Community Mediation Services of New Orleans

Our mission is to promote and provide mediation and restorative services throughout the greater New Orleans area to prevent conflict or to resolve it peacefully and with justice. We do this by offering training and services in restorative practices such as mediation, facilitation, and other forms of conflict resolution for all ages through the New Orleans region.

About Us
Community Mediation Services, Inc. (CMS), a non-profit organization in New Orleans, was founded in 1994 to help youth, adults and families resolve conflicts through peaceful, non-adjudicative, alternative dispute resolution (ADR) processes. Since our inception, we have successfully resolved conflicts without litigation and improved relationships in a variety of contexts such as schools, families, neighborhoods, and the workplace. In addition, we have trained approximately 35 mediators from broad backgrounds that represent the diversity of our community.

In 2010, CMS integrated with Turning Point Partners of Louisiana, a non-profit leader in the field of restorative practices. With this step, CMS now offers trainings and services in restorative strategies that foster healing from trauma, whether caused by violence, poverty, family challenges, natural disaster, or other overwhelming event.

Following Hurricane Katrina, we recognized the need to build our organizational capacity in order to meet the tremendous needs of a strained and beleaguered community. We adopted transformative mediation as our primary mediation approach. This approach intends not only to resolve conflict but also to restore balance to individual and community relationships. This model bridges the mediation and restorative practice aspects of our work.