Dayton Mediation Center is looking for volunteer mediators. Volunteer mediators will learn to help people communicate in a positive and constructive manner, to provide all participants with the opportunity to express themselves and to listen to each other, and to help participants strengthen their self-understanding and to better understand the other party. The Dayton Mediation Center has helped to prevent and reduce conflict and violence in the community. The center is recruiting new volunteers and seeks citizens who want to help people engage their conflicts in a peaceful and nonviolent way. Mediators help support people have difficult conversations over a variety of issues and problems and support people to make their own resolutions. A volunteer mediator training will be held in March 2013. The training includes 20 hours classroom training, 12 hours on-the-job training and 15 hours of skill-building sessions. In exchange for free training we ask that volunteers commit to mediating once a month for a period of two years. Most of our mediations take place on Saturday mornings. Prior to being accepted as a new volunteer, prospective volunteers must attend an orientation session that will be held in February. For more information about mediation and the training please contact our Volunteer Coordinator Cherise Hairston at (937) 333-2354 or Cherise.Hairston@daytonohio.gov.

Goodwill Easter Seals Miami Valley is seeking volunteers for the following positions:

Seeking committed women for mentoring. The group is looking for women to go into the Dayton Correctional Institute, in a structured program with assistance from the Goodwill Easter Seals staff. Mentors will be matched with current inmates and meet with them six months before release and maintain the mentoring relationship up to six months after release. Qualifications for this position are: female 21 years or older, no convictions of sex crimes, crimes against children or arson, no felony conviction within the last seven years, must be willing to commit one year of service to the program and must have reliable transportation available to you (public or private). Interested persons should call Carmen at (937) 461-4800, ext. 589.

The second opportunity is with Goodwill Easter Seals Radio Reading Service. If you enjoy reading out loud and can volunteer 90 minutes per week, then this could be for you. Volunteer readers are needed to read live on air on the radio, or pre-recorded to playback later to those who can no longer read the newspaper and magazines. Join more than 90 volunteers who help provide this service to the blind and those with other disabilities. New volunteers will have an audition and reference checks. Interested persons should call Candy at (937) 528-6364.