Peacemakers Gathering – Los Angeles
June 8, 2026 – The California Endowment
1000 North Alameda Street, Los Angeles 90012
Goals of the Gathering
The Community Conflict Resolution Unit (CCRU) of the California Civil Rights Department (CRD), in partnership with Life Comes From It, is convening a day-long gathering.
This convening will bring together community conflict resolution practitioners who work both as individuals and within organizations. Outreach has been made to mediation service centers, community peacebuilding organizations, and organizers from across California who are seeing conflicts or threats that may violate California’s civil rights laws.
The goals of the event are to:
- Build a statewide network of community conflict resolution resources, both individual and organizational, who are actively engaged in providing mediation, conciliation, dialogue facilitation, healing, and other related services to keep peace in communities across the state.
- Share insights and learn best practices from actual experience with community conflict resolution practices that have been effective in preventing tensions from becoming actual conflicts. In addition, to understand principles that are essential for community building that can grow out of conflict.
- Share information about state resources and support available through CCRU and CRD.
The Community Conflict Resolution Unit (CCRU at the Civil Rights Department (CRD) works with individuals and organizations facing threats to peaceful community relations. CCRU engages in collaborative efforts using tools, including but not limited to, conciliation, deliberative dialogue, and mediation, to prevent violence and to co-create a path to peace.
To learn more, visit: Community Conflict Resolution Unit (CCRU).
Life Comes From It is a grantmaking and movement-building circle. We support grassroots work, led by people of color, working in restorative justice, transformative justice, indigenous peacemaking, and land-based projects.
For more information, visit Life Comes From It.
Logistics
We are hosting our convening at the California Endowment, Center for Healthy Communities near Downtown Los Angeles. Please come prepared, casually dressed and comfortable for local weather conditions. For questions on the day of the event, please reach out to Angela Oh, she can be reached at (916) 616-5382.
Address:
The California Endowment Center
1000 North Alameda St,
Los Angeles, CA, 90015
Google Maps:
Go Green!! — Carpool with others or try the train! Take any Metrolink train heading to Union Station (click here for Metrolink) ; then the conference center is just steps away.
Walking from Union Station:
- Walk out of Union Station at Alameda Street exit
- Turn right at sidewalk
- Walk 1-1/2 blocks north to front entrance
Agenda, People, and Presentations
California Civil Rights Department Community Conflict Resolution Unit (CCRU) and Life Comes From It (LCFI) welcome you!
8:00 a.m. Check-in and Light Breakfast
8:30 a.m. Opening Connection
- Conversation + Connection
Malka Ranjana Kopell is Co-Founder and CEO of Civity, a national organization building relationships of respect and empathy across divides of race, class, culture and politics.
9:00 a.m. Grounding Our Intentions for the Day
- Land Acknowledgment
Mona Recalde, Gabrieleno/Tongva
- Blessing for the Day
Allan Hatcher, Cocopah
- A Gathering of Peacemakers
Contra Tiempo
9:30 a.m. Welcome and Gratitude
- CA Civil Rights Department
- CRD Dispute Resolution Division (DRD)
Kevin Kish is the Director of the California Civil Rights Department (CRD), which protects residents from unlawful discrimination in employment, public accommodations, and housing as well as from hate violence and human trafficking.
Chhaya Malik is DRD Deputy Director and leads a team of attorney mediators working to resolve civil rights complaints filed with CRD and the Community Conflict Resolution Unit (CCRU), which promotes peaceful relations by assisting communities experiencing fear, conflict, or tensions relating to discriminatory practices, hate incidents, or hate crimes that have a community impact.
10:00 a.m. Opening Plenary
- Robert Yazzie, Chief Justice Emeritus, Navajo Nation
- Cheryl D. Fairbanks, Attorney and Member of the Tribal Court of Appeals, Tlingit-Tsimshian
- Rainey Enjady, Peacemaking Trainer, Mescalero Apache
The Honorable Robert Yazzie served as the Chief Justice of the Navajo Nation from 1992 through 2003. He practiced law in the Navajo Nation for 16 years and was a district judge for eight years. He teaches Navajo Law at the Navajo Technical University.
Cheryl Demmert Fairbanks is a practicing attorney and expert on Indian law. She serves as a Justice on the tribal court of appeals. She is the Interim Executive Director of the University of New Mexico Native American Budget and Policy Institute.
Rainey Enjady, a proud Mescalero Apache elder woman, has devoted her life to the sacred path of peacemaking. Although she has carried the role of peacemaker within her family and community since youth, she formally embraced this calling in 2019 when she began leading efforts to bring Indigenous peacemaking processes into the Mescalero Tribal Court.
10:30 a.m. Break
10:45 a.m. Morning sessions – Grounding and Strategic Opportunities
Peacemaking: Teachings and Wisdom
This session is for deepening the discussion about indigenous principles that guide peacemaking as a fundamental practice to preserve culture and community.
- LCFI and its network of peacemakers
Supporting Our Youth: Pathways to Justice
Experienced conflict resolution practitioners, who focus on serving youth, will take participants on a journey of self-introspection and discovery through the use of the tools they use with youth—prayers, songs, circles, medicine wheel, and other activities.
- Elissa Barrett and Magdalena Mireles Corzo, Western Justice Center
- Naomi Ackerman, founder of ADVOT
- Kruti Parekh, Youth Justice Coalition
- Tony LoRe and Brian Cuprill, Youth Mentoring
- Miguel Rivera, Western Gate Roots and Wings
Current Events and Impacts on Diaspora Communities
This session will examine the impacts of current events, including the impact of messages delivered via digital communications and how technology has been used to protect communities from threats of violence. The Muslim Public Affairs Council’s Center for Security, Technology, and Policy will share how data informs policy and local strategic planning.
- Maha Elginaidi, Intercultural Networks Group
- Rabbi Susan Goldberg, Nefesh
- Jeannette Zanipatin, Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights
- Rebecca Husaini, Muslim Public Affairs Council
Healing Arts, Opening Hearts
Writers, poets, and cultural workers will discuss their work and explain how to use the creative process as a path to deeper insights, understanding, and an appreciation for the common humanity among all people. Their work and art demonstrate how narratives, histories, and cultural memory educate and communicate beyond words that too often divide rather than unify.
- GusTavo Guerra Vasquez, Poet and Justice Advocate, former CRS conciliator
- Luis Rodriguez, Author, playwright, 2014 L.A. Poet Laureate
- Rebecca Gomez, Tia Chucha’s Centro Cultural
Mapping Strategies for Bridging Divides
Research and experience working under conditions that divide people in workplaces, universities, and communities will form the foundation of this session, led by the Divided Community Project (DCP) in collaboration with a former CRS Director, who now leads Not In Our Town, and former CRS regional administrators. Drawing on both scholarship and real-world application, the session will introduce DCP’s open-source library of strategic planning tools for institutions and community leaders, along with candid insights into how these tools have performed in moments of crisis—what has worked, what has not, and why. Participants will also engage in a practical, real-world exercise designed to apply these frameworks to complex, high-stakes scenarios, enriched by the perspectives of seasoned community mediators who have worked on some of the most challenging moments in our civil rights history.
- William “Bill” Froehlich, Divided Community Project, Ohio State University, Michael E. Mortiz School of Law
- Thomas Battles and Ron Wakabayashi, DCP, Department of Justice Community Relations Service (CRS) Regional Directors (retired)
- Justin Lock, Not in Our Town, Executive Director
12:15 p.m. Lunch Conversation
The Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA) and Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC) will share experiences and reflections on community conflict and how their organizations are responding.
1:30 p.m. Transition to Afternoon Sessions
1:45 p.m. Afternoon Sessions – Communities of Practice Sessions, Opportunities for Collaboration and Action Steps
Integrating Peacemaking Across Cultures
Led by members of a peacemaker team that worked to achieve deeper appreciation for stances taken in different tribal disputes in California and other states, participants will share experiences about their successes, how they integrate culture into their practices, and how today’s conflicts call upon peacemakers to respond in traditional and innovative ways.
- William E. Hall, U.S. Department of the Interior, Collaborative Action and Dispute Resolution (CADR)
- Cheryl D. Fairbanks, Peacemaker and Member of the Tribal Court of Appeals, Tlingit-Tsimshian
- Rainey Enjady, Life Comes From It Peacemaker Trainer/Practitioner
- Members of Life Comes From It
Community Mediation and Today’s Civil Rights Movement
Hosted by the National Association for Community Mediation (NAFCM) and mediation centers, the discussion will center on civil rights and mediation centers’ imperative to help communities mediate their disagreements. After a brief presentation of mediation case studies involving housing and special education, discrimination, and social justice issues, the session will be devoted to small group discussions to learn from each other and create a supportive, responsive network.
- D.G. Mawn, National Association for Community Mediation
- Renata Valree, CSU Faculty, Peace in Education, Executive Director
- Cynthia Campoy Brophy, Loyola Center for Conflict Resolution, Loyola Law School
- Laura Benghal, Director of ADR, The Bar Association of San Francisco Mediation Program
Conflict Without Borders: Mapping the Community Conflict Ecosystem – Local Governments Working Towards Peace
Learn how local governments, advocates, and community organizations work together to identify, organize and prevent escalation of tensions while being prepared to address conflict that disrupts community life. Learn what needs to be built to maintain trust and stability after a conflict has occurred.
- Los Angeles County Human Relations Commission staff members Robin Toma, Joshua Parr, Pierre Arreola and facilitator Dr. Paul Smith
- Aziza Hasan, NewGround
- Paul Kim, Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office
- Oscar Zarate, the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights
Crossing the Threshold: Reclaiming Rites of Passage for Today’s Youth
This interactive workshop explores how rites of passage, initiation, and old wisdom can help youth cross the threshold into adulthood with a greater sense of purpose, belonging, and responsibility. Through reflection and dialogue, participants will experience elements of this approach firsthand while considering their own initiatory journey and what it means to guide the next generation.
- Tony LoRe and Brian Cuprill, Youth Mentoring Connection
- Miguel Rivera, Western Gate Roots and Wings
- Kruti Parekh, Youth Justice Coalition
Who Heals the Healers?
This session will illuminate how individuals and organizations can incorporate healing practices to preserve energy and remain in appreciation for the lessons that come from working to resolve community conflict. Learn how to host spaces designed to compost the harshness of conflicts and how to maintain balance to strengthen capacity to stay engaged in complex, long-term, dynamic conditions.
- Brenda Salagado, Nepantla Center for Healing and Renewal
- Wendy Sotelo, Corazon Tlalli Healing Circle Host
- R. Inez, Inez Healing Arts
- Eisha Mason, Black New Thought: Community as Medicine
- Mia Lee, Guided Visualization facilitator
3:00 p.m. Break
3:15 p.m. Closing Reflections
- Orland Bishop, founder Shadetree Multicultural Foundation, will offer closing reflections on what lies ahead. As a futurist, healer, and community-centered holder of sacred space, he will draw on his extensive study of medicine, naturopathy, and traditions of South and West Africa. He will offer a vision of the future based on his transformative approach to peace-building, blending spiritual wisdom, indigenous knowledge, and contemporary psychology to address societal and individual trauma.
- Rey Rodriguez, author and attorney, will read from Todos Somos Sagrados / All Are Sacred, a collection of essays and poems dedicated to the women of Dolores Mission in Boyle Heights, whose radical love and commitment to community transformed hardship into hope.
4:00 p.m. Building Our Community Conflict Practitioner Network
Please engage with each other, exchange contact information, and meet the CCRU team. And we invite everyone to receive sound meditation with Inez, whose healing work is rooted in traditional indigenous medicine and sacred sounds.
Publications
- Stanford Law School, Law and Policy Lab: California Civil Rights Division, Community Conflict Resolution Unit: Background, Impact, Analysis, and Case Studies Interim Report April 30, 2026.
CCRU Resource Directory
CCRU Resource Directory
| Organization Name | Organization Contact Information | Type of Organization | Location | Contact Person/Title | Phone |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| title | Phone: (555) 555-5555 email address | Mediation Center Program, Faith-Based Services, Local Government Agencies | Address Link | Gagandeep Mann | |
| title | Phone: (555) 555-5555 email address | Faith-Based Services | Address Link | Name | |
| title | Phone: (555) 555-5555 email address | Local Government Agencies | Address Link | Name | |
| title | Phone: (555) 555-5555 email address | Coaching and Facilitation services, Tribal peacemakers | Address Link | Name | |
| title | Phone: (555) 555-5555 email address | Arts and Well-being services | Address Link | Name | |
| title | Phone: (555) 555-5555 email address | Tribal Peacemakers | Address Link | Name | |
| title | Phone: (555) 555-5555 email address | Other - Doing other things | Address Link | Name |