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History of Community Mediation Upper Shore

CMUS (originally named Chester Valley Mediation Service) was founded five years ago by the Chester Valley Ministers’ Association in response to an initiative by Chief Justice Bell of the Maryland District Court system.  He called for community mediation centers to be established across Maryland to relieve some of the back-log of cases in the District Court system.  Cases in this Court are often those which involve disputes between neighbors, generations, divorcing parents, local businesses and clients, etc.  We are a member of the Community Mediation Maryland, as are the other sixteen community mediation centers around the state.

CMUS offices were originally located in a small, cramped office in downtown Chestertown.  As the workload increased, CMUS moved to the Kent Family Center Building and now to a portable classroom no longer used by the Kent County Public School System.  This space has both offices and a room available both for mediations and for training sessions.

Originally an all-volunteer effort, CMUS now has two, half-time, paid employees as well as twenty-seven volunteer mediators who have gone through a rigorous 50 hour training program.   CMUS case load has increased every year of its operation: in FY 2006 we conducted over 808 hours of outreach activities explaining alternative conflict resolution practices to community groups; completed 587 intakes; and successfully reached 87 written agreements after mediation sessions.  By charter, CMUS geographic territory covers the counties of Queen Anne’s, Kent, and Cecil.