Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Community Conflict Resolution topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
CRD's Community Conflict Resolution Unit highlights services and warns three-year funding is ending
Summary
CRD staff described the Community Conflict Resolution Unit's confidential mediation, trainings, and forums, reporting 3,902 interactions since inception through Jan. 2025 and saying the unit's initial three-year appropriation ends this year, creating a funding risk.
Staff from the California Civil Rights Department's Community Conflict Resolution Unit (CREW) presented an overview of the unit's work and recommended continuing support as its initial appropriation ends.
An assistant deputy director for the unit told the commission CREW provides neutral, confidential community-level facilitation, training, consultations and mediation aimed at easing tensions that affect community safety. "We promote peaceful relations by assisting communities experiencing fear, conflict, or tensions relating to discriminatory practices, hate incidents, or hate crimes that have a community impact," the presenter said.
CREW reported 138 community engagement sessions, 63 consultations, 10 trainings and a total of 3,902 interactions from inception through January 2025. Examples included dialogues to address conflicts among middle-school youth, de-escalation training for a Filipino American association, facilitation for the California Truth and Healing Council subcommittee, housing-summit facilitation and mediation work in tribal-county relations.
Commissioners asked how CREW receives referrals and whether CREW has outreach to schools. CREW staff said most referrals come from proactive outreach to community partners, Stop the Hate grantees and city human-relations commissions, and described a pilot K–12 administrator training being developed with California State University Fullerton with a first public pilot scheduled for March.
Multiple commissioners and public commenters urged the commission and CRD to seek continued funding and to expand awareness of CREW's free services. CREW staff and commissioners noted the program's three-year funding appropriation is ending this year and asked colleagues to consider next steps to sustain its work.
