A Guide for Enhancing Mediator Roster Equity from Concept to Implementation provides community mediation centers (CMCs) with information and resources for enhancing the diversity of their volunteer mediator rosters. This guide is the product of the knowledge and experience of leadership, staff and volunteers at the Center for Conflict Resolution
(CCR), who implemented an equity audit of their Mediator Mentorship Program (MMP) and received grant support from the American Arbitration Association–International Centre for Dispute Resolution Foundation to help them carry out recommendations from the audit.
RSI's goal for this guide is to enable CMCs to learn from CCR’s experience in: identifying barriers to equity in their program; making changes to address those barriers, particularly in application and screening processes; and building alignment among staff about equity goals.
Based on CCR’s efforts, we describe how to do the following to enhance your program’s ability to recruit a more diverse group of volunteer mediators:
- Build alignment among program staff and current volunteers about your organization’s equity goals and shift the mindset of your approaches
- Add flexibility to program processes to accommodate individuals from different backgrounds without sacrificing rigor
- Streamline the application process for more efficient use of applicants’ and screeners’ time and easier access for applicants
- Retool screening materials to collect more accurate and relevant information about applicants
- Create more effective and relevant screening processes to gauge applicants’ distinct skills and potential to be a mediator
- Develop an outreach strategy to communicate changes to new audiences
Find a two-page summary of the guide, including its purpose, top
barriers uncovered, strategies and approaches to enhancing equity, here. To read the evaluation completed in tandem with this guide, Fostering Equity in a Volunteer Mediator Roster: An Evaluation of the Center for Conflict Resolution's Equity Audit Implementation, click here, or find it on our Program Evaluations page under Equity.
