The Project Concept
The project participants believe that volunteer mentor/mediators can help alternative schools and juvenile institutions achieve the project goals and objectives. Many individuals among the business, legal, medical, scientific, and educational communities have expressed a willingness to volunteer their services pro bono to such a project, provided that time, distance, and other logistical constraints are resolved.

The VMM project seeks to overcome these constraints through systematic planning, central data control, and the use of advanced computer technology. Through this planning and coordination effort, each VMM team member will be able to fulfill their pro bono commitments by:

1. attending one initial orientation program conducted by the alternative school representatives and the VMM project trainers
2. one additional orientation meeting with the youths' families
3. conducting periodic meetings online with the youth and their family after the youth return home.

The VMM team members may conduct the online meetings with the youth and the families from any convenient location which has Internet access.

In essence, the proposed project seeks to demonstrate the viability of a volunteer-based training program that will enable at-risk youth and their families to communicate and solve problems effectively after the youth returns home from an alternative school or juvenile facility. The project is designed to encourage the integration of Responsible Dispute Resolution strategies into the family culture.