Conflict Resolution Needs Votes for $50K Pepsi Grant

SALISBURY, MD---Salisbury University’s Center for Conflict Resolution is in the running for a $50,000 Pepsi Refresh Grant—and needs online votes.

The center is one of 17 community-based organizations that are part of Community Mediation Maryland.  Together, the groups have submitted a proposal to increase youth mediation to help prevent violence in Salisbury and other neighborhoods statewide.

Winning proposals are selected by votes on the web.  The conflict resolution and mediation plan is currently ranked 77th out of some 1,094 ideas up for consideration for Pepsi grants in July.  The top 10 will be funded.  Finalists are announced Sunday, August 1.

“The campus and greater communities can help make this plan a reality for the Lower Shore and our state, simply by going online and voting,” said SU graduate student Emmett Ward, an AmeriCorps member who works at the Center for Conflict Resolution.  He added that the funding will allow the center and the other organizations to train youth mediators and to teach teens about conflict management skills.

The Pepsi Refresh Project is giving away millions to support “ideas that will refresh the world.”  The public may vote for ideas in six categories: health and fitness, arts and culture, neighborhoods, education, the planet, and food and shelter.

To vote before Saturday, July 31, visit www.RefreshEverything.com/Mediate.  For more information about SU’s Center for Conflict Resolution, visit www.salisbury.edu/cadr.