More than sixty supporters gathered at the FAR Center for Contemporary Art on 
Wednesday evening for CJAM’s first Women, Justice, and Equity event – We’ve Come a Long Way…Maybe? The event, co-sponsored by the Feminist Law Forum, featured appetizers, community networking, a lively panel discussion, and several opportunities to support CJAM’s work. Attendees included various local government representatives, court and probation staff, neighbors, friends, other supporters, and even the mayor!
CJAM Executive Director, Liz Grenat, prefaced the panel with some information about CJAM and key reasons for the night’s gathering:
- CJAM’s focus on community and finding common ground. These are core tenants of mediation, but also in CJAM’s vision of a fair community that learns from conflict, prevents harm, and grows in understanding.
- Financial support for the important work of CJAM. Funds raised during the evening will go toward training and educational programs, including scholarships for CJAM’s 40 hour basic medication training, helping to keep these valuable opportunities accessible to as many as possible.
- Recognition of the Women of CJAM recently winning the Toby Strout Lifetime Contribution Award! CJAM volunteers range in age from 19 to 92, and two of CJAM’s founding women, Roberta Wysong and Iris Kiesling, were present and introduced. Liz continued to highlight other CJAM women as she detailed the mediator training and mentoring process, taking it from apprentice through senior mediator roles.
If you missed the event – there’s still time to support the important work of CJAM by visiting our Donate page. To read more about what was shared by our featured speakers Erika Oliphant, Deborah Widiss, and Amelia Lahn, check out this second post, CJAM’s first annual women’s event – Part 2 (https://cjamcenter.org/cjams-first-annual-womens-event-part-2/).