OUR HISTORY

Northwest Mediation Center’s history reaches back to the spring of 1985, when, at the instigation of Cris Currie and Nora Searing, the idea of an organization dedicated to neighborhood conciliation was born and nurtured by community leaders.

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The non-profit, 501(c)(3),  Community Boards of Spokane was formed and began training volunteers and offering neighborhood conciliation in 1986. Upon official authorization from the Spokane County Commissioners, in 1988, to operate under RCW 7.75, Community Boards joined other visionary organizations across the state and became the Dispute Resolution Center of Spokane County.   

 

In 1997,  the program joined the Volunteers of America umbrella and morphed into Inland Mediation Center.

 

In 2003, the program reorganized as an independent non-profit, the Northwest Conflict Management Center, changing its name once again, in 2008, to the less cumbersome Northwest Mediation Center.   

 

Throughout its evolution, always a non-profit, state/county authorized dispute resolution center, the organization’s primary purpose has endured: to help members of the regional community resolve their differences without resorting to either litigation or violence.