In the spring of 2025, 16 citizens from across the Southern Tier will gather in Ithaca to learn to become mediators in a new form of justice and growing alternative to the court system called “transformative conflict resolution.”
Transformative mediation seeks to relocate legal disputes from courts and into the hands of community members. Volunteer (unpaid) mediators meet with the aggrieved parties to resolve conflicts — land disputes, small claims, family fights — by serving as an objective observer, shaping a conversation toward common ground, and nurturing long-term reconciliation. Mediators design an “agreement” that, if both parties sign, becomes binding before the court. If the history of conflict resolution in American has been primarily “directive” — lawyers and judges deciding the fate of litigants and defendants — transformative mediation works to let individuals recognize root causes of their disputes and discover their own solutions. “A Common Ground” documentary (~25 mins) will follow this CDRC training process, which culminates in two full days of “role playing” where the trainees will both act as aggrieved parties and mediate these conflicts.
Rural communities also present a best-case scenario for transformative mediation: litigants and defendants are often neighbors. Mediators come from the same class and community. In an era of extreme polarization and disagreement, where “conflict” is fodder for reality television or click bait, transformative mediation presents a vital, pro-social effort to bring people together into a shared experience.
Collaborators:
Austin Bunn, PMA
Community Dispute Resolution Center
