ROUNDTABLE BREAKFAST: MEDIATION RESPONSE UNIT: Conflict to Conversation in the Community

ACR-GNY & CUNY Dispute Resolution Center at John Jay College p

MEDIATION RESPONSE UNIT:

Conflict to Conversation in the Community

Speakers will discuss the Dayton, Ohio Mediation Response Unit (MRU). The MRU derived from the City of Dayton’s police reform initiatives and is in place to provide Dayton with on-scene alternate response options for non-violent incidents that arise.  Speakers will talk about MRU's development, purpose and impact on the Dayton community.  They will also discuss the use of the transformative conflict resolution style in their community responses. 

CHERISE D. HAIRSTON is a Certified Transformative Mediator™ with the Institute for the Study of Conflict Transformation, a certified professional coach with the Co-Active Training Institute, the International Coaching Federation, and a Certified Positive Intelligence “Mental Fitness” Coach with Positive Intelligence, Inc. Cherise is a 2018 recipient of the City of Dayton Joseph T. Cline Award, a Fellow with the Institute of Conflict Transformation, an “Elder” Board of Directors with the National Association for Community Mediation, and is an Adjunct Faculty member with The Jimmy and Rosalyn Carter School of Peace and Conflict Resolution at George Mason University, Fairfax, VA. Cherise’s conflict intervention career spans more than 27 years as a practitioner, trainer, coach, mentor, and published academic scholar. Cherise has been a team member with the Dayton Mediation Center since 1999 and is the Mediation Coordinator. 

RAVEN CRUZ LOAIZA, MSW, LSW, RA joined the Dayton Mediation Center team in 2022 as the Mediation Response Coordinator for the newly developed Mediation Response Unit (MRU). Raven comes to the Center with a wealth of knowledge, experience and expertise. Before coming to the Center, she was the director of a rape crisis and anti-human trafficking department with a victim services agency in northwest Ohio. Raven’s knowledge of relationship building, community development and program development paved the way to develop multiple rape crisis centers throughout Ohio. Raven also developed and managed several anti-human trafficking coalition chapters that trained hundreds of people on how to identify and report potential human trafficking situations and developed countywide protocols for response to human trafficking. Raven has trained thousands of professionals and community members at various conferences and forums nationally, statewide and locally on topics such as human trafficking, sexual violence, interpersonal violence, trauma, trauma responsive services, crisis management, conflict resolution, community-oriented programming and much more. She has two decades of experience working in law enforcement, children’s services, juvenile probation and victim services. Raven is a Licensed Social Worker who holds a Master’s Degree in Social Work from the University of Louisville as well as a Bachelor Degree in Social Work and a Bachelor in Criminal Justice from Wright State University. Raven is also a Registered Advocate in the State of Ohio. Raven’s passion is to raise awareness around social injustices and the inequalities of underprivileged populations in addition to violence affecting all populations.