in the sheer number of cases they've mediated in their first year volunteering with CCR. The award is given in memory of David Steiner, who had a goal of mediating 100 cases in his first year and exceeded that goal! Thank you, David and Jenni, for your hard work and dedication.



CCR's Tenacious Troubleshooter of the year is Margaret Loisel. She pulled a couple of the most contentious, complicated, and time consuming cases CCR had this past year and handled them with her signature grace and composure. Thank you, Margaret, for your hard work and dedication.



CCR's Time Countess! award goes to Cathay Lancaster. Cathay has put hours and hours of work into helping get CCR set up to use Timecounts, a new system for volunteers to sign up to do cases online. We couldn't have done it without her. And, bonus! She made the delicious thank you cookies for the gala, giving up her kitchen for a week so that gala-goers could leave with something beautiful and sweet. Thank you, Cathay, for all your hard work on behalf of CCR!

Help Us Plan an Upcoming
Continuing Ed Program!
 
Do you have a great idea for
a speaker or topic for
an upcoming 
Continuing Ed Program? 
If so, we would love to hear
your thoughts.
 
Please contact Continuing Ed Committee Chair,
Jonah Orlofsky
at
    
LETTER FROM EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
CASSIE LIVELY   
  

Dear CCR Community:

It's summer, and we're hard at work making some improvements and upgrades at CCR!

If you've been in the office or chatted with staff members recently, you might have heard that we are working on building out a new case management database! The new database replaces old technology and moves us to a cloud-based system that will make our data safer and more easily accessible. It will create time-savings for Programs staff, and it will support our final steps toward online scheduling for volunteers! I am grateful to Rae, as it's been a lot of extra work collaborating with the technical folks, and it will be a transition for the Programs team as we roll it out, but the new program will help us manage cases much more efficiently. 

Thanks to a generous grant from the Fogelson Family Foundation, we are also putting the finishing touches on our new website. As with many technology-based projects, this one took us a bit longer than expected, but I am happy say that we expect the new site to go live in August!

CCR training staff and coaches have finished up our July Mediation Skills Training, and are busy preparing for our jam-packed law school training season. We look forward to having our new law school volunteers join us in serving clients at our court programs.

You will see elsewhere in this newsletter an update about our newest program, funded by Impact Grants Chicago! 

Lastly, I look forward to seeing many of you at our Auxiliary Board's upcoming event, Martinis that Matter, hosted by Marty's Martini Bar in Andersonville. Please join us from 2:00 - 5:00 p.m. on Sunday August 4 th to support community conflict resolution while enjoying a delicious martini.

Cheers,
Cassie


Case Management News!

We are excited to announce that CCR will soon roll out an online calendar for our volunteers to schedule mediations! This is something volunteers have been asking for. It will also help Case Management work more efficiently and focus their efforts on the substantive work of supporting volunteers who are mediating cases. 

CCR will be using Timecounts, an online scheduling platform designed specifically for non-profits who manage large numbers of volunteers. We are preparing training manuals for using the new software, and hope to begin training volunteers this fall on using Timecounts.
 
Say Hello to 
CCR's Summer PILI Intern and Fellows!
Meet Kelsey Chetosky, one of CCR's PILI fellows for summer 2019!

Kelsey graduated from Northwestern Pritzker School of Law this past May. She will be working at Kirkland & Ellis in their corporate group in the fall. Fun fact: Kelsey lived in India for a month!

We are very much enjoying working with Kelsey this summer!




Meet Abigail Olson, CCR's PILI intern for summer 2019!
Abbi will be starting her last year of law school at The University of Iowa College of Law in the fall with a 3 month internship at a criminal justice nonprofit organization in London, United Kingdom. Fun fact: Abbi has an identical twin!
We are very much enjoying working with Abigail this summer!


Meet Megan Ryan, one of CCR's PILI fellows for summer 2019!

Megan just graduated from University of Michigan Law School in May will be starting at Jones Day's Chicago office this fall. During her free time this summer she's raising her ten-week-old Labradoodle puppy, Whiskey!

We are very much enjoying working with Megan this summer!

Our huge thanks to the Public Interest Law Initiative for their amazing partnership, as well as Kirkland & Ellis and Jones Day for their support of our summer fellows!
In Memoriam
Our heartfelt condolences to the family and friends of longtime CCR volunteer and former Board member Beverly Huckman. Beverly leaves an incredible legacy of advocacy on behalf of causes and communities throughout the entire country, and made a huge impact for us at CCR through her tireless championing of the availability of free, high-quality mediation services in Chicago. She will be missed. Read her obituary here.
Joshua Becker in 
Harvard Business Review

Congratulations to CCR mediator Joshua Becker, who has a fascinating article in the Harvard Business Review! The article focuses on how to effectively harness group intelligence. Read the article HERE.