Deployed Alternative Dispute Resolution Specialists help resolve conflicts in disaster areas.
Tim Ruebke, Executive Director of Harrisonburg’s FairField Center recently returned from a 38-day stint as a Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) Specialist assisting relief efforts in North Carolina in the aftermath of Hurricane Florence. ADR Specialists are used to implement mediation and other conflict resolution techniques (e.g., individual and leadership coaching, group facilitation, and communication training) inemergency and disaster-stricken areas.
FEMA describes the role ADR Advisors like Ruebke play: “ADR can help resolve interpersonal disputes between FEMA employees as well as complex,multi-stakeholder program disputes involving people and organizations outside FEMA.” Source: FEMA ADR Brochure
This is natural work for Ruebke, who has completed more than 2,000 cases in general, family, criminal, and complex organizational/multi-party issues. He is certified to mentor-mediate Virginia civil and family circuit court cases and is an advanced practitioner member of the Association for Conflict Resolution (ACR). A current board member of Resolution Virginia and previous board member of the Virginia Mediation Network (VMN) and of the Restorative Justice Association of Virginia (RJAV), Ruebke has a graduate degree in Conflict Transformation from Eastern Mennonite University. He has been with the FairField Center since 1992.
A 2016 Report for the President on Significant Developments in Federal Alternative Dispute Resolution, January 2017 (PDF) “…outlines the significant growth that has occurred in federal use of alternative dispute resolution since 2007. It also describes the positive results of federal use of alternative dispute resolution, including cost savings, increased workforce productivity, and the promotion of the efficient delivery of services.”
For more information on the duties of an ADR Specialist and his recent efforts in North Carolina, contact Tim Ruebke, (540) 434-0059, Ext. 6 or (540) 746-6004.