*Sunday, March 18, 2:00-5:00pm, Auditorium at J.J Henderson Towers*, "807 South Duke St.":http://www.google.com/maps?q=807+S+Duke+St%2C+Durham%2C+North+Carolina+27701&sa=X&oi=map&ct=title Please use parking and entrance in the back.

Andy Sachs of the Dispute Settlement Center based in Carrboro, will facilitate a 3 hour training and policy development session with the Durham Food Coop membership.

Due to limited capacity advance RSVP is essential. Please email Regina Dyson "indigo_communications@yahoo.com":indigo_communications@yahoo.com to pre-register. Thank you to those who have already rsponded. I will confirm your reservations as of Sunday, March 11th. We have 11 spaces available as of 3/8/07.

_*This is not a mediation session.* This training session is designed to enable collective orientation to common conflict resolution tools, techniques and standards relevant to organizational and cooperative environments, and is designed to support our ongoing efforts to devlop and implement functional policy and procedures for DFC. It is our objective to develop an adhoc committee of participating members & BoDs working together on an ongoing basis with a goal to design a DFC conflict resolution practice that serves to support our coop's overall sustainability, preserve the fundamental tenets of coopereative principals, and relect the unique & invaluable qualities of DFCs mission and vision as a community-based non profit food security initiative._

As summarized by Andy Sachs, "Participants will learn and practice communication skills and explore underlying concepts in order develop more effective ways to approach conflict. Outcomes will include (a) viewing conflict as an opportunity, (b) understanding five different ways to respond to conflict, and (c) enhanced listening and assertion skills for use in conflict resolution."

Andrew M. Sachs, Public Disputes Coordinator, initiated this program at DSC in 1987. He assists government, business, non-profit, and community organizations to resolve conflict, discuss difficult topics and develop skills in consensus-building by providing mediation, meeting facilitation, training, and consulting. He has worked as a mediator, facilitator and conflict resolution trainer since 1980, is a member of the Association for Conflict Resolution (Environment and Public Policy Sector), and a former member of the Mediation Network of North Carolina board of directors. Andy has a Masters in City Planning from MIT.

To offset the cost of the invaluable training, *please consider making a $10 contribution*.

* Utilize conflicts in a constructive way
* Find common grounds and ways to effectively communicate problems and concerns in a cooperative manner
* Develop a complaint and grievance procedure that can become part of the Co-op's policy register