The W.A.V.E. (Winning Against Violent Environments) Conflict Resolution Program provides:

• Conflict Resolution Training for students and parents
• Conflict Resolution Workshops that infuse conflict resolution concepts and theories into academic subjects, use conflict resolution theories, methods and techniques as anger and classroom management tools along with diversity workshops for students, parents faculty and staff.
• Comprehensive Conflict Management Training for faculty, staff and parents using The Ohio Commission on Dispute Resolution and Conflict Management (OCDRCM) and The Ohio Department of Education (ODE) Resource Guides.

 

PHILOSOPHY:

The W.A.V.E. Program is committed to the students in the Cleveland Schools.  W.A.V.E. is a student empowerment program that is dedicated to providing our youth with life long skills that will enable them to achieve high academic standards.  Students have the opportunity to model and practice assertive citizenship, including leadership and problem solving in school.

The W.A.V.E. Program provides quality student centered programming which emphasizes non-violent problem solving.  It is based on preventive skill development rather than reactive force.  The program design incorporates cooperative learning methods and democratic classroom organization theories.  The W.A.V.E. Program involves youth as positive change agents and has developed a student-as-trainer model.

The current W.A.V.E. staff members were student mediators in school.

 

MISSION STATEMENT:

The Winning Against Violent Environments Conflict Resolution Program’s mission is to educate young people to teach others life long skills through a process that empowers and enables them to work for social justice and create peaceful and healthy environments in which to live.

 

HISTORY:

The Winning Against Violent Environments (W.A.V.E.) Conflict Resolution Program began in the Cleveland Metropolitan School District in 1983 at Martin Luther King, Jr. Law and Public Service Magnet High School.  In 1988, a grant from the Cleveland  and Gund  Foundations funded the development of a student-as-trainer model and a Mediation Center for the Cleveland Schools.  The program has evolved and in 1997 was written into the Cleveland Teachers Union Agreement and funded by the district.  W.A.V.E. is one of the three oldest peer conflict resolution programs in the United States and the oldest in the Great Lakes Region.  The W.A.V.E. Program has become a model for schools across the country.  W.A.V.E. has trained over 9000 students and presented at over 60 state and national conferences.   The W.A.V.E. Program has won numerous awards and has appeared in The New York Times, The School Board Journal, Youth Today Magazine, Instructor’s Magazine and Phi Delta Kappa’s Hot Topic Series, Preventing School Violence: What Schools Can Do.

 

COORDINATORS:

Antonio is a Training Coordinator with the Winning Against Violent Environments (WAVE) Conflict Resolution Program in the Cleveland Metropolitan School District.  He has been involved professionally with the program for 20 years. During that time, Antonio has trained thousands of students in peer mediation in various K-8 and select high schools across the city, state and various parts of the country. Currently, Antonio is working to help move forward understanding the importance of social, emotional learning in education, utilizing conflict resolution skills and mediation processes. 

 

Marvin is a Training Coordinator with the Winning Against Violent Environments (W.A.V.E.) Conflict Resolution Program in the Cleveland Metropolitan School District.  Marvin is a graduate of the Cleveland School District. He has worked with the W.A.V.E. Program for over 20 years and has presented at and participated in numerous national conferences across the country in the field of conflict resolution. During his time with CMSD he has trained several thousand scholars in peer mediation which enables them to hone and strengthen their SEL skills and techniques.

 

Brianne serves as a Peer Mediation Training Coordinator for K-8 and High Schools in the Cleveland Metropolitan School District.  As a middle school student at Martin Luther King Jr. Law & Public Service, Brianne was first introduced to the W.A.V.E. Peer Mediation program in 1996 and continued to excel as a peer mediator throughout middle and high school.  She is a graduate of Max Hayes High School.  Brianne has also attended national conferences held by ACR (Association for Conflict Resolution) and has facilitated workshops on social justice issues and diversity as well as sexual harassment, and classroom management.  Brianne has worked for the Winning Against Violent Environments program since 2002 and loves to work with children.  As a trainer and trained mediator, Brianne hopes to continue on helping children understand alternatives for better lifestyles.

Mediation is a procedure in which disputing parties voluntarily come together to solve their problems, difficulties, conflicts, or issues.  The mediators are the facilitators of the negotiations.  Mediators remain neutral and are observers of the situation and guides of the conflict resolution process.  In other words, the mediator is a trained, objective third party who leads the conflicting parties through a process that enables them to brainstorm their own solutions to their problems.

 

The mediation process is non-judgmental and does not determine right or wrong.  Problems are solved jointly and non-violently with a win-win solution which enables each side to get their needs met.  This is in contrast to a formal court hearing in which a judge and jury determine the guilt or innocence and impose a sentence or punishment.

 

Mediation requires that disputing parties meet to discuss their differences.  Once those differences have been put into words, the disputing parties can begin to understand each other’s point of view and work to find common ground.  This does not necessarily mean that the two parties will agree immediately, but with understanding and the help of the mediator, the conflict can be resolved.

 

The mediation process enables conflicting parties to brainstorm their own solutions to their problems.  This aspect of mediation is vital and very important because it encourages positive communication among youth.  Mediation is beneficial in reducing conflict and violence in a school environment.

 

The goal of mediation is successful conflict resolution with a win-win solution.