Celebrating Negotiation Works’ First Program Partner: Calvary Women’s Services
By Dayley Katz, NEGOTIATION WORKS INTERN AND HARVARD UNIVERSITY STUDENT, and Ava Zabelski, NEGOTIATION WORKS INTERN AND GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY STUDENT
Dayley Katz, Katie Gregson, and Ava Zabelski at Calvary Women’s Services
Nearly ten years ago, Calvary Women’s Services, a residential program for women experiencing homelessness, was looking to add something influential to their programming, and Melissa Reinberg spotted an opportunity—an opportunity to help individuals in vulnerable situations to become more effective in advocating for themselves.
Melissa met with Calvary’s then-Manager of Education and Programs, Elaine Johnson, to discuss an eight-week negotiation training program inspired by Melissa’s background in teaching conflict resolution at Georgetown Law School. Not too long later, the very first of many eight-week trainings began, and Negotiation Works’ signature course began to develop.
“Negotiation skills furthered the conversation with the women,” Elaine commented. “It really let them imagine another voice in conflict—one they could imagine using with their landlord, case manager, or roommate.”
While Melissa was working with the residents, she noticed which negotiation strategies the women found to be most helpful and which role plays resonated. To give the women at Calvary a chance to practice these strategies in a supportive environment, she began implementing the “fishbowl” method for conducting role plays. This observational learning method– still used in Negotiation Works classes today–involves two participants conducting a role play in front of the full group. Because the entire group experiences the same role play in real time, everyone debriefs together afterwards with the same information and discusses how the different negotiation “moves” help or hinder the problem-solving process.
Katie Gregson discussing the impact of Negotiation Works’ classes.
The interactive lessons led to other benefits as well. As the residents continued to actively engage with the negotiation course’s programming, Elaine noticed that the residential community began to shift. “It impacted everything. These are women who are living together—they are having to negotiate. There was a profound impact on the residents’ group dynamic.” The women started sharing relevant situations they faced and discussing how they might go about addressing them. Elaine commented on how watching Calvary’s residents do a role-play over something as simple as a hair appointment was eye-opening; real world examples yield real world, unfiltered responses that the entire group can appreciate and discuss—the fishbowl method in action.
As Melissa’s relationship with Calvary deepened, the program expanded to Calvary’s Reach Up site, an additional transitional housing location that primarily serves survivors of domestic violence. The classes also provided a complement to Calvary’s Step Up DC program, which guides residents to finding employment, by offering the women practice in negotiating various employment situations. Katie Gregson, Calvary’s current Manager of Education and Programs, highlights the value of Negotiation Works’ classes and how they help the women at Calvary develop vital skills. “Just being able to see their growth from the time they come into the door…just to watch their healing is a beautiful thing,” Katie noted.
During that first year, Melissa taught five eight-week courses just at Calvary, and she then began to explore whether similar negotiation training could be offered at other organizations with the same level of staff support Calvary was able to provide.
And that became the catalyst for turning these classes into a nonprofit organization.
“Precisely why it’s such a strong partnership is because Katie and the entire team at Calvary recognize that we have the same goals they do—which is to support the women in becoming strong self-advocates as they build better lives for themselves.”
Ava and Dayley enjoying Calvary Women’s Services' garden
Now nearly ten years later, Calvary remains the same reliable partner as it was in those early days. More than forty-five classes have been taught at Calvary sites—the most taught with any single partner in Negotiation Works’ near-decade of history. “Precisely why it's such a strong partnership is because Katie and the entire team at Calvary recognize that we have the same goals they do – which is to support the women in becoming strong self-advocates as they build better lives for themselves,” Melissa added.
Aiding the mission have been Iris Barnett, Jayme Epstein, Tory Ruttenberg, Margaret Emery, and Kathryn Menefee, among many other committed volunteers who helped teach classes consistently at Calvary throughout the years. When the pandemic struck, the Negotiation Works team restructured its curriculum to be delivered remotely so they could continue teaching without interruption. Through that difficult period, Negotiation Works and Calvary worked together even more closely to keep providing this vital training to the people who needed it most.
For Iris—who co-taught sixteen courses at Calvary between 2018 and 2022—the teaching experience left its mark on her as well: “The women at Calvary had been through tough times but that didn't stop them from coming to class with curiosity and enthusiasm and a willingness to learn a new way to approach conflict. They were bold and playful and willing to fail. I came away knowing that I could approach new things, too.”