Newsmakers: Community Mediation and Restorative Services To Celebrate 40 Years
Community Mediation and Restorative Services, a New Hope-based nonprofit that specializes in conflict resolution and other supports for a variety of circumstances, will soon celebrate its 40th year with an anniversary celebration.
Beth Bailey, the longtime executive director, recently spoke to CCX News as part of the ongoing Newsmakers series.
“Every community has conflict and harm, and every community has those people who are the peacemakers in our community, the people where conversations go better because they’re in the room and and they’re in the space,” Bailey said. “What we do is we are the matchmaker. We bring together people who are at some kind of impasse.”
Community Mediation and Restorative Services Executive Director Beth Bailey
CMRS works quite a bit with renters to resolve disputes either with landlords or with neighbors.
“So often, a dispute…is about communication and lack of resources,” she said. “Everybody loses when eviction is the go-to method. Our communities are less stable when we have higher eviction rates, individual renters lose their housing, and landlords lock in their income losses.”
Bailey also talked about a new role her organization hopes to fill with a volunteer soon: a bridge builder.
“How do we, when we’re in bystander situations, how might we draw upon our skills to intervene safely and constructively in those situations? As bridge builders, how might we help people have conversations as political discourse and divide threatens to separate us and cause conflict in our communities and our families?” she said.
The 40th anniversary celebration will be Thursday, Oct. 5, from 4:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at Brookview Golf Club in Golden Valley. Tickets are available here.
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