Our STory
Serving Bloomington and Monroe County residents since 1995, the Community Justice and Mediation Center (CJAM) is a local non-profit dedicated to providing an efficient alternative for resolving conflict and promoting restorative justice. Leveraging the time and talents of our skilled team of volunteer staff and mediators, we promote better ways to understand and deal with conflict. We are committed to making our services accessible to all, especially the under-served, and to be responsive to emerging community needs.
Our Mission:
Our mission is to promote a civil and just community through mediation, education, and restorative justice. We envision a fair community that learns from conflict, prevents harm, and grows in understanding
We Value:
RESTORATION:CJAM facilitates constructive relationships and the healing of harm resulting from conflict and crime.
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COMMUNITY:CJAM promotes and is committed to an engaged, civil, just, and inclusive community.
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Empowerment:: CJAM empowers individuals and groups to learn from their experience to achieve their goals in a way that is consistent with harmonious relations with others.
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EMPATHY: CJAM fosters an atmosphere in which individuals understand and respect the feelings, thoughts, attitudes, and perspectives of others.
CJAM’s Commitment to Equity and Justice
CJAM stands against oppression—in all forms. As an organization, we work for empowerment, inclusion, equity, and justice. We affirm our commitment to harness the power of community to promote healing and restoration.
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We need to understand the degree to which unrecognized and conflicting beliefs and actions affect our decisions as an organization. Further, we need to understand if and how our decisions truly promote inclusiveness, allow equal access, and welcome those we perceive as different from ourselves.
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CJAM is committed to an ongoing self-analysis of all aspects of the organization to discover and change those institutional policies, practices, patterns, and behaviors that maintain oppression, marginalization, and injustice.
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We remain an active community partner in helping initiate planning for inclusive, community-wide issue identification and problem-solving practices.
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We reaffirm the mission of the Community Justice and Mediation Center (CJAM) to promote a civil and just community through mediation, education, and restorative justice. We envision a fair community that learns from conflict, prevents harm, and grows through understanding.
Our Staff
Wyatt Lawson
Executive Director
Wyatt Lawson has experience in both higher education and nonprofit leadership. Throughout his career, he has been dedicated to serving the community and supporting underserved populations. Wyatt has worked as an academic advisor for at-risk students at Indiana State University and as the Director of Education at the Swope Art Museum.He holds a master’s degree in Curriculum and Instruction, with a thesis focused on cognitive dissonance and social justice education. His research explored strategies for helping students navigate challenging and sometimes uncomfortable ideas to foster greater understanding.Wyatt’s passion for inclusion and education is at the core of his work. He deeply values the power of connection and communication in creating meaningful change and building stronger communities.
Ed Greenebaum
Director of Programs
Ed serves CJAM in many roles: as a member of the board of directors, an instructor, director of programs, and senior mediator. Ed is a graduate of the Harvard Law School, and retired law professor at the Indiana University Maurer School of Law. At IU he taught dispute resolution, mediation and related subjects. He served as a visiting social scientist at the Tavistock Institute of Human Relations and as a visiting fellow at the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies at the University of London. Ed and Joan are long-time Bloomington residents.
Nick Philbeck
Restorative Justice Case Manager
Nick is a senior mediator and currently serves as the restorative justice case manager, managing the VORP (Victim & Offender Restoration Program) and STEP (Shoplifting & Theft Education) programs. Nick is a Bloomington, Indiana native and Butler University alumnus. He served as a member of the school’s Black Student Union and as a representative on the R.E.A.C.H. (Respecting, Embracing & Achieving Community Harmony) council, who partnered with the Student Government Association to promote respect of diversity within race, spirituality, gender and sexual orientation in order to foster a fair, cooperative, and open-minded environment. Nick began volunteering with CJAM in 2004 as a teen mediator and youth workshop facilitator. He worked with fellow mediators to create a youth-appropriate conflict resolution handbook, Fight Without Fighting, published by CJAM in 2005.
JaneAnn Gifford
Landlord-Tenant Case Manager and Senior Mediator
JaneAnn started volunteering with CJAM in 2016, after a long career in supply chain management with Cummins Inc., and retiring as Vice President Global Supply Chain with Closure Systems International. She received a Masters of Art in Negotiation and Dispute Resolution form Werner Institute, Creighton University, an MBA from Indiana University, and a BA From Carleton College. A senior mediator and our Landlord-Tenant Case Manager, she helped to develop and manages our work with the Eviction Prevention Project, along with providing support and supervision to our mediators. She and her husband Allen live in Columbus, where they enjoy the outdoors, tandem bike riding, and lots of travel visiting family and friends.
Ben Wendell, M.D.
Office Manager
Ben is a retired radiologist who decided to give back to the community by serving CJAM as our office manager. Ben came to us through Area 10 Agency’s RSVP program. Besides volunteering at CJAM, Ben is an avid dancer at the Arthur Murray studio with his wife Meredith. Ben and Meredith have lived in Bloomington for over 30 years; they have three grown children.
Our mediators:
CJAM mediators are volunteers trained and experienced in mediation skills. Our mediators are drawn from the community and often bring additional professional skills to the mediation. CJAM mediators do not give legal advice.
Board of directors
John Alme,
is the chair of the Governance Committee. He also serves as an instructor and a senior mediator. Before moving to Bloomington, he practiced law in Minnesota, primarily focusing on criminal cases and other trial-related matters. Currently residing in North Carolina, he continues to volunteer remotely.
John Fishbone,
serves as Treasurer of the Board of Directors and chairs the Finance Committee. He is CFO for Weddle Brothers Construction Companies. He has a BS in Business Accounting from the Kelly School of Business at Indiana University , and also a background in Chemistry and Management from Purdue University. In addition to CJAM, John volunteered with the Bloomington Cutters Youth Soccer League for many years.
Susan M. Klein,
is a member of the board and a trained mediator. She has been a special educator for over 50 years working in summer camps, residential programs, and public-school classrooms before completing her Ph.D. Now Professor Emerita of Special Education from the Indiana University-Bloomington School of Education, she continues to be engaged in the study of family-professional relationships in public and non-profit settings that serve persons with developmental disabilities and their families. She also volunteers as an Advocate with the Indiana University Student Advocates Office.
Jody Madeira, Ph.D.
has been a law professor at Indiana University since 2007. Her interests primarily involve the intersection of law and emotion in criminal and family law. Madeira is also an author and researcher; her first book, Killing McVeigh: The Death Penalty and the Myth of Closure, was published in 2012. Jody is married to Matt and they have seven children.
Vanessa Roberts,
is Chair of the Programs Committee, and a senior mediator. She has more than 23 years of management experience with 18 years in the pharmaceutical industry. She has expertise in supply chain management and process improvement methodologies and is a trained mediator with extensive expertise in conflict resolution. She served as the chief operations officer of the consulting firm, Learning Purpose, and retired as Supply Chain Manager with Baxter International. Vanessa enjoys spending time with family, kayaking, traveling and gardening. She also volunteers her time with Braver Angels.
John VanderZee,
is the Chair of the Fund-Development & Communication Committee, and serves as a volunteer mediator. Ordained in the Presbyterian Church (USA), John ministered as a hospital chaplain for 35 years, most recently as Director of Spiritual Care and Chaplaincy at IU Health Bloomington Hospital, a post he held for 24 years. Upon retirement IU Health, John served as interim pastor in three congregations in Indiana and as a life and leadership coach. He is a graduate of Calvin University (BA), Andover Newton Theological School (MDiv), and Bethany Theological Seminary (DMin). John and his wife Wendy enjoying traveling and spending time with their two adult daughters
Edwin H. Greenebaum,
serves as a training instructor, Director of Programs, senior mediator and case manager. A graduate of the Harvard Law School and retired law professor at the Indiana University Maurer School of Law, Ed taught dispute resolution, mediation and related subjects. He served as a visiting social scientist at the Tavistock Institute of Human Relations and as a visiting fellow at the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies at the University of London. Ed has been a double bass player in the Bloomington Symphony Orchestra for over 40 years. Ed and Joan are long-time Bloomington residents and also enjoying spending time in Martha’s Vineyard.
Marta Hall,
serves on the Programs Committee. Marta grew up in Bloomington and attended Harmony School. She is currently the Bloomington Housing Association’s Resident Council President, helps to manage the Crestmont Food Pantry, and is a member of the Steering Committee of the Monroe County Health Equity Council. Marta is a strong advocate for the needs of underrepresented communities and is proud to represent her Crestmont community. In her free time she loves making art and is the mother of a grown daughter, Opal.
Julie Schaefer Koduri,
serves as President of the Board of Directors. A graduate of IU’s Kelley School of Business and the O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs, she has over fifteen years of experience in global healthcare marketing and product management. In addition to her role as a mediator for CJAM, she has volunteered with local nonprofits including the IU Alumni Association and Monroe County CASA. In her spare time, she and her husband enjoy spending time with their three daughters.
Wilson Mosley,
serves as the Vice President of the Board of Directors . He is a dedicated professional with a Master of Public Affairs specializing in Nonprofit Management and International Development from Indiana University. With extensive experience in roles ranging from Program Coordinator, Development Associate at the Community Justice and Mediation Center, Research & Graduate Advising & Student Services Graduate Assistant at IU, Wilson’s skills span mediation, program management, student support, and marketing. His linguistic abilities include intermediate Japanese and novice-level Chinese, reflecting a commitment to cross-cultural understanding. He is a a strong advocate for community engagement. He is now Program Coordinator with the Language Workshop, Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies, at Indiana University.
Roberta Wysong,
serves as Secretary of the Board of Directors and volunteer bookkeeper for CJAM. She is a retired social worker who served as the executive director of the Monroe County Youth Services Bureau for 12 years and was employed in other youth serving organizations in other communities before that. Her social work degrees are from Indiana University. Roberta loves spending time with friends and family and is an avid genealogist.