Overview
What do you do differently when mediating a landlord-tenant dispute versus one between two neighbors? What if one party is a black woman and the other is a white man? What if the black woman is the landlord?
Whenever there’s a significant power gap between parties, mediators face the risk of reaching an agreement that doesn’t truly serve everyone. The challenge is two-fold:
- People with less power may say “yes” without engaging fully, robbing the mediation of honesty and creativity
- People on both sides of the gap may say “no” without considering the truth of the situation in full, either as rebellion (from below) or as control (from above)
This advanced workshop explores practical strategies for spotting and overcoming issues of power and privilege, including:
- Telltale signs of white privilege, class privilege, and other forms of social-structural power that show up in mediation – and how to respond to them
- What you might miss if you’re coming from a position of privilege yourself
- Embracing and including multiple forms of expression to welcome all voices
- How to keep the trust of all parties – and see everyone’s full humanity – while advocating for the less powerful
- When and how to talk openly about race, class, and gender
- Dealing with the discomfort of the powerful when their privilege is challenged
Required Prerequisite
Community Boards’ The Basics of Mediation or a comparable 30-hour mediation training
About the trainer
Miki Kashtan is Lead Collaboration Consultant at the Center for Efficient Collaboration. She has helped hundreds of people work together better in nonprofits, corporations, community groups, and government agencies, among others. Miki’s teaching focuses on hands-on practice and examples from participants’ real lives, so you’re prepared to use the Convergent Facilitation framework as soon as you return to work.
Check out this New York Times article to learn more about Miki’s work and the principles and techniques she teaches.
Scholarship
Scholarships are available. Please complete and send in a scholarship application at least two weeks before the training start date. Further details and the scholarship application can be found here
Contact Cordell with any scholarship questions at cwesselink@communityboards.org
Continuing Education
MCLE (for Attorneys): This course is approved by the State Bar of California for 5 MCLE credits including 1 credit for elimination of bias (provider #9323). $20 processing fee required.
Dates
September 17, 2016
10:00am – 5:00pm
Cost
Member (Early) – $195
Public (Early) – $250
Location
Community Room at 10th & Mission Family Housing
1390 Mission Street, SF CA 94103
Registration
Register for this training here.
This workshop is offered in partnership with the Community Boards. Please direct all questions and inquiries to Cordell at cwesselink@communityboards.org
