BOARD OF DIRECTORS
CMS is a volunteer non-profit, currently operated by our Board of Directors.
Sherdren Burnside. is a proud mother, pastor, educator, and anti-racism trainer and organizer with more than 25 years of experience in public education, non-profit leadership, and urban ministry. Since 2008, she has been heavily involved in violence reduction, education and training, blight reduction, and other community development initiatives in the St. Claude neighborhood of New Orleans. She was the founding director of College Track New Orleans (CTNO).
Valerie Coffin has been the Director of Continuum of Care Programs at UNITY of Greater New Orleans since 2013. Coffin is responsible for coordinating activities for the Homeless Continuum of Care within the Greater New Orleans area; providing oversight of grants management including program and fiscal compliance of 64 subcontracts. An MBA with Six Sigma Certification, one of her key roles is to develop and implement process improvements within UNITY and with consortium of member agencies to become one of the top performing CoCs in the country. vc
Betty DiMarco, Secretary retired as the Human Resource Manager in United States District Court, Eastern District of LA, where she worked for thirty years. She is a founding member of Turning Point Partners Louisiana, the restorative practice entity that merged with Community Mediation Services, and past board member of the Metropolitan Area Committee and the Center for Development and Learning. She is a promoter and practitioner of Restorative philosophy in schools, community and business.
Damekia Morgan, DSW, LMSW, President, is Assistant Professor of Social Work at Southern University and a trained mediator. She is the former director of Friends and Families of Incarcerated Children (FFLIC) and former Innovation and Programs Director at the Orleans parish Juvenile Court. She has extensive experience in juvenile justice and completed a doctorate on this topic.
Julianna D. Padgett, Ph.D., LCSW, Treasurer has served in faculty and administrative roles in social work programs, most recently as Director of the MSW Program at SUNO. She has skills in facilitation, training, writing/editing, program/organizational policy development and program management. A native New Orleanian, Dr. Padgett sustains a strong connection to the community and has had a longtime interest in participatory and conflict resolution methods. She is the secretary of the Carrollton Riverbend Neighborhood Association.
Advisory Committee
Orissa Arend, MSW, LCSW is a co-founder of Community Mediation Services and an experienced mediator. She is also a therapist and writer, contributing regularly to local journalistic venues. She is also author of Showdown in Desire: The Black Panthers Take A Stand in New Orleans (University of Arkansas Press, 2009).
Lou Furman heads our Restorative Practices offerings. In addition to being a mediator with CMS and Independent Police Monitor, he is aTrainer Associate for the Victim Offender Mediation Association and a certified practitioner in Strategies for Trauma Awareness and Resilience (STAR) and the Global Facilitators Service Corps. In addition, he is a Registered Drama Therapist and Professor Emeritus at Washington State University. Mr. Furman has established programs in alternative and charter schools, and he works extensively with incarcerated youth and special populations. He leads trainings in Mindful Communication, Restorative Justice, and Restorative Discipline for schools, courts and the general public.
The Honorable Calvin Johnson, retired Chief Judge of the Orleans Parish Criminal District Court established the first Mental Health Treatment Court in the State of Louisiana in 2002. By 2005, this Special Court was selected as one of four demonstration courts in the Country. Prior to establishing the first Mental Health Treatment Court, Judge Johnson served as Drug Court Judge from 1994 until 2002. As Chief Judge at the time Hurricane Katrina struck, Judge Johnson directed proceedings and maintained Court functions simultaneously across eight statewide locations. Since his retirement, Johnson has taught classes in Loyola's criminal law clinic, served as executive director of the Metropolitan Human Service District, criminal justice commissioner under Mayor Mitch Landrieu and most recently interim director for National Alliance on Mental Illness' New Orleans office.
Stacey Marcel, J.D., is an experienced lawyer and mediator. She has been instrumental in educating, training and being an advocate for mediation within the law community as well as across the city.
Richard Saxer, M. Ed in Special Education, is a retired public school teacher who recently returned to the classroom, this time to Travis Hill School at the Orleans Justice Center. Formerly he worked in adult literacy and with AmeriCorps. Prior to his teaching career, he was an ordained minister in the Episcopal Church. He is also a volunteer English as a Second Language (ESL) teacher with Catholic Charities. Richard is a mediator with the Independent Police Monitor and the ReEntry Mediation Institute of Louisiana. He has been part of Community Mediation Center in New Orleans since its founding.
Oliver Thomas, is a democratic politician, actor, writer, and poet. He served on the New Orleans City Council from 1994 to 2007, lost the seat in due to a bribery charge and then won election to the seat again in 2021. He has a deep interest in issues impacting youth and crime.