COMMUNITY MEDIATION SERVICES' HISTORY

Community Mediation Services, Inc. (originally Community Justice Institute, Inc.) is a non-profit agency dedicated to assisting people in resolving disputes through the use of mediation. Community Mediation Services has been in existence since 1981. It is based in Atlantic County, New Jersey.

In the late 1970s there was talk of a national movement for conflict resolution and a new alternative…mediation. The Atlantic County Criminal Justice Advisory Council generated the idea that through mediation, neighborhood disputes could be resolved through the use of mediation, thus alleviating the courts of overloads and residents of costs. The Criminal Justice Advisory Council then wrote a grant, which was originally funded by the Public Advocacy Office. Once the funding was complete, a Board of Directors was then assembled. It was decided that since members of the Criminal Justice Advisory Council were comprised of Atlantic County Government and Richard Stockton College of New Jersey representatives, that persons from these organizations fill seats on the Board of Directors. Community Justice Institute, the organization’s original name, was then born. Seats on the Board of Directors were later extended to members of the Atlantic County Bar Association and members of the community.