Conflict mediation training is achieved through collaboration between Alliance for Peace: For a New Loíza and the UPR Law School Trust.
San Juan, Friday, February 7, 2020 | The Alliance for Peace: For a New Loíza entered into a collaboration agreement with the Trust for the Law School of the University of Puerto Rico (UPR) to provide Alliance staff with advanced conflict mediation training. The initiative will allow them to reinforce the strategies they use to meet the objective of reducing violence among Loiceño communities. The Alliance is comprised of Puerto Rico Community Foundation (FCPR), The Municipality of Loíza, Our School y Workshop Health.
“The Alliance is very grateful for the collaboration provided by the University of Puerto Rico Law School to strengthen the human capital of the members of this philanthropic initiative. In community settings, Alliance staff respond to unforeseen needs that require immediate action, which is why they must have creative resources at their disposal, such as those provided by this training on ending violence,” said the president of FCPR, Dr. Nelson I. Colón Tarrats.
The Alliance is a project of FCPR, under the initiative My Brother's Keeper Community Challenge of the Obama Foundation. It also has the philanthropic support of W.K. Kellogg Foundation, National Basketball Players Association Foundation Neighborhood Partnership Fund NBPF The Prospect Hill Foundation.
“The School of Law is very excited about this opportunity to serve as an educational vehicle for Alliance members. We believe in conflict mediation as a strategy for peace and have academic resources that master it perfectly. Therefore, we are honored to be able to contribute to this project of equity and social justice for the Loiceño communities,” highlighted Vivian I. Neptune Rivera, dean of the UPR School of Law.
The course will last 25 hours, will begin tomorrow, Saturday, February 8, and will benefit 15 people who work in the institutions that make up the Alliance. Another objective of this project is to provide educational and employment alternatives to the young participants, who are between 15 and 30 years of age and reside in the Pueblo, Medianía Baja, and Medianía Alta neighborhoods – communities where personal and family disputes have occurred that limit some of them from leaving their environment to avoid putting their safety at risk.
The topics that will be addressed in the training – which uses concepts from the Restorative Justice model, currently being used to interrupt violence – will help staff to: identify factors that may help or challenge them when handling a conflict situation; use immediate strategies and best practices to respond to interpersonal conflicts; increase their capacity to identify and manage their own personal biases; and obtain a professional tool to minimize burnout resulting from efforts to reduce normalized violent behaviors.
The Conflict Mediation Program is managed by Dr. Mildred Negrón Martínez and was structured by the Continuing Legal Education Program from the UPR School of Law.
The initiative of My Brother's Keeper Community Challenge will be implemented over a two-year period, ending in December 2020. By then, it is expected to reduce incidents of violence in the municipality; increase the number of young people who have completed their fourth year of high school; and increase the number of young people active in a formal employment experience. So far, 45 young people are part of the initiative.