HISTORY Who We Serve
The Conflict Center (TCC) began over 20 years ago with the vision of Elizabeth Loescher who started TCC out of her basement on Nov. 12, 1987. Ms. Loescher was a classroom teacher who found a significant portion of her time was being spent refereeing her students’ disagreements and conflicts. Because the time spent as a referee detracted from her time as an educator, she decided to develop a curriculum that teaches young people the skills they need to manage many of their own conflicts in the classroom or on the playground. The curriculum she devised is called Peacemaking Made Practical and was originally designed for elementary school students. It now has been adapted for middle and high school students. This school-based curriculum has been proven to be effective based on empirical data and forms the basis for The Conflict Center’s 3-phase school curriculum.
Since The Conflict Center began over 20 years ago, the programs we offer have expanded from the school curriculums to include programs to teach conflict resolution and violence prevention skills to the greater population. The Conflict Center (TCC) provides services to not only schools, but also individuals – both youth and adults, families, and organizations. TCC works with groups of people in a variety of settings, involving them in exercises which teach communication skills, consequences, negotiation, values clarification, and refusal skills. Self-esteem is built by helping participants handle daily hassles and conflict effectively.
In addition, in line with the TCC’s goal to provide assistance to anyone who desires their services, all services are provided based on a sliding fee scale with at least 50% of services provided to low income people.
Briefly, The Conflict’s Center three programs are: Schools, Youth at Risk, and Organizations and Businesses. The Conflict Center teaches three skills: Conflict Management, Anger Management, and Parenting and Family Skill Building. The Conflict Center applies three skills for groups in conflict: Facilitation, Mediation, and Negotiation. In 2008, these three programs served a total of 6,767 individuals through the aforementioned programs.
