Giving Tuesday

GIVING TUESDAY

Nancy Grundman, Program Coordinator

Giving Tuesday occurs the Tuesday following Thanksgiving. This year it falls on December 3. It is a day to say thank you to the non-profit organizations that make our community better. At MVMP, we are a tiny non-profit organization doing big things for the Island Community and we have been hard at work expanding our services. Our sliding fee scale means we turn no one away for inability to pay.

Here’s how our community projects have shown meaningful impact:

Workplace Conflict: A spring three-part workshop is now being repeated due to additional demand. A weekly workplace conflict management cohort is an additional program for supervisors and managers. All are co-sponsored by the MV Chamber of Commerce.

Family and Divorce mediation: These services have grown steadily as we provide Islanders with an affordable, self-determined and collaborative process for healthy separation, divorce and/or parenting planning. Contributions to the Family Fund keeps these services affordable.

Conflict Coaching: A new service available through generous support of the Newman’s Foundation. Two one-hour sessions of free 1:1 Conflict Coaching are available for any community member.

Volunteer mediators: We are present at every Small Claims Court session. As a state-approved Community Mediation Center, court referred cases receive free mediation services.

Consultative and facilitation services: Non-profit Boards, governmental entities, organizations and businesses receive individualized support based on their needs for conflict resolution services.

Conflict Resolution Courses: These are available to the Community including Introduction to Mediation and Introduction to Conflict Coaching. Individually tailored programs can be developed.

Youth Mediation: Training for youth aged 13-22 is free of charge and participants receive a stipend. The MVMP Youth Program is a partnership with the Aquinnah Cultural Center. Your contributions to the Youth Grant Fund will help to keep this project advancing.

Think of us on Giving Tuesday--or any day. We will make good use of your contributions.

November Mediation Musings

Workplace Conflict: You need more tools in your tool bag

Ugh I have to go to work. 

Thank god Its Friday. 

No one died wanting more days at work.

Our culture is full of all kinds of negative messages about work and working. Here on the Vineyard we would all like to be happily following our passions and living the dream. But the reality for many is that work is stressful and depleting.

Its not the conflicts that one successfully resolves that eat away at us. We are likely proud of our efforts when we solve a conflict. We likely see the result as an accomplishment. Resolved conflicts can build us up and make us feel strong enough to face the next challenge.

It’s the ones that got away, the arguments left unfinished, the patterns that never change, the unaddressed unfairness, the interpersonal difficulties never settled. These are the conflicts that make us miserable at work. If you ever stayed up at night chewing over a work situation and dreaded the morning alarm, unresolved conflict may be the explanation. 

MVMP has been working to help. In partnership with the Chamber of Commerce and Oak Bluffs Library we are now presenting our sixth of seven 2019 lunchtime workplace conflict workshops. Upcoming is Toxic Workplaces on November 14 and Team building on December 12. We will probably repeat the series in the spring.

We also offer a course on workplace conflict that meets weekly. On Tuesday mornings, a cohort of managers and supervisors meet in a private ongoing course to discuss a professional conflict management text and offer each other suggestions and ideas about handling workplace conflicts. This group will complete their ten sessions in December. Participants earn a certificate in workplace conflict management. The next course will be offered for new members at the end of January.

Knowledge about how to analyze conflict, manage emotions and use effective dispute resolution tools can help all of us. We spend so much of our time at work and yet most of us don’t have enough strategies to effectively resolve conflicts. MVMP is honored to be able to offer some assistance for community members. It is our hope that our efforts will help to make Martha’s Vineyard a happier more productive place—a place where our work lives can be a component of ‘living the dream.’

Sara Barnes,

President and Lead Mediator