SAVANNAH, GA – Oct. 4, 2017 – Burton F. “Buddy” Metzger has joined the Mediation Center of the Coastal Empire’s Board of Directors as a member-at-large. He also will serve on the board’s Personnel Committee.

Metzger graduated from Yale University with his bachelor’s degree in 1962 and from Columbia Law School with his juris doctorate in 1965. After completing his education, Metzger practiced entertainment law in New York from 1965-72. He served as the president of the Metzger Group, a manufacturing company in New York, from 1977-87. During his time in the Empire State, Metzger held many leadership roles and was recognized for his philanthropic contributions. He served as a campaign leader and was named to the Council of Top 100 Solicitors.

After moving to Georgia, Metzger practiced juvenile and family law in Savannah from 1992-2009 and served as the juvenile court’s judge pro tem from 2000-09. His community achievements and leadership roles include serving as president, a long-term officer and director of Savannah’s Congregation Agudath Achim, volunteering for the United Way’s Backpack Buddies program, cofounding and serving as a board member of Parent University, serving on the board of directors of the Savannah Jewish Federation, serving as chairman of the Interfaith Relations Committee, and focusing on interracial relations for the Mayor’s Council on Interfaith. Metzger currently volunteers for the
Mediation Center as a civil and family law mediator.

The Mediation Center provides the coastal community with access to mediation and other dispute resolution methods as an alternative to litigation. The Mediation Center also provides training to businesses, schools, organizations, other institutions, and individuals in order to enhance conflict resolution skills throughout the community.

“We’re pleased to welcome Buddy to the Mediation Center’s Board of Directors. I’ve enjoyed working with him as a volunteer and have seen how his impressive skill set has proven beneficial to the center and those we serve,” Mediation Center Executive Director Jill Cheeks said. “I’m thankful he has accepted the position on our board, as I’m confident he’ll lead and serve the community well in his new capacity.”

For more information about The Mediation Center, please visit mediationsavannah.com, call 912-354-6686 or email info@mediationsavannah.com.

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For media inquiries, please contact Hollie Barnidge at hollie@lesleyfrancispr.com or 912-272-8651 or Lesley Francis at lesley@francis.com at 912-429-3950 or the team at 912-417-LFPR (5377).

SAVANNAH, GA – Oct. 2, 2017 – The Mediation Center of the Coastal Empire has announced exciting plans to observe Conflict Resolution Month throughout the month of October. This special month stems from the efforts of many other national, state, and local organizations – including the Association for Conflict Resolution – which have been celebrating conflict resolution during the month of October for years.

This is the first year the Mediation Center is undertaking a series of special initiatives to coincide with this national annual initiative. This Savannah based non-profit organization has been cutting the emotional and financial costs of disputes for thousands of people throughout the region, will commemorate this observance with a series of events and initiatives throughout October.

The month gets under way with the announcement of a collaboration between the Mediation Center and Chatham County Juvenile Court, for the Mediation Center to provide Community Conferencing.

Community Conferencing provides a meaningful community-based response to juvenile crime by empowering the community of people affected by the incident. Young people accused of delinquent offenses have the opportunity to take responsibility for the harm they caused, those affected by the harm play a role in deciding accountability, and residents feel safer in their communities. The Mediation Center provides conference facilitators trained to facilitate challenging conversations and the program is managed by Crystal Commodore, Youth Programs Director of the Mediation Center.

Juvenile Court Presiding Chief Judge LeRoy Burke III, who helped facilitate the system’s utilization of Community Conferencing, is eager for the partnership to yield positive results.

On Monday, Oct. 9, Mediation Center Executive Director Jill Cheeks will continue the month long commemoration by speaking at Armstrong State University on the topic of conflict resolution. This training will be conducted in an organizational communication graduate class.

“College is a time of growth and development to prepare students for future job opportunities. Preparing students to manage difficult situations sets the students up for success personally and professionally,” Cheeks said. “We’ll address common causes of conflict and learn strategies mediators use to support parties in dispute.”

To round out the celebration of October as Conflict Resolution Month, the Mediation Center is joining forces with Greenbriar Children’s Center to make the Children of Peaceful Engagement (COPE) program available to Greenbriar’s residents and clients.

The COPE program teaches children who are going through stressful situations how to better cope with their anger and other emotions and manage their response using proven engagement strategies that focus on understanding and emotional learning. Attendees are school-age children and the delivery method is customized to fit the schedule of the organization.

Greenbriar promotes the healthy development of children and the strengthening of families through an array of services, including emergency shelter, responding to youth who are homeless or have run away, residential care, independent living, family preservation programs, and early childhood education and care. Greenbriar, a Savannah-based nonprofit, also facilitates Savannah’s Project Safe Place program, which provides access to immediate help and supportive resources for youth in need.

Lee Robbins, Programs Director at the Mediation Center, launched COPE earlier this summer. Robbins and his colleague, Crystal Commodore, the Mediation Center’s Youth Programs Director, will implement COPE at Greenbriar, focusing on residents ages 12-
17.

Cheeks encourages community members, clients, supporters and potential volunteers to learn more about the Mediation Center’s services and resources in October and throughout the year by visiting mediationsavannah.com or by calling 912-354-6686 to schedule an appointment.

“Celebrating October as Conflict Resolution Month is a great opportunity for us to showcase our offerings to community members who may not be familiar with the Mediation Center’s mission and history,” Cheeks said. “We hope to generate new interest in our volunteer opportunities and increase engagement across the board. The Mediation Center has many valuable resources and we want area residents to know and use what’s available to them.”

The Mediation Center of the Coastal Empire, established in 1986, is a non-profit United Way-funded organization that provides education, training and programs and is dedicated to providing and promoting methods other than litigation for settling disputes. The Center relies upon a dedicated volunteer board of directors and mediators who have experience in business, law, real estate, social work, education, and many other areas. All mediators are registered with the Georgia Office of Dispute Resolution, under the Supreme Court of Georgia, and they attend annual in-service trainings. For more information about the Mediation Center of The Coastal Empire or any of the planned events, please visit mediationsavannah.com and follow them on Facebook and Twitter.

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For media inquiries, please contact Hollie Barnidge at hollie@lesleyfrancispr.com or 912-272-8651 or Lesley Francis at lesley@francis.com at 912-429-3950 or the team at 912-417-LFPR (5377).

SAVANNAH, GA – AUGUST 8, 2017 – The Mediation Center of the Coastal Empire has been awarded a $10,000 grant from the Georgia Bar Foundation, Inc’s Fellows Program. The grant will contribute to funding vital programs provided by the Mediation Center’s Family Law
Resource Center.

The Georgia Bar Foundation, Inc. is set up under the State Bar of Georgia to distribute grants for deserving, law-related entities, such as Georgia Legal Services, Atlanta Legal Aid Society and various other entities around the state, according to Savannah Attorney Patrick T.
O’Connor of Oliver Maner LLP, who is the immediate past president of the State Bar of Georgia.

One of the programs within the Foundation is the Fellows Program, which provides support to local legal organizations, such as this new grant to the Mediation Center of the Coastal Empire. The Fellows Program receives all of its funds from lawyers who are invited to be
members. The offer to be recognized as a Fellow of the Georgia Bar Foundation is a prestigious honor that is not extended lightly, said O’Connor, a former foundation board member. Fewer than three percent of Georgia’s lawyers are Fellows.

“It’s for lawyers who have been recognized as leaders in the profession, especially in the areas of bar programs that support indigent services. The contribution to become a Fellow is a minimum of $1,250, and the money goes back out in the form of grants as worthy opportunities arise,” O’Connor said. “It’s really for locally based legal organizations that are responsible when it comes to supporting the community.”

The Neighbor to Neighbor Mediation Center was incorporated Feb. 27, 1986. The corporation changed its name to The Mediation Center of the Coastal Empire, Inc. in September 2001. Over the past 30 years, the Mediation Center has trained hundreds of volunteer mediators,
conducted over 10,000 mediations and facilitated nearly 7,000 settlements. The Center is located at 5105 Paulsen Street, Suite 125D in Savannah.

The Family Law Resource Center, which falls under the umbrella of the Mediation Center, offers forms, education and assistance to self-represented individuals who need help preparing for cases of divorce, legitimation, modification, child support, contempt or adult name change.

“The Mediation Center of the Coastal Empire is an excellent community resource for resolving citizen disputes and especially for those who cannot afford lawyers. The Georgia Bar Foundation is very pleased that it is able to assist the Mediation Center in its efforts to provide
guidance and education to low-income and pro se litigants in this community,” O’Connor said.

Mediation Center Executive Director Jill Cheeks was elated to learn that the Family Law Resource Center is being rewarded for its efforts to provide assistance to area residents who otherwise might not have access to legal help. Since October 2015, the center has been serving self-represented citizens in Chatham County and surrounding counties, including Bryan, Effingham, Liberty, Tattnall and Bulloch.

The FLRC also has a section of the center devoted to resources for families in crisis and services available to low-income families. A frequently used section of the Center is the “Kids Corner” which provides snacks, drinks and a play area for children to use while their parents work on their documents.

“There’s a high demand for this service and, at this point in time, citizens are waiting a month for an appointment,” Cheeks said. “So, this grant provides us with needed equipment to help people closer to their true time of need. We’re eager to grow our services and continue making a difference in our clients’ quality of life by helping them initiate their cases and mediate their way to peaceful resolutions outside of a courtroom.”

O’Connor will present the grant check to Cheeks at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 9 during a brief ceremony at the Family Law Resource Center, 5105 Paulsen St., Suite 111A. A short reception with refreshments will follow the presentation, and the community is welcome to attend.

For more information on the Mediation Center of the Coastal Empire, please visit mediationsavannah.com, call 912-354-6686 or email info@mediationsavannah.com. For more information on the Georgia Bar Foundation, Inc., please visit gabar.org.

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For media inquiries, please contact Hollie Barnidge at hollie@lesleyfrancispr.com or 912-272-8651 or Lesley Francis at lesley@francis.com at 912-429-3950 or the team at 912-417-LFPR (5377).

SAVANNAH, GA – July 27, 2017 – The Mediation Center of the Coastal Empire’s new “Children of Peaceful Engagement” program – or COPE – will be rolled out to help Savannah’s youth after a successful pilot program earlier this summer.

The COPE program teaches children who are going through stressful situations how to better cope with their anger and other emotions and manage their response using proven engagement strategies that focus on understanding and emotional learning. Typically, attendees are early school-age children and participation consists of two one-hour lessons, which take place during a one-week period.

Lee Robbins, Programs Director at the Family Law Resource Center and its parent organization, the Mediation Center, worked on developing COPE by researching and designing the interactive program through collaborations with educators and therapists. He introduced it to the Mediation Center earlier this summer. Now Robbins and his colleague, Crystal Commodore, the Mediation Center’s Youth Program Director, are about to bring this beneficial service to another Savannah nonprofit committed to helping the community’s young people.

Starting Aug. 15, the two will implement COPE at Park Place Outreach, which provides services to at risk youth and their families, aims to increase their functional levels, and reunifies families whenever possible. Once per month, Robbins will provide a one-hour lesson on a Tuesday, followed by another one-hour segment, taught by Commodore, on Thursday. Robbins will focus on understanding emotion, managing response and owning actions, while Commodore will educate participants on communicating when in conflict with others.

Mediation Center Executive Director Jill Cheeks is delighted COPE has been well-received and looks forward to increasing its availability by partnering with more Coastal Empire organizations and educational institutions.

“The community already knows we offer a variety of conflict-resolution services, but we also are pleased to be able to provide programs like COPE. These resources enable us to educate youth at an earlier age and equip them with skills to handle difficult situations and respond in a more positive manner to stress and conflict,” Cheeks said.

Park Place Outreach, a youth emergency shelter, provides support for troubled children and teens from Savannah and the surrounding area. It is open 24 hours a day to youth in crisis, adolescents who are homeless, young people who have been abused, runaway youth, or those who may be thinking of running away. According to Park Place Executive Director Julie Wade, they also assist those who are referred through the Division of Family and Children Services and the juvenile justice system. Wade had been in talks with Cheeks about possible collaboration efforts between the two nonprofit entities, and she thinks COPE is a great place to start.

“A lot of these kids come in with a whole host of challenges. They don’t have stable families, and they’ve often experienced violence and crime since the beginning of their lives, so they don’t have a lot of anger-management skills or coping skills. They just don’t have the communication skills to regulate their behavior,” Wade said. “We are trying to bring in some instruction on conflict resolution, which will
help the children we serve communicate better and regulate their emotions appropriately.”

She believes Park Place Outreach’s efforts with the Mediation Center will benefit both organizations, as well as the segments the nonprofits strive to reach and serve. “Everyone has incentive to collaborate; it’s just getting everyone to the same table,” Wade said. “Most kids are here about three weeks, so we don’t have much time with them. But we’ll offer COPE once per month, so we should be able to include everyone. We’re excited to have the opportunity to do it.”

For more information about the COPE program or the Mediation Center of the Coastal Empire, please email Cheeks at jcheeks@mediationsavannah.com, call 912-354-6686 or visit mediationsavannah.com.

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For media inquiries, please contact Hollie Barnidge at hollie@lesleyfrancispr.com or 912-272-8651 or Lesley Francis at lesley@francis.com at 912-429-3950 or the team at 912-417-LFPR(5377).

SAVANNAH, GA – July 26, 2017 – The Mediation Center of the Coastal Empire announces the appointment of Lesley Francis Public Relations (LFPR) as marketing partners. Lesley Francis and her team are working closely with The Mediation Center and will be responsible for media relations, social media, website updates and maintenance, event planning, copy writing and other marketing initiatives.

The Mediation Center provides the coastal community with access to mediation and other dispute-resolution methods as an alternative to litigation. The Mediation Center also provides training to businesses, schools, organizations, other institutions, and individuals in order to
enhance conflict-resolution skills throughout the community. British-born Lesley Francis is a graduate of the University of Bristol (England) and has extensive marketing experience. In 1998, Lesley founded hsd communications, an award winning, London-based agency that she grew from one person to a UK top 25 PR firm. She sold her business in 2007 to Gyro International, a global group with offices in 11 countries, and ran their worldwide PR division before relocating to the United States, where she became a naturalized American citizen and founded LFPR in 2009. Her public relations agency specializes in non-profit organizations as well as local businesses.

“The Mediation Center has provided the highest quality of mediation and other related services to our region for thirty years” said Executive Director Jill Cheeks. “We are excited for LFPR to become an extended part of our team, as we have many exciting new initiatives planned for
our organization as we prepare for the next thirty years of meeting the mediation needs of the Coastal Empire.”

For more information about The Mediation Center, please visit mediationsavannah.com. To learn more about Lesley Francis PR, please visit lesleyfrancispr.com.

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For media inquiries, please contact Hollie Barnidge at hollie@lesleyfrancispr.com or 912-272-8651 or Lesley Francis at lesley@francis.com at 912-429-3950 or the team at 912-417-LFPR(5377).