1999 ANNUAL REPORT

Introduction
Community Support
1999 Major Accomplishments
1999 Funding
1999 Board of Directors
1999 Staff

Teaching nonviolent methods for dealing with conflict and anger is the work of The Conflict Center. Programs for children, adolescents and adults teach practical skills needed to make nonviolent choices.

The Conflict Center 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. Individuals learn to take concepts and ideas into the real world and translate them into productive, successful, nonviolent actions and behaviors.

The Conflict Center teaches three skills:
* Conflict Management
* Anger Management
* Parenting

The Conflict Center’s three program areas are:
* School Programs
* Organizations
* Youth at Risk

The Conflict Center applies three skills for groups in conflict:
* Facilitation
* Mediation
* Negotiation

The Conflict Center offers the following nationally recognized publications and products for conflict and anger management:

• Peacemaking Made Practical- available in Spanish & English. A conflict management curriculum for Elementary School >
• Conflict Management - A Middle School curriculum
• How to Avoid World War III at Home - parenting book
• Powerful Me - Interactive CD Rom Computer Game
• SOLUTIONS - an educational bi-monthly newsletter
• PEACE CONNECTIONS - a quarterly newsletter by and for Playground Conflict Managers
• T-Shirts
• Cards
• Bumper Stickers

The Conflict Center also houses a Resource Library which is open to the public 8:30 - 5:30, Monday through Friday, and offers the largest collection of conflict and anger management material in the western United States.

Community Support

The Conflict Center is a non-profit 501(c)(3) human service organization. We provide all services based on a sliding fee scale and are committed to providing 50% of our services to people in poverty. Community support is essential to our ability to carry out this commitment.

We invite you to support our efforts to teach methods and skills for managing conflict and anger without violence. Monetary and in-kind donations make it possible to increase the number of people served. Please be assured that your donation, at any level, is leveraged to the fullest possible extent and used responsibly to provide services designed to accomplish the mission of The Conflict Center which is to reduce levels of physical, verbal and emotional violence.

1999 Major Accomplishments

In 1999 The Conflict Center served over 15,200 people; many attended multiple workshops.

Over 9,800 students, teachers and staff from 67 schools were taught conflict management skills from Elementary to University level

Approximately 1,112 parents were taught practical skills for raising children.

Over 700 youth at risk were served in violence prevention and intervention programs.

2,050 students were served in our Reading for Peace Program utilizing an average of 8 - 10 volunteers per week.

Over 4,700 people were assisted with conflict management workshops, meeting design and planning, facilitation and mediation services in almost 120 different organizations, businesses and congregations.

133 adults attended anger and conflict management classes on-site at The Conflict Center.

The Conflict Center provided skill building sessions to over 500 individuals in 11 Welfare to Work Programs.

In 1999 The Conflict Center met or surpassed almost all our goals and objectives and successfully completed the move to our new building located at 4140 Tejon Street. We got settled in, planted a beautiful Peace Garden and renovated the back part of the building as rental space.

The Conflict Center held two very successful fundrasing events, the Garden Party and the Ambassador of Peace Award, both of which assisted us in creating new partnerships in the corporate sector and increasing our membership in Friends of The Conflict Center by 46%.

We also greatly upgraded our office technology, networking our computers and installing a wireless system. We released "Poserful Me," our first interactive CD Rom product, an interactive computer game to teach and reinforce conflict management skill for children.

In 1999 The Conflict Center had a record number of volunteers and volunteer hours including assistance from 8 student interns, four Senior Aides and an AmeriCorps VISTA member.

1999 Funding

1999 Board of Directors

The Board of Directors of The Conflict Center consists of fourteen diverse members representing education, banking, real estate, health, congregations, government, legal services and business. Active Board committees include: Finance, Public Relations, Organizational Development, Board Development and Fund Development.

1999 Staff

Elizabeth Loescher
Executive Director

• Education Certification.
• Author of Conflict Management: A Curriculum for Peacemaking, How to Avoid World War III at Home, The Conflict Center’s Middle School Conflict Management Curriculum and Peacemaking Made Practical.
  
• Ms. Loescher is a pioneer in the field of alternative dispute resolution with over 20 years experience.
• National trainer in conflict and anger management and mediator.

Jane Schmitz
School Program Coordinator

• An experienced educator who has worked with over 100 schools planning and implementing conflict and anger management programs.
• Current Colorado teaching certificate.
• Consulted with school personnel in K-12 curriculum development incorporating skills in the affective area.
• Designed a series of conflict and anger management lessons for use with secondary students.

Ronnie Weiss
Manager of Operations

• Oversees grantwriting, fundraising and administrative functions.
• Nineteen years of experience in the non-profit sector, particularly in the field of domestic violence.

Jennifer Anderson-Guy
Youth-At-Risk Coordinator

Dodie Andrews
Contract Data Entry

Leota Banecks
DU Social Work Graduate Intern

Matthew Bovenzi
Vincentian Intern

Jean Gehring
DU Social Work Graduate Intern

Shelli Graham
Associate

Joanna Hudson
Contract Associate

Susan Kaplan
Contract Associate

Ron Ludwig
Contract Bookkeeper

Laura Naranjo
Community Liaison

Israel Nuñez
Associate

Heather Polak
Receptionist

Vickie Samland
Associate

Tammy Sherwood
Assistant to the Director

Virginia Vobejda, M.A.
Associate

Tricia Voss
AmeriCorpsVISTA Member

Lisa Whitman
Whartburg College Student Intern

Mary Zinn-Stewart
Volunteer Coordinator