Community Boards

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Community Boards is a community based mediation program, established in 1976, in San Francisco, California, United States by Raymond Shonholtz. The program utilizes volunteers from the neighbourhoods of the city, who work with people involved in disagreements toward the end of resolving the dispute, repairing the relationship, and healing or preventing rifts in the community.

Community group of interacting living organisms sharing a populated environment; a social unit of human organisms who share common values

A community is a small or large social unit that has something in common, such as norms, religion, values, or identity. Communities often share a sense of place that is situated in a given geographical area or in virtual space through communication platforms. Durable relations that extend beyond immediate genealogical ties also define a sense of community. People tend to define those social ties as important to their identity, practice, and roles in social institutions. Although communities are usually small relative to personal social ties (micro-level), "community" may also refer to large group affiliations, such as national communities, international communities, and virtual communities.

Mediation is a dynamic, structured, interactive process where a neutral third party assists disputing parties in resolving conflict through the use of specialized communication and negotiation techniques. All participants in mediation are encouraged to actively participate in the process. Mediation is a "party-centered" process in that it is focused primarily upon the needs, rights, and interests of the parties. The mediator uses a wide variety of techniques to guide the process in a constructive direction and to help the parties find their optimal solution. A mediator is facilitative in that she/he manages the interaction between parties and facilitates open communication. Mediation is also evaluative in that the mediator analyzes issues and relevant norms ("reality-testing"), while refraining from providing prescriptive advice to the parties.

San Francisco Consolidated city-county in California, United States

San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the cultural, commercial, and financial center of Northern California. San Francisco is the 13th-most populous city in the United States, and the fourth-most populous in California, with 884,363 residents as of 2017. It covers an area of about 46.89 square miles (121.4 km2), mostly at the north end of the San Francisco Peninsula in the San Francisco Bay Area, making it the second-most densely populated large US city, and the fifth-most densely populated U.S. county, behind only four of the five New York City boroughs. San Francisco is also part of the fifth-most populous primary statistical area in the United States, the San Jose–San Francisco–Oakland, CA Combined Statistical Area.

The Community Boards program promotes a model of mediation that emphasizes the collective involvement of members of the community, recruiting mediators who are representative of their neighbourhoods—with direct awareness of local needs and concerns. The program utilizes a form of case management in which "case developers" make in–person contact with potential parties in order to encourage participation. Once the parties involved have consented to participate, they are assisted by a panel (usually 3) of mediators.

The program is among the most distant approach to formal legal process among the various models of community mediation. The most dramatic example of this viewpoint is the contention by the program's mediators that any agreement reached should be enforceable only by the good will and voluntary compliance of the parties. Proponents have asserted that the program's impact is much broader than the resolution of individual disputes—reaching into issues of tolerance, acceptance and social justice.

Community Boards has also been active in the promotion of K-12 school-based peer mediation programs since 1982.

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Neighbourhood geographically localized community within a larger city, town, suburb or rural area

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The American Arbitration Association (AAA) is a not-for-profit organization in the field of alternative dispute resolution, providing services to individuals and organizations who wish to resolve conflicts out of court, and one of several arbitration organizations that administers arbitration proceedings. The AAA also administers mediation through Mediation.org and other forms of alternative dispute resolution. It is headquartered in New York City, with regional offices in Atlanta, Boston, Charlotte, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, East Providence, Rhode Island, Fresno, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, Minneapolis, New York City, Philadelphia, Phoenix, San Antonio, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, Somerset, New Jersey and Washington, DC.

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References

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