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Mediation center reorganizing
‘Outgrew' its mission
Friday, July 24, 2009
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An established nonprofit whose aim was to help others is shutting its doors for a dose of its own medicine.
Last week the Charles County Community Mediation Center announced it would not close indefinitely, but would be on hiatus for as long as it took to re-establish its leadership and volunteer support.
"The center will eventually re-open," said Nataly Mendocilla-Navarrete, the center's secretary, who is handling the official closing. "We're trying to form a more solid organization. We outgrew ourselves, and so we're working on trying to find the appropriate people who are truly grounded in Charles County, with a true stake in the success [of the center]."
Established in 2005, the mediation center has offered services to county residents in a variety of discordant situations. It is financially supported by a grant from the Maryland Mediation and Conflict Resolution Office.
Neighbor-to-neighbor, student-to-student and family issues are listed on the center's Web site as examples of services offered.
Mendocilla-Navarrete said there are about 20 volunteers working with the center, each of whom must go through 40 hours of training, a supervised internship and ongoing skill building.
She said many referrals come by way of law enforcement and the school system.
Jervie Petty, principal of Maurice J. McDonough High School, said the school has used the mediation center for two years in resolving student-to-student and student-to-parent conflicts.
The center has saved administrators a lot of time, Petty said, and has offered hours of uninterrupted conflict resolution time for students because the center's volunteers can stay dedicated to one quarrel without worrying about the day-to-day activities of the school.
"I think the feedback from students has been positive," Petty said. "I hope this is only temporary. They've been a tremendous help to us. I hope the center will be able to do whatever is necessary to reopen."
Mendocilla-Navarrete said she hopes to see the center opening by the next fiscal year.
In the meantime, she said residents can seek the assistance of the neighboring counties and their respective mediation centers.
Information about future opportunities for the Charles County volunteers will come in a later announcement, she said.
