Disability Advocacy, Climate Change Mediation, and Nuclear Energy. Member Spotlight: Jake Goodman
Jake Goodman is a recent Master’s graduate with a degree in Conflict Analysis & Dispute Resolution from Salisbury University. Focused on international and environmental conflict resolution, Jake is also a proud disability advocate, who is currently on the market for a career in which he can combine his diverse passions and skillsets.
Jake’s Background
Having been born and raised in the Washington, DC area, Jake has always lived close to the world of international affairs, policy, and action. Through academics, Jake managed to build a profound base of knowledge of his own. He holds a double bachelor’s degree in Political Science and Geography and Environmental Planning from Towson University. His Master’s degree from Salisbury University is one of the top 5 Conflict Resolution programs in the country. Through his master’s program, he was able to become research fellow with the UN affiliated research center organization there.
Alongside this, Jake is doing a fellowship through the UN Sustainable Solutions Network called the Local Pathways Fellowship. Unlike the Salisbury related UN fellowship, this one focuses on urban planning, and how we can make our cities more sustainable, accessible, and environmental in line with sustainable development goal 11. Jake’s personal project is focused on accessible and easy public transit development, so that especially people with disabilities can access services and use the transportation they need. Similarly, Jake is on the board of the Action Committee for Transit, and though they focus primarily on transit issues in Maryland, they also are dedicated to improving public transport in the DC area as a whole.
Journey with MBBI
Jake joined MBBI as of June 2023, on the advice of one of his academic advisors, a renowned mediator and practitioner in the field and an active member of MBBI as well. Jake was drawn to MBBI for the climate change-oriented group, and through this he was able to attend events like COP28 in Dubai and SB60 in Bohn. Being able to go to these big conferences with MBBI has opened his eyes to new networking opportunities and allowed him to assess the climate change crisis through a conflict resolution and mediation lens. According to Jake, one of the only way to solve climate change, is by getting everyone onboard. For this to happen, Jake has observed that we need mediation to be involved.
“It will be very hard to get the climate change deniers away from their mindset if we don’t have mediation involved.”
With his extensive background in disability advocacy work and policy research, Jake has also been taking the initiative to start up a Disability Rights Interest Group. Next month, they will be putting out another open call for new members for any who might be interested in joining. Along with this, he’s taken on a role to help lead the Nuclear Threat interest group. In this group, they look at the threat nuclear weapons pose, however Jake also manages to connect it with his passion for environmental work by assessing nuclear energy as a renewable source.
Jake’s Path to Mediation
Though Jake’s education and his various roles have allowed him to learn so much about the field, Jake’s desire to be involved in the world of mediation and conflict resolution has evolved over many years. Jake’s background is in environmental policy and disability policy. In fact, he originally wanted to be a meteorologist. He was highly intrigued by the idea of predicting weather or climate patterns. However, the fact that the field required an extremely high level of math, and also facing high levels of climate face denialism, inspired him to pursue more of a policy path.
After college, he wasn’t exactly sure what he wanted to do for grad school, but his wide interests included international relations, geography, or even law school. However, an old friend from TASH, the international disability non-profit he used to work at, brought his focus to a hands-on approach to international relations and diplomacy. To him, the field of conflict resolution was putting into practice the theory and applying the tangible ways in which we can resolve conflicts through dialogue and effective communication. After hearing this perspective, Jake became very intrigued with the possibility of combining his various interests with this type of work.
While searching for a full-time job, Jake has decided to take on community mediation, through the conflict resolution network in Maryland. He feels very fortunate to be in one of the only states with an actively funded state-wide mediation networks. In this way, he continues to gain practical experience to build on the knowledge of his conflict resolution Master’s program and involvement with MBBI.
Challenges and Benefits of Mediation Work
According to Jake, one of the biggest challenges in the field of mediation is in fact first of all finding work. Secondly, as someone who has been a proud environmental and disability rights advocate, he also has heard that it is difficult to find neutrality in mediation. However, Jake has learned how to exude neutrality. To him, the first step of any mediation is understanding what both parties truly want, and what brings them to this process. Especially if it’s an interpersonal dispute, he believes that it always puts things deeply into perspective to truly know why two sides of an argument have evolved.
Intuitively Jake understands these dynamics, as he has experienced them with friends and family. In his personal life, those close to him have always looked as him as someone who can bring people together. Their belief that he could help them fix any situation has allowed him to see himself someone truly capable of resolving conflicts.
“When I’m doing mediation, I always know how to get to that neutrality. Active listening plays a big part in this, as you have to truly understand what each party wants.”
Jake notes the vital role of psychology in conflict analysis and resolution, whether it’s transformation justice or more classic mediation. He feels that before he started studying and practicing conflict resolution and mediation in a more professional setting, he didn’t really understand the reason behind why people think the certain way before getting into conflicts. However, he points out that many of these fields have evolved from psychology departments, making conflict resolution a powerful skillset many people could benefit from in their daily lives.
“Many people have the misinterpretation that liberal arts degrees are not worth much, but if you get involved in how to actually put skills into practice and how you can really use the conflict resolution knowledge to resolve conflicts, it can be highly useful.”
Having now spent time in the field, Jake finds that one of the most fascinating things about being a mediator is the people. He explains that as a mediator you meet people with wildly different life stories, from a wide variety of disciplines. While Jake has more of a policy background, he thinks it’s amazing to see where people get into mediation from. This contact and and mentorship by the people who have first-hand been a part of making peace agreements on an international, and local level has truly impacted him. Jake notes that when you see the different walks of life that people come to mediation from, you can see that there’s a lot of people who want to do good, and make the world a better place.
A Future in the Field
In the future, Jake would love to train others on dispute resolution and dispute system design. Dispute system design refers to setting up a system to effectively resolve conflicts within an organization. While some organizations have a mandated HR manual for dealing with certain issues, they often don’t always have a good method that’s rooted in mediation or conflict resolution tactics. He could see himself as someone who ensures that companies and organizations are ethically designed. His dream job is at a UN agency, or even at the Secretariat, or at the foreign service officer with the State Department. To Jake, there are so many companies, government agencies, startups, and various other groups, that could be highly improved for better dispute system design, and many more people who could benefit from learning about conflict resolution.
“Like we’ve talked about in the Nuclear Interest Group, the doomsday clock is here. It’s 30 seconds to midnight. Let’s not let it get there. We need to do everything we can to get this world on a sustainable path.”
While he was in grad school, Jake studied abroad in India in an immersive winter course, where he studied under the great-grandson of Gandhi. The quote “be the change that you want to see in the world” had always really stuck with Jake. He recognizes that many have a grand vision for how to make the world a better place, but for him, a vital way that his vision could actually become a reality is through mediation. In the news, he notes that all we see is war in Ukraine, or Gaza, or Sudan. To Jake, it seems that one of the only ways that all of the political polarization, even in the US and the EU, can be resolved is if we embrace mediation, and conflict resolution. In this way, Jake believes we could prevent conflicts from getting so out of hand, and do everything in our power to put this world on a path for a sustainable and more just future.
Article by Elise Webster, MBBI Writer