SI Civil Court, Home of the Housing Court

When David Ramsey arrives at Housing Court on Monday and Friday mornings, it's crowded and noisy; babies crying, people arguing, others trying to talk above the din. Anxiety shows on many of the faces; people have a lot to lose here - often their home.

David, our associate mediation manager, has come to mediate, usually landlord/tenant cases, a process that may result in an agreement that will bear the judge's signature, but more often one that improves each party's understanding of the other's interests and realities, which makes moving forward, whatever the court ruling, more palatable.

Getting to Know Housing Court

NYCID has had a small mediation program in Housing Court for some time. Now, David's taking the first step toward putting a larger initiative in place. Despite his years mediating and "lawyer-ing," David finds housing court its own special world, and that, he feels, helps him see the process through the eyes of those before the court. He's now looking for volunteer mediators who would like to sign-on for some training in mediating housing court cases to join him.

David Ramsey

"Yes," David says, "emotions run high, quiet space to mediate is often at a premium, but Judge Marina Mundy and her staff go out of their way to humanize the process. They've even hung beautiful landscape paintings on the courtroom walls to bring a sense of peace. They know that the anxiety people feel is heightened by the abstruse language and formal court procedures. Mediators can cut through that, listen and talk comfortably with people. That's why we're there."

Ask for Mediation Before You Go to Court

If you know a someone with a housing dispute brewing, tell them about housing mediation. The sooner the better, preferably before a conflict reaches court. To arrange a mediation session at NYCID's offices, call (718) 947-4035.

If you're a mediator and would like to consider mediating housing cases in Court or in the office with David, let him know. It will open up a whole new world of mediation for you.

NYCID's ACE Program collects more kudos
 Supporting high school drop-outs and out-of-school, unemployed young people to get their lives together is no work for the faint-of-heart. Jennifer Saladis' team at ACE just received notification of their DYCD 3-year contract renewal.

That's the third recognition of the team's skills - the Department of Laborawarded them $221,000 in Recovery money (the maximum grant given), and New York Life Foundation gave NYCID a $25,000 grant, noting how impressed they are with ACE's close collaboration with the College of Staten Island, convincing ACE participants that a college degree is indeed attainable.

Jennifer says she's excited that that these resources have enabled ACE to add occupational training - Certified Nursing Assistants with internships at a nursing home and Hospitality training with internships at the Hilton Garden Inn and Hampton Inn and Suites - to the GED and counseling services.

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Michael R. Curley

Welcome to the Board.Michael Curleyhas joined the board of the NY Center. Michael is a financial advisor with Chase Investment Services and a native Staten Islander, born, raised, and stayed in West Brighton. He is past president of the Kiwanis Club of Staten Island, an active parishioner at Sacred Heart, and a great supporter of his wife Sharon, a family nurse practitioner, and their four children.

Thanks for joining us, Michael.

July 6 - August 13, 2010

If you want to know that your kids have spent the day in a safe and nurturing summer program, learn more about the summer camp we're operating at the SI School of Civic Leadership - a state-of-the-art, air conditioned facility in Graniteville. This unique summer camp will incorporate programming built on The 7 Habits of Happy Kids by Stephen Covey's son Sean. For details, click here.