New Urban Conflict Management Program Co-Sponsored by City of Baltimore Mayor's Office for Neighborhood Safety and Engagement, UBalt's Schaefer Center
January 29, 2024
Contact: Office of Advancement and External Relations
Phone: 410.837.5739
The new Urban Conflict Manager Program (UCMP), co-sponsored by the City of Baltimore Mayor's Office for Neighborhood Safety and Engagement (MONSE) and The University of Baltimore's Schaefer Center for Public Policy, was launched on Jan. 25 with 20 participants from the Safe Streets program, including site directors and community leaders and partners. The program is designed to provide Baltimore's Safe Streets leaders, staff, and community partners with a unique professional development opportunity that will enhance their knowledge and practice of conflict management and resolution, including violence prevention and intervention, at various levels and specifically within an urban context.
During the UCMP launch event for the program at the UBalt campus, University of Baltimore President Kurt L. Schmoke discussed the importance of the program to both the University and the city.
"Programs like this Urban Conflict Manager effort are coming together creatively and putting together tactics and techniques to make sure this is the direction that the community is going to be moving in over the next few years," Schmoke said. "It's going to make a big difference."
The Mayor's Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement Director Stefanie Mavronis told the UCMP participants, "Baltimore is really turning and changing the trajectory of violence in the city and that is work that we are here to double down on in the year ahead. What we are here to do today is a part of that. It is about strengthening and building up what each and every one of you do, and putting more tools in your toolkit to serve the people in your community."
Over 10 days, program participants will expand their conflict management competencies in negotiation, mediation, group facilitation, dialogue processes, restorative practices, and conflict de-escalation. As well as broadening their understanding and assessment of urban conflict and violence dynamics and structures, they will employ trauma-informed and complex-systems perspectives. Upon completion of the program, participants will receive a certificate.
About the Schaefer Center
The William Donald Schaefer Center for Public Policy is Maryland's preeminent applied research and policy analysis center. As part of the University of Baltimore’s College of Public Affairs, the Schaefer Center promotes excellence in Maryland’s public and nonprofit organizations through applied research, technical assistance, policy analysis, policy conferences, and professional development programs.
About MONSE
The Mayor's Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement (MONSE) empowers community partners and city agencies to play a more active role in the co-production of public safety and prevention of violence through a trauma-responsive, healing-centered, and equity-based approach for the benefit of all Baltimoreans.
Learn more about the Urban Conflict Manager Program at the Schaefer Center.