HomeMy WebLinkAboutItem 4a. DE-ESCALATION TRAINING FROM THE CA COMMUNITY CONFLICT RESOLUTION UNIT Item 4a
Human Relations Commission
Agenda Report
For Agenda of: 5/6/2026
Item Number: 4a
FROM: Samantha Vethavanam, DEI Administrative Specialist
Phone Number: (805) 781-7064
E-mail: svethava@slocity.org
SUBJECT: DE-ESCALATION TRAINING FROM THE CA COMMUNITY CONFLICT
RESOLUTION UNIT
RECOMMENDATION
Receive and file a training from the Community Conflict Resolution Unit of the California
Civil Rights Department entitled “De-Escalation and Navigating Difficult Conversations.”
BACKGROUND
In July 2025, staff from the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion received an email
from a senior mediator with the California Community Conflict Resolution Unit. They wrote
to staff to provide information about the services they can provide and discuss ways their
organization could collaborate with the City’s Human Relations Commission (HRC).
In November 2025, City staff met with the Community Conflict Resolution Unit (CCRU)
staff, who explained their services. The CCRU sits within the California Civil Rights
Department (CRD) and works with communities and local and state public bodies to
constructively manage or resolve conflict and minimize or eliminate the potential for hate-
motivated violence impacting communities.
All CCRU services are free and provided when requested or accepted due to a hate - or
discrimination-related community dispute, disagreement, or difficulty. Services include:
Designing conflict resolution processes
Facilitating processes to ensure meaningful community engagement
Mediating conflict (problem-solving conversations managed by a neutral third
party)
Providing education and training
Providing consultations (answering specific questions and providing information
about how to reduce community conflict related to discrimination and hate)
After the November discussion, City staff felt the most appropriate way to connect the
CCRU and the HRC was through providing a training for the HRC on de-escalation tactics,
given that, as Commissioners of the City of San Luis Obispo who also make grant funding
recommendations, they may often be faced with difficult conversations or questions from
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Item 4a
the public.
The training provided by CCRU staff will be entitled “De-Escalation and Navigating
Difficult Conversations” and it will address how to de-escalate tense situations by using
active listening, “I” statements, and framing, reframing and re -direction. The training will
also discuss best practices to prepare for difficult conversations, including self -
awareness, cultural awareness, and situational awarenes s. The training will be
approximately an hour and a half.
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