RESOLVING CONFLICT IN COMMUNITIES
The Center for Understanding in Conflict, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit educational institute, has been conducting conflict resolution training to make a difference in bringing people together for over 40 years. The understanding-based approach has grown in prominence alongside a diverse and urgent demand to resolve conflict on multiple fronts since the close of the last decade. We now seek supporters and advocates of the understanding-based model to meet the expressed need of communities looking for custom educational materials, smaller training events, funding for participants with differing resources, and instruction for applying the model in their personal lives.
As we look to the future, our priority is to expand accessibility, evaluate and adapt programming to meet the needs of diverse audiences and voices while working to ensure that those who participate in our teaching and training programs can meet the complex demands of bringing together those in conflict across all sectors of our society, at home and abroad.
The Center for Understanding in Conflict is a charitable organization recognized as tax-exempt by the IRS under Section 501(c)(3). While we appreciate your interest in supporting our efforts to bring the understanding-based approach to conflict resolution and mediation wherever it is needed through training and professional development, please note that within the United States, we are only able to accept contributions from the following states: Arizona, California, Colorado, Delaware, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Montana, Nebraska, New York, South Dakota, Vermont, and Wyoming. If you would like to support the Center and reside outside these locations, please get in touch with [email protected]
You can also send gifts via check to: The Center for Understanding in Conflict, 829 Sonoma Avenue, Santa Rosa, CA 95404
EIN# 94-2768666
2024-25 Fiscal Year Overview
During the 2024–25 fiscal year, the Center for Understanding in Conflict delivered a robust and diverse slate of programs that reached professionals and community members across the globe. The year began with a series of focused webinars, including Conflict Coaching: Unlocking Solutions Through ADR, The Power of Looping in Conflict Resolution, and The Driving Force: Unpacking Motivations. These short training sessions provided accessible opportunities for participants to strengthen skills in core aspects of the understanding-based model.
The Center also expanded offerings in applied contexts, with sessions such as Effective Mediation in Small Claims Court, Constructive Conversations: Understanding-Based Workplace Applications, and Messy Conflict: Transforming Toxic Disputes. Free community programs, including Planning for Impact, 4 Steps for Anti-racist, Anti-oppressive Conflict Resolution, and multiple CUC Meet and Greet events, lowered barriers to entry and broadened engagement with new audiences.
Flagship multi-day training remained a cornerstone of the year’s accomplishments. Twice, participants gathered at Green Gulch Farm for the Working Creatively with Conflict 40-hour immersion, while online intensives such as the Self-Reflection for Conflict Professionals Intensive (SCPI) and the Navigating Difficult Conversations series offered extended practice in applying the model to complex dynamics. The 2024 Teacher Training cohort concluded in November 2024, equipping 23 new teachers to advance the understanding-based approach in various contexts within the Center, in diverse communities and application, both within the United States and in multiple countries worldwide.
Complementing these offerings, specialized programs like Your Next Steps: Launching Your Understanding-Based ADR Work, the Support and Development Group, and How to Tell People You’re a Mediator supported professionals at different stages of their development, from new practitioners building confidence to seasoned mediators deepening their practice.
Together, these accomplishments demonstrate a year of growth and innovation, with the Center providing accessible entry points, intensive training opportunities, and professional support that strengthened the skills and networks of hundreds of conflict resolution professionals.
Governing documents, conflict of interest policy, and financial statements available on request.
Your donation is tax-deductible within the guidelines of U.S. law. To claim a donation as a deduction on your U.S. taxes, please keep your email donation receipt as your official record. The PayPal Giving Fund will send it to you upon receiving your donation. We also participate in employer gift matching through Benevity and several giving programs, including the PayPal Giving Fund on eBay, Nextdoor, and HumbleBundle.
Contributions of any amount will significantly impact our ability to expand training opportunities, evolve to meet future demands and provide pathways for those seeking to train with the Center, to whom financial concerns are a limitation.
Quelling the conflict within to guide others out: from learning to teaching on the path to understanding
Hansa Patel is an attorney, mediator, teacher, and the incoming board president at the Center for Understanding in Conflict. She was born in the United Kingdom, moved to San Francisco when she was three, and lived there her entire life before moving to Marin two years...
Ukrainian mediators work to bring understanding to conflict despite challenges faced by ongoing war
Training program encourages looking within to find a way forward NEW YORK, Dec. 2022 - When Ukrainian mediator Tatyana Bilyk approached the Center for Understanding in Conflict (CUC) about conducting training for conflict-resolution professionals still operating in a...
20-years of conflict resolution work breaks new ground while bringing together parties in conflict through understanding
Career practitioner champions a unique approach in Europe while training others to do the same Nathalie Herren is no stranger to conflict resolution or the challenges presented not just by those in conflict but the culture and traditions surrounding popular models of...
Barry Berkman reflects on a career spent bringing together parties in conflict and the understanding-based model’s effect on his life
After 50 years of practicing law, conflict resolution remains a powerful alternative to the court system Barry Berkman, a matrimonial lawyer, has been mediating since the 1980s. He is the founding partner of Berkman Bottger Newman & Schein LLP, with offices in...
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