Letter from Executive Director, Cassie Lively | |
Dear CCR Community:
Happy Spring! I am excited to share some great updates in this newsletter.
I hope to see many of you at our upcoming annual fundraising event, Mayfest for Mediation! This event generates vital support for our free mediation services and for training scholarships. At this year’s celebration, we’ll be including a special appeal for support for our youth programs: victim-offender mediation, family mediation, conflict skills trainings for youth, and re-entry mediation. This program recently lost state funding due to the discontinuation of a grant program that was supported by COVID-relief funds. Your donation can help ensure we see no disruption in services to youth and families while we seek new grant funding. If you can’t make it to the event, please consider making a donation to support this effort.
Thank you for being a part of the CCR community!
Best,
Cassie
|  | CCR is excited to announce a $75,000 grant from the AAA-ICDR Foundation to support our work to create a more equitable volunteer mediator program. CCR is so grateful for this funding, which will allow us to work with partners inQuest Consulting to carry out recommendations from a recent equity audit of our mediator mentorship program, and Resolution Systems Institute to evaluate the program and develop a project guide that other community mediation centers can use to guide their own work. CCR looks forward to sharing more about this work over the course of the next 18 months. |  | |
Help CCR welcome spring with Mayfest for Mediation at Kaiser Tiger on Thursday, May 2nd! Join us in celebrating 45 years of providing free mediation and conflict resolution services with premium open bar service, delicious food, fun games and the opportunity to connect with the CCR community.
The event will feature a covered, heated outdoor space. Dress code: Casual to Dazzle.
To request accommodations, please contact Katey Baker-Smith at 312-922-6464 ext. 264 or kbakersmith@ccrchicago.org
The event will take place from 5:30pm to 8:00pm at Kaiser Tiger, 1415 W. Randolph St., Chicago, IL 60607. Purchase tickets HERE.
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Jim Alrutz, Programs Director – Early Resolution Program, appeared recently on a Chicago Bar Association YouTube Program highlighting the role of lawyers in achieving just and efficient conflict resolution and the various frameworks and policy reforms which have emerged to serve these objectives. View the video HERE.
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Core Values
Volunteer Spotlights:
| The Training Team would like to recognize Joe Gosselin for Commitment to Serving the Community. Joe’s continued presence in our Mediation Skills Trainings has allowed for CCR’s training goals to remain consistent and steady. In a recent training Joe was able to quickly pivot his coaching approach to support the needs of a particular trainee, which made space for the trainee to fully participate. Thank you, Joe! | The Mediation Services team would like to shout out Elizabeth van der Weide for exhibiting an extraordinary Commitment to Serving the Community, especially with our youth mediations. She continually demonstrates flexibility and resiliency — always making herself emotionally available to hold a space that feels nonjudgmental and supportive for our clients. As a mediator, she clearly Strives for Personal Best and has a Collaborative Spirit. She actively seeks feedback and cares deeply about building her practice as a mediator. Her capacity for empathy and building rapport with parties is incredibly impressive, and made possible by her genuine ability to value individual differences. We want to thank Elizabeth for being such a dedicated and reliable volunteer! | Cassie would like to recognize a number of individuals for Inspire Growth & Success and Commitment to Serving the Community for their contributions to the development of the Timecounts platform for online volunteer mediator sign-ups. The various training levels and volunteer needs relative to our mediation programs are incredibly complex, and our shift to virtual and hybrid services made the project even more so. This project originated with CCR’s Volunteer Council. Cathay Lancaster did the foundational research and development work and first build-outs of the program. Former CCR staff members Rae Kyritsi and Jesse Tobin moved the project forward as we reconfigured for virtual work, and CCR staff members Israel Putnam and Katey Baker-Smith completed the build-out of the platform, testing, and implementation over the last few months. CCR Mediation Services staff members provided vital assistance and feedback. Many other volunteers provided assistance along the way, including Frank Hill and Susanne Hollander. Apologies to anyone whose contributions we may have missed. CCR is so excited to have this platform in place! | |
Welcome
New Board Members!
| Born the daughter of Chinese American immigrants in Atlanta, Georgia, Anne Shaw has lived and worked in the greater Chicagoland area her entire life and is a proud small business owner and attorney. Anne and her husband, Matt, live in Chicago where they are both active with family life and community service. Anne is the founding officer, shareholder and President of Shaw Legal Services, Ltd. Click HERE for a more in-depth bio. | |
Tasha Francis Gerasimow, Ph.D. is a partner in the Chicago office of Kirkland & Ellis LLP, where she
focuses her practice on intellectual property litigation with an emphasis on patent litigation. Her clients range from solo inventors and emerging companies in the biotechnology and biopharma industries to established international pharmaceutical and medical device companies. she also Click HERE for a more in-depth bio.
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Have you seen a member of the CCR Community doing a great job demonstrating one of our Core Values? Nominate them to be featured in Caucus!
Do you have general thoughts/comments/ideas related to our Core Values initiative? Let us know!
Share your thoughts HERE.
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We are excited to share that there are now more ways to support CCR! Visit the CCR website HERE to find information about making donations via:
- Qualified Charitable Distributions
- Donor Advised Funds
- Matching Gifts
- Beneficiary Designations
- Bequests through Wills or Revocable (Living) Trusts
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Congratulations!
CCR congratulates past CCR Executive Director and longtime volunteer Susan Yates on receiving the prestigious D'Alemberte/Raven Award from the ABA Section of Dispute Resolution at its Annual Conference in San Diego in April!
| Congratulations MMP Graduates of 2024! | |
Jonathan Baker
Jonathan is a Massachusetts native who is a lawyer by trade. He lives in Lakeview and is thrilled to be part of the CCR community. In his spare time he loves to spend time with his dog, do improv, play volleyball, and podcast about the NBA. He strongly believes in the mediation process and enjoys giving people space to heal wounds and find common ground; and he looks forward to contributing his passion for mediation to CCR's mission.
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Claire Feinberg
Claire is thrilled to join CCR as a volunteer mediator. Claire is a political staffer with ample experience managing campaigns and leading field operations across the country. She's relished the ability to hone her listening skills and find common ground through mediation.
| Tasha Francis Gerasimow, Ph.D. (see bio in New Board Members section) | Megan Villafuerte has years of experience in family law and mediation, education and restorative justice work. Her entire career – from her work and study in law school through her work and study today as a teacher and mediator – has been in service of children and families. Megan seeks to use her talents and experience to help individuals and families restore and maintain their dignity, happiness, and wholeness. | Nicky Margolis came to CCR through the Mediator Mentorship Program and was a devoted volunteer mediator for 2 years before joining CCR’s staff. Her love of mediation began with her love of improv and stepping into the unknown. Nicky is an alum of the Second City Theater where she performed all over the country and beyond and co-wrote and performed in three original revues right here in Chicago on the resident e.t.c. stage. When she is not working or mediating, she is likely lost in the depths of Wordle, Spelling Bee or Connections. |  | Jess Mondres has a degree in theater and spent 15+ years working in Chicago’s theater industry before Covid. Six of those years were spent in nonprofit management roles: as the Outreach Director at Erasing the Distance (an organization dedicated to shedding light on mental health through theater) and as Operations and Education Director at The Neo-Futurists. She was the co-founder of Portmanteau, an experimental object and film based performance project, best known for the critically acclaimed Mariposa Nocturna: A Puppet Triptych. Click HERE for a more in-depth bio. | Welcome New Aux Board Members! | |
Jennifer Hartjes, Goldman Ismail Tomaselli Brennan & Baum LLP, represents clients in the pharmaceutical, medical-device, and consumer-electronics fields, focusing on patent litigation. As a registered patent attorney, she draws on her experience with United States Patent Office proceedings to inform litigation strategy and to counsel clients working in crowded patent fields. Jennie’s experience spans the stages of litigation, including managing discovery efforts, working with technical experts to prepare reports, taking and defending depositions, and preparing witnesses for trial.
In her pro bono practice, Jennie leverages her scientific background to help her clients, including in a Death Row case involving forensic science and DNA-related issues.
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Laura Sexton, Partner at Goldman Ismail Tomaselli Brennan & Baum LLP, has amassed a tremendous track record representing Fortune 500 corporations in complex litigation. She has defended major corporations in cases involving products liability, mass torts, class actions, antitrust disputes, and other complex commercial disputes.
Laura is a proud mother of three and is committed to helping other working parents advance in their career.
| Congratulations to CCR Board member Jaran Moten and his wife, Mollye Levy, on welcoming their son, Isaiah Moten! | |
