July 2025 Newsletter

Friday, July 4, 2025 - 10:00am

JULY 2025

NEWSLETTER

www.cdsadr.org

Anti-Bias Training

July 8, 2025

5:00 - 8:00 PM

Virtual Training

This training is open to the public

Register in advance to receive the Zoom link

This program is free for CDS staff and volunteers

$60 general public - Pay here

This training is designed to promote greater awareness of implicit bias with respect to race, culture, gender and gender identity, age, cognitive/physical ability, religious affinity and other identities. The primary goal of this training is to empower participants to recognize their own biases, become aware of the impact of these biases in their work environment, and take steps to reduce the harmful impact of biases. The training curriculum reflects current innovative and evidence-based research and will include interactive and experiential learning opportunities.

This training meet the guidelines established by Administrative Order 124/22 that ADR neutrals are required to complete every two years.

Community Dialogue Facilitation Services

As a community dispute resolution center, CDS provides services to support people in conflict, whether interpersonal - such as custody/visitation, divorce, or personal dispute - or community-based.

Community-based conflicts often involve multiple stakeholders, groups, or organizations that don't see eye-to-eye, and individuals in these groups can sometimes escalate the conflict, leading to name-calling, threats, online bullying, and even violence. In these instances, it is critical to reach out to each stakeholder group to ensure that all voices are heard and understood in terms of their underlying needs and values.

Conflict resolution in community-based situations requires a thoughtful approach in order to de-escalate the situation and create opportunities for meaningful dialogue. CDS offers community dialogue facilitation services that are uniquely tailored to each individual situation.

Community dialogue facilitation is a process in which a trained team of facilitators guides a community to work through challenges, build understanding, and explore collaborative solutions. The goal is not necessarily to "resolve" the conflict, but rather, to create a safe and effective process where people can engage in productive conversation and build understanding across differences.

Our dialogue facilitators are trained to identify and engage the groups and participants who need to participate in the process, ensure that all participants have a voice, and promote respectful conversation. Facilitators are also trained to identify power and identity issues, and to support diversity, equity, and inclusion in the dialogue process.

If you are interested in hiring a dialogue facilitator to support your community or group through a community-based conflict, please contact us at info@cdsadr.org.

Reflections on the Fourth of July

by Martha Chazanoff, Program Manager, Livingston County

The words: “... all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness” are among some of the most profound words ever written. Penned by Thomas Jefferson in the Declaration of Independence almost 250 years ago, these words reflect a belief in the dignity and worth of all people.

As the summer season begins, many in our country will reflect on and celebrate this historic document and our country’s independence from England in 1776.

A lot has changed over the centuries. When I consider the words “...all men are created equal…”, it is with both admiration– such amazing words of empowerment regarding individual rights!-- and absolute confusion given that there were hundreds of thousands of enslaved Black people living in the very land in which these words were written. Those human lives were considered anything but equal.

The narrative, shared by George Washington two years prior to the writing of the Declaration of Independence, of the colonists being “enslaved” by England is a confounding hypocrisy as well. George Washington claimed that the British were holding the colonies with “...Shackles of Slavery…” while he himself owned approximately 120 enslaved people. And Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of Independence, owned approximately 130 enslaved people.

It is a disturbing reality to say the least.

For me, it is important to look honestly at the truth upon which our country was built– the truth that it was enslaved hands that built the White House, the Capitol Building, and the railroads– building wealth for others, but without profit for themselves.

Living in truth matters; it is the only way forward. The concept that we are all equal continues to be an ideal not yet reached. But we move forward. It is on us to look at truth, sit with truth, reflect on truth, and work to make our country a land that recognizes equality for everyone while acknowledging the uncomfortable realities woven into the fabric of our nation’s birth.