History

History of Community Mediation Upper Shore CMUS (originally named Chester Valley Mediation Service) was founded in 2002 by the Chester Valley Ministeries Association in response to an initiative by Chief Justice Bell of the Maryland District Court system. Judge Bell called for community mediation centers to be established across Maryland to relieve some of the back-log of cases in the District Court system. Cases in this Court are often those which involve disputes between neighbors, generations, divorcing parents, local businesses and clients, etc.

CMUS is a member of Community Mediation Maryland, as are sixteen other community mediation centers around the state. CMUS offices were originally located in a small, cramped office in downtown Chestertown. As the workload increased, CMUS moved to the Kent Family Center Building, then to a portable classroom no longer used by the Kent County Public School System. Currently CMUS has office space in downtown Chestertown, the seat of Kent County.

Originally an all-volunteer effort, CMUS now has two, part-time, paid employees as well as over twenty volunteer mediators who have gone through a rigorous 50 hour training program. CMUS case load has increased every year of its operation. By charter, CMUS geographic territory covers the counties of Queen Anne's, Kent, and Cecil.