This is to announce a new system for booking trainings that the Training Committee recently developed. The challenge was that I was so booked so far in advance that new centers and centers who had not had any training had to wait 9-12 months to get a date even though they are supposed to get priority. (I am currently booked through June.) So, the new system is:

     Every three months, I will open up a three month window and take requests. Once all the requests are in, I will give priority to the new centers and centers who have not had training through Community Mediation Maryland yet. I will inform each center whether or not Community Mediation Maryland can accommodate their request. So, for example, in February, I will open up June, July, and August. I will take requests until mid February, prioritize, and develop a schedule. Then in April, I will open up September, October, November. Etc., etc. Hopefully this will work. The Training Committee is always open to feedback if you have any thoughts on this new process.

Peace, Erricka

     Community Mediation Maryland's Policy
on Taking Training at Different Centers

     Community Mediation Maryland's training committee has recently established the following procedure for participants from one program taking training at another program.

     Community Mediation Maryland's training is only available to people who will be volunteering for a Community Mediation Maryland center. If someone calls you for training and you do not plan to have them volunteer for your center, please do not ask them to call Community Mediation Maryland to get training. They must first find a center who intends to accept them as a volunteer.

     If someone contacts you about volunteering and you wish to have them trained, please screen them first, using whatever system (interview, application, etc.) and criteria you use to screen your volunteers. Once you have accepted them as a volunteer you can go to the members only area on the web site and find out who has training scheduled and when. Then it is your responsibility to contact the director of the center offering the training and ask if they can accommodate your volunteer. Each center is required to open up their training to other Community Mediation Maryland centers if they have fewer than 16 people signed up 2 weeks before the training. So the director may put your volunteer on a waiting list if they are not sure they will be able to accommodate additional people. Because many centers provide food during training, you may offer to pay for some of the food costs of your volunteers.

     It is your responsibility to communicate to your volunteer that if they miss more than one hour of the training they will not get a certificate and if they miss more than three hours they cannot complete the training. Also, you are responsible for reminder calls to your volunteers.

     Once the training is complete, you are responsible for your volunteer's apprenticeship and continuing education. Erricka will speak with you, as she does with all directors after a training, about the volunteer's skill level and how you can best support their continued growth.