DAYTON MEDIATION CENTER EARNS
2002 POINT OF LIGHT AWARD
The Dayton Mediation Center was selected as the Daily Point of Light for March 19, 2002 by the Corporation for National Service, Points of Light Foundation.
Given each weekday, the Daily Points of Light Award honors an individual or organization that makes a positive and lasting difference in the lives of others. Originally instituted during the administration of Former President George Bush, the program was reinstated on January 1, 1998 by the Points of Light Foundation, the Corporation for National Service and the Knights of Columbus. President Bill Clinton and President Bush jointly chose the first two recipients.
Out of 3,500 nominations, the Dayton Mediation Center was in the top 10 percent of those advancing through the judging process to ultimately be selected for a Daily Points of Light Award. "We are very honored to receive this national recognition for our services to the Dayton community," said Tom Wahlrab, Coordinator of the Dayton Mediation Center. "We are proud of the assistance that the Center and its 100 volunteer mediators provide to the citizens of Dayton each day, and we are equally proud of being recognized with this award."
All recipients of the Daily Points of Light Award in 2002 are automatically considered for next year's President's Service Award.
Each Daily Point of Light winner receives a Presidential congratulatory letter, an official certificate, and a letter from Robert K. Goodwin, President and CEO of the Points of Light Foundation. In addition, the Dayton Mediation Center was highlighted on the Points of Light Foundation web site (http://www.PointsofLight.org) on March 19th. Following is the Award Profile that appeared on that date.
TEXT OF AWARD PROFILE
DAYTON MEDIATION CENTER
Dayton, OH
Daily Point of Light No. 2119 -- March 19, 2002
Throughout the world, the name "Dayton" is synonymous with a mediated peace agreement. What is less well known is that thousands of Dayton citizens mediate their own peace agreements with the help of volunteer citizen mediators. The Dayton Mediation Center of Dayton, Ohio is a leader in helping citizens make and keep peace.
The Dayton Mediation Center, with the help of skilled citizen volunteers who act as mediators, has clearly shown that people are willing and able to be responsible for resolving their own disagreements.
The Center receives over 2,000 referrals and conducts more than 575 mediations annually involving over 2,000 citizens. Local research shows that when citizens engage other citizens through mediation, calls to the police fall between 50 and 85 percent. Overall this service to the community represents an estimated value of over $270,000 annually.
The mediation process used in Dayton has a clearly developed theoretical foundation. It is based on a belief that people, even when in conflict, are willing and able to engage each other in a positive, constructive manner. In order to develop a practice of mediation that truly incorporates this belief, citizen volunteers spend 50 hours in training their first year and up to 30 hours annually thereafter. The Center has 75 active volunteer mediators who in the past year alone have spent over 4,000 hours in training and in mediations.
Dialogue is considered essential for a functioning Democracy. Mediation can be democracy at its best when "We the people." are skilled at helping one another engage in productive dialogue. The Dayton Mediation Center incorporates the following principles to foster this dialogue:
- Mediators do not assume they know the way for people in conflict to interact. Mediators work with them to develop an individualized mediation process that embodies how they want to interact in their mediation.
- Mediators support people in making decisions for themselves. The mediator helps people in conflict define their own goals, determine how they want to talk about the situation, interpret what the situation is about and decide what or if they want to do anything about their situation.
- Mediators focus on changing the quality of the conflicting parties' interaction within the mediation, believing that if the participants can relate effectively, they can determine what they themselves want to happen.
- Mediators concentrate on assisting participants regain a sense of their own personal strength that may have been lost because of the conflict experience. This enhanced self-clarity helps people become less self-absorbed and so improves their ability to hear and consider views other than their own.
The Dayton Mediation Center has combined governmental foresight and citizen volunteerism to change the way people in conflict are viewed and responded to, resulting in thousands of people resolving their conflicts peacefully.
A mediation process based on a belief in people's capabilities for self-determination has its origins in this county's founding principles. The Dayton Mediation Center is a citizen-centered mediation service that puts this belief into practice.
For more information, contact Tom Wahlrab, Coordinator of the Dayton
Mediation Center, at 937-333-2349.
Or visit their website at http://www.domediation.com/
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