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Serving Ohio’s Mediators and those in need of Mediation services

MEDIATE OHIO
Ohio Mediation Association
www.mediateohio.org

A Bi-Monthly Publication
November/December 2010

President: James Petas (419) 936-2312 E-mail: james.petas@noris.org
Immediate Past President: Maara Fink (419) 530-4236 E-mail: Maara.Fink@utoledo.edu
Vice President: Ed Krauss (614) 619-0017 E-mail: edmkmediator@sbcglobal.net
Treasurer:  Sheri Center (614) 783-7281 E-mail: findingcommonground@yahoo.com
Secretary:  Gina Weisshaar (614) 893-2881 E-mail: gmweisshaar@yahoo.com

Mark your Calendars for our exciting meetings!! (Usually the first Friday of the even numbered months.)

Dec. 3, 2010   Foreclosure Mediation with Eileen Pruett, Manager of the Small Claims Court of Franklin County and Linda Cook, Senior Attorney, Ohio Poverty Law Center—see specifics below.

Feb. 4, 2011   TBA

April 29, 2011 ANNUAL MEETING—NOTE CHANGE IN DATE Kenneth Cloke on The Art of Waking People Up: Utilizing Dangerous Dialogues to Resolve Conflict.

Ed Krauss is now planning our programs so if you have any ideas of what you would like to hear about or a speaker you can suggest please let him know at ekek783@sbcglobal.net

President’s Column
James Petas
OMA Mission

I hope your fall season is going well!! Here is an update on OMA’s current efforts to promote mediation in Ohio.

This October OMA aired a month long public radio campaign on NPR that covered Columbus, Cleveland, Toledo & Cincinnati. The ads sponsored primetime programs such as “All Things Considered” and “Morning Edition”. Each underwritten segment ended w/ the message “sponsored by the Ohio Mediation Association – dedicated professionals helping clients control the outcome of their personal & professional disputes, for more information go to www.mediateohio.org. The ad was a product of hard work from our board members, vice president and past president. We tried to capture the attention of prospective members and clients while reminding counsel, judges & court staff that we are here.  Repetition is key so we are planning another NPR campaign next year.

At our October OMA bi-monthly meeting we had speaker Curtis Haugtvedt, Associate Professor of Marketing from The Ohio State University. The topic was branding the concept of mediation and how that differs from branding a product.  Topics discussed were knowing your market; the effectiveness of repetition combined with variation; and that the key to creating strong brand power is a combination of expressing what makes mediation unique along with the use of data and testimonials. The presentation was very engaging and the message relevant to mediators in private practice and to our current mission to more efficiently market mediation.

In conjunction with our speaker we are working with the University of Toledo International Business and Marketing Department to sponsor a graduate class project on marketing mediation and OMA. We are also looking at re-structuring our website to lower operating expenses and help create a site that is more vibrant and interactive.  We will keep you posted!

As with all organizations the future is ours to create. As members, you are a big part of that, so please let us know your thoughts on the past campaign, as well as how we can improve on our mission to inform the public about all of the important work that we do!!

Lastly, I’m excited to announce Kenneth Cloke as the speaker for our Spring 2011 Conference, which will be held on April 29, 2011 at the Riffe Center in Columbus. The topic is The Art of Waking People Up: Utilizing Dangerous Dialogues to Resolve Conflict.  Ken is an accomplished mediator from Santa Monica, California who specializes in resolving complex multi-party conflicts and is the author of “Conflict Revolution” – Mediating Evil, War, Injustice and Terrorism. For more information on our speaker, go to  http://www.kennethcloke.com/.

So please save the last Friday in April for another fantastic OMA event and I look for to seeing you all at our at December bi-monthly meeting!

December Meeting Specifics from Ed Krauss:

Eileen Pruett manages the Franklin County Municipal Court Small Claims Division and Dispute Resolution Department.  The number of mediation referrals in Municipal Court, has more than doubled since her arrival in 2005.

In addition, Eileen is Project Administrator for the Franklin County Foreclosure Mediation Project.  In 2008, Eileen developed a mediation project proposal that led to a two-year grant to provide foreclosure mediation services for the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas.  Since the Project began in November 2008, more than 3,000 foreclosure disputes have been referred to mediation.

Before joining the Municipal Court, Eileen worked for the Supreme Court of Ohio for 13 years.  She designed, implemented and helped maintain quality mediation services for Ohio courts.  She helped trial and appellate courts establish mediation programs in more than half of Ohio’s 88 counties.

Eileen is an experienced mediator and mediation trainer.  She also teaches continuing education programs for attorneys and mediators.  She frequently serves as faculty for the Ohio Judicial College.

Eileen graduated from Indiana University and The Ohio State University College of Law.

Linda Cook, Senior Attorney, Ohio Poverty Law Center.

Linda Cook has over 20 years experience practicing law and heads the Ohio statewide consumer law task force. Linda received her JD from the Ohio State University College of Law in 1987 and began her legal career in the Chillicothe office of Southeastern Ohio Legal Services.  She served as managing attorney of that office for eight years before joining OPLC in 2006. Linda is a member of the Supreme Court’s Commission on Certification of Attorneys as Specialists and is a founding member of the Ohio Coalition for Responsible Lending, a statewide, broad based coalition addressing payday lending reform. In 2008, Linda played a key role in bringing about the reform of Ohio’s exemption laws, increasing the homestead exemption and enacting an automatic cost of living adjustment.

She has been a member of Ohio’s Save the Dream legal assistance planning group since its inception, and she is the project manager for the Ohio Foreclosure Project, the statewide collaborative legal services foreclosure intervention effort. Linda coordinates and facilitates statewide trainings for legal services advocates on a variety of consumer issues, and has lectured on consumer issues such as mandatory arbitration in consumer transactions, post-foreclosure issues, and unregulated utilities.

Community Mediation Services of Central Ohio (CMS) Homelessness Prevention Program
By Suzanne Barker

Project Summary

This project involves Community Mediation Services of Central Ohio (CMS), a full service not for profit conflict resolution resource center operating in Columbus for nearly 22 years and its project partners, providing conflict resolution mediation services and related education and information and referral services to approximately 6,000 very low income tenants and their landlords in Franklin and contiguous counties over a 28 month period when a tenant has received a three day notice to vacate his/her rental housing or has had an eviction action filed against him/her  in court.

The purpose of the project is to increase the number of low income tenants in Franklin and contiguous counties who are able to obtain and maintain stable housing for the long term.   The project will utilize the following primary strategies to achieve this goal;

• CMS  Mediators will be made available to the targeted tenants and landlords by phone as well as down at the Franklin county Court House to assist  them in their communication and negotiations with each other so that they may reach a mutually satisfying settlement to the issues affecting the tenants’ housing

• Attorneys from Columbus Legal Aid and Southeastern Ohio Legal Services will educate the tenants as needed about their legal rights and responsibilities as they relate to their housing situation

• CMS Case Management Staff will provide the tenants with conflict management coaching and information and referral services so that  tenants may effectively address  the underlying financial circumstances that have contributed to their current housing crisis; e.g. budgeting help, debt management assistance, public benefits eligibility determination, job placement/vocational training assistance, etc. Tenants will be also be linked to the appropriate community resources that they may need to help them address other underlying (non financial) issues that have contributed to their current housing crisis; e.g. domestic violence prevention education &counseling assistance, help with accessing needed medical care, alcohol/drug abuse treatment, mental health counseling assistance, etc.

Project Partners:

1) Ohio Housing Finance Agency – Will contribute the majority of the financial resources required to support the project over a 28 month period  (October 1, 2010 to January 31, 2013)

2) Franklin County Municipal Court – will provide CMS project staff with work space at the court house so that mediation services may be provided on site on the day the tenants’ eviction hearings are being conducted (Note: Approximately 1,000 eviction hearings are currently occurring each month in Franklin County alone)

3) Columbus Legal Aid Society & Southeastern Ohio Legal Services – Will refer targeted tenants to the project and  will help educate tenants served by the project about their legal rights and responsibilities as they relate to their housing

4) Columbus Bar Association Lawyer Referral Service – Will refer tenants to the project

5) Columbus Bar Foundation – Will contribute financial resources to the project

6)   City of Columbus Dept of Development – Will contribute financial resources to help fund the project

OMA Committee to Explore Certification of Ohio Mediators

As a result of the discussion at the OMA Annual Conference, a committee has been formed to explore suggestions for certification of Ohio Mediators.  Shirley Cochran has been appointed as Chair of the committee and is gathering those who are willing to assist in the project.  Currently, a review of the process and legislation submitted by those wanting midwifery to be certified is being held to determine if it can be of assistance in the process for mediators.  Anyone with an idea of what the minimum qualifications and the process for certification should be, please send an e-mail to Shirley.  Others on the committee include Linda Norris and Chris Scott.  Meanwhile, the Association for Conflict Resolution has approved a draft of Model Standards for Certification Programs.  Information as to the progress of the committee will be reported in Mediate Ohio as it is published.

Something to This?  Shirley A. Cochran, Mediator and Attorney at Law

In an article by James E. McGuire in the American Bar Association’s Dispute Resolution Magazine Volume 16, #4, Summer 2010, Mr. McGuire states “There is a Women Mediation Tribunal as an experimental program in a district court in Langfang Anci District Court which, according to the court, promotes ‘humanistic” mediation in an informal setting which ‘touts women’s obvious superiority on mediation’ as one of the reasons for creating” it.

Mediate Ohio Material:  Please send material for Mediate Ohio by the 20th of the even numbered months to permit publication in the newsletter.  The next deadline is December 20, 2010.  My address is 2897 Liberty Bell Lane, Reynoldsburg, OH 43068 Phone/fax:  (614) 863-4775 E-mail: scochran@insight.rr.com Thanks, Shirley Cochran, Editor

THE MEDIATION COUNCIL OF GREATER CINCINNATI
2010 – 2011 Meeting Schedule
Please join us on the second Friday of the month; members and non-members are welcome!
Meeting Time:   11:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
NEW Location :  Oakley Branch–Hamilton County Public Library
4033 Gilmore Avenue (corner of Madison & Gilmore – map available at www.cincinnatilibrary.org)

The library allows us to bring lunch to the meeting, with one stipulation: we must clean up after each meeting.

Please Note: The following schedule of presenters and topics may be subject to change.

Join the Mediation Council for regular meeting reminders with updated information.  To join the Mediation Council or to renew membership (annual dues are $15), contact Anne Wakefield at mediationworks11@aol.com

December, 2010:  no meeting

January 14, 2011: Alys McCalmont, President, McCalmont-Burtin, Professional Organizers LLC, presents “Old Fashioned Marketing of Your Business”.

February 11, 2011: Cathie Kuhl presents “Five Core Concerns: Another Approach to Handling Emotions in Mediation”. This presentation is based on the book Beyond Reason: Using Emotions as You Negotiate by Roger Fisher and Daniel Shapiro.

March 11, 2011: Sharon James and Marie Hill present “Getting beyond Impasse”. These two seasoned mediators share their experiences and give tips for successfully overcoming impasse in mediation.

April 8, 2011: Lou Ann Wood reviews and leads a discussion of the book Bargaining with the Devil: When to Negotiate, When to Fight by Robert Mnookin.

May 13, 2011: The group meets for its annual luncheon gathering at a restaurant to be named later.

If you have questions or need information, contact Chris Hayley (née Baker) at 513-639-9132.

Compassionate Communications: Please join us for a free introduction to Compassionate Communication in December 2010:

Wed., Dec. 8, 2010 (7 pm – 8:30 pm) “The Dance of Compassionate Communication” with Jeff Brown and Tom Carlisi

Wed., Dec. 15, 2010 (7 pm – 8:30 pm) “Compassionate Communication meetup”

with Jeff Brown and Susanna Warren

Both events take place at the CCCO office at 2350 Indianola Ave, Columbus, OH 43202.  These are great opportunities to get a taste of what NVC is all about, or as a refresher if you’ve been away for a while.  Learn more about our website:

http://www.nvcohio.org/

Renewing, New Members and Additions/Corrections to the Directory (not the entire list of members—see the directory at our web site for that list): New and renewing members may send applications to Immediate Past President, Shirley Cochran at 2897 Liberty Bell Lane, Reynoldsburg OH 43068.  Contact Shirley for membership applications.  A membership application can be sent electronically for your convenience or you can download it from the OMA website www.mediateohio.org If there is a correction or an addition, please let Shirley know but only you can correct the directory on the website.  If you have misplaced your membership number and password, please contact Gina Weisshaar, OMA Secretary for assistance.  We currently have 150 members which is only 4 shy of the last fiscal year’s total so get out there and tell people about OMA!

Lee J. Bell, Attorney
Crescent Pointe Building
4774 Munson St. NW Suite 400
Canton OH 44718 (330) 499-1140
Fax: (330) 433-1313
lee@leejbelllaw.com
$60 11/10 #1020

David M. Cohen
2614 Jefferson Estates Court
Blacklick OH 43004 (614) 745-9949
David_m_cohen@yahoo.com
$60 10/10 #3038

Christopher Dumford
5821 Lathrop Place
Cincinnati OH 45224 (513) 383-1920
Chris.dumford@gmail.com
$60 11/10 #3047

Sandor Isg Marai
70 Birch Alley, Ste.240 Bldg. B
Beavercreek OH 45440 (937) 477-6290
sandormarai@sandorlsmarai.com
$60 10/10 #3501

Larry Moore
164 Jackson Street
Columbus OH 43206 (614) 581-0014
Lmoore219@yahoo.com
$60 10/10 #6258

Ohio Commission on Dispute Resolution and Conflict Management
77 S. High Street, 24th Floor
Columbus OH 43215-6108 Phone 614/752-9595
Fax: 614/752-9682
www.disputeresolution.ohio.gov
sarah.wallis@cdr.state.oh.us

$60  10/10

Jennifer V. Sammon, LLC
c/o J. Sammon
2906 Weybridge Road
Shaker Hts., OH 44120 (216) 921-0271
jsammon@me.com
$60 10/10 #219

Michael A. Thompson, Atty.
Crescent Pointe Building
4774 Munson St. NW, Ste 400
Canton OH 44718 (330) 499-5297
Fax: (330) 433-1313
thompsonlaw@sssnet.com
$60 11/10 #1689

TRAINING & WORKSHOPS:

Community Mediation Services of Central Ohio and the Columbus Bar Association Basic Mediation Training December 1 & 2, 2010 and February 9 & 10, 2011; Personal/Professional Conflict Resolution Training March 16, 2011; and 40 Hour Domestic Mediation Training May 4, 5, 10, 11, & 12, 2011.  Presenter Shelley Whalen, Executive Director of CMS and a past president of OMA.  Training site 91 Jefferson Avenue, Columbus OH, the Thurber Center CLE and CEU’s Contact CMS (614) 228-7191 or www.communitymediation.com Fax: (614) 228-7213  Mailing address:  67 Jefferson Avenue, 2nd Floor, Columbus OH 43215.

Capital University Law School Center for Dispute Resolution

Center for Dispute Resolution, Capital Law School, 303 E Broad Street, Columbus OH 43215-3200, Phone (614) 236-6430/ Fax (614) 236-6956 CDR Directors include Roberta S Mitchell and Scot E Dewhirst, Co-Directors of the Center, and Terrence T Wheeler, Executive Director of the Center.  Please visit our website at www.law.capital.edu/disputeresolution to gain more detailed information on our trainings or to register on-line.

Cleveland Mediation Center United Office Building, Suite 906 2012 West 25th Street Cleveland, Ohio 44113 2005 Presenters include Dan Joyce and Wendy Hawbaker For further information on all training contact: Bob Curtis, Training Co-coordinator Phone: (216) 621-1919, extension 500 Fax: (216) 621-3202 E-Mail training@clevelandmediation.org .

North Coast Conflict Solutions and Cleveland Mediation Center has announced trainings for the year.  Information about these trainings is available on the MANO website at: http://www.manomediate.org/medevents.htm

Web Sites of Interest:

Ohio Mediation Association: www.mediateohio.org
Ohio Commission on Dispute Resolution and Conflict Management: www.disputeresolution.ohio.gov/
Ohio State Bar Association: www.ohiobar.org
Mediation Association of Northeast Ohio (MANO) www.manomediate.org

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