RockRose Institute is dedicated to working with its partners and supporters to create learning spaces. Please keep us informed of your work, as we invite you to participate in ours.

 

STEADFAST: A COMMUNICATION PRACTICE WITH HORSES - May 14-16, 2010
RESERVE YOUR SPOT - REGISTER BY APRIL 14th 
This hands-on course will provide a unique opportunity to increase your capacity to handle conflict and to practice collaborative leadership while working with horses. In structured exercises, equally powerful for those with or without horse experience, you will engage with multiple teachers: horses, other participants and yourselves. RockRose Founders, Maja Ramsey and Rebecca Westerfield, will co-facilitate the clinic, which will take place at the beautiful RockRose Ranch in Nicasio, CA.  We offer scholarships to young leaders and non-profit participants who will take their learning to a broader community. All proceeds are donated to RockRose Institute. To register contact Mary Lou Hanley, 415-561-3232, marylou@rockroseinstitute.org.  Please click here for the Steadfast flyer and video.

RockRose Institute will be a co-sponsor at the International Summer School on Business Mediation, "Crossing Borders," to be held in Admont, Austria July 19-23, 2010. RockRose Founders and Mediators Rebecca Westerfield and Dana Curtis will be on the Faculty, as will RockRose supporters, Daniel Weinstein of JAMS and Daniel Bowling. ISSBM promises an opportunity for intercultural learning; the challenge of “walking our talk” by becoming part of a community with a meditative attitude toward learning; and the chance to engage in experienced-based learning that is informed by the latest insights from neurobiology and guided by a team of international experts. The program will address the various dimensions of borders and boundaries, focusing in particular on:

• Approaches to the topic of "borders" in different disciplines and schools of thought
• Practical experience in business mediation for cross-border conflicts
• Cultural dimensions in business mediation
• Dealing with our own boundaries
• Boundaries in relationships

To register for the program or for additional information visit the ISSBM website at www.isbm.at or send email to office@konfliktkultur.com.

Deborah Goldblatt, Director of The Youth Dialogue Project, and Katia Petersen, former anchor for the YDP from Cyprus, hosted 20 young professionals from the Young Leaders Dialogue with America program which is sponsored by the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs and the U.S. Department of State and administered by www.iiesf.org. This year its Youth Leadership program hosted visitors from the EU to focus on Tolerance and Diversity. Countries represented in our visiting group were Hungary, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Poland, Romania, Austria and Germany, mostly women working in civic institutions, education, media and community projects. Wwe hosted a conversation with these young professionals about the work of the YDP, Rockrose's mission and vision, a variety of dialogue methodologies and styles, the on-going work in the YDP of Multi-generational Collaboration as well as the multiple partnerships and projects we develop and support. We presented a sample of graphic recording by Mariah Howard from the YDP Learning Lab and a number of books they could purchase in the U.S. on dialogue methodologies. The Young Leaders group shared their experiences confronting issues of gender equality, LGBT rights and discrimination against ethnic and religious minorities and the existing frameworks in which they carry out their work. Together we discussed the challenges of attracting people with very different views into our conversations and agreed on the importance of crafting a clear and inclusive invitation to those conversations. We touched on the topic of the challenge of media covering dialogue work and getting journalists excited enough to write and talk more about its need and benefits of dialogue.

The first phase of a Rockrose/YDP sponsored program in collaboration with the World Café's Multi-Generational Initiative and On the Move's Leadership Academy Youth Leaders in Action  program began on March 25th in Napa, California. The World Café was hosted by Ryan Feinstein and coordinated by Deborah Goldblatt and staff from On the Move for sixty middle and high school students. The opportunity and focus of this first World Café was to explore in conversation the leadership qualities and skills the students need to collaborate and practice in a challenging diverse neighborhood they have named the "Democracy Zone." The next phase of the project is now being organized for a multi-generational community-wide World Café, hosted bi-lingually by Maria de Los Angeles and Ryan Feinstein on April 24th.

Facing History will hold its Annual Benefit Dinner in San Francisco on May 2, 2010. For more information, please visit their website at facinghistory.org.

Dana Curtis Mediation is offering a 1-day Forgiveness Retreat for mediators and conflict resolvers with Dr. Fred Luskin (author of the best-selling Forgive for Good, learning to forgive.com) on May 21, 2010 in Sausalito, CA. For information, see http://danacurtismediation.com/dcm/calendar.html or phone 415-331-5158.

Recommended Reading - Bargaining with the Devil: When to Negotiate, When to Fight by Professor Robert H. Mnookin, a leading expert in the field of conflict resolution.