Home of Community Mediation Center
Office and mailing address:
Community Mediation Center
300 Main Street
Suite 305, Old Courthouse
Knoxville, TN 37902
Old Courthouse Office and mediation rooms: Our main office is on the 3rd floor of the Old Courthouse (OCH), near the elevators that allow access on the west side of the building. If you are there for your court date on the day of court, walk off the center lobby toward the bathrooms. Our office is at the end of that hallway on the right.
We are happy to make in-person meetings by appointment. Please call our downtown Knoxville office, 865-594-1879, if you have questions and talk confidentially to experienced, helpful staff! Don’t hesitate to leave a message on our voice mail; we will return your call promptly. As a member of the public, you will need to go through the front door and security, then either take the elevator up to the 3rd floor or walk up the grand staircase. If you need help accessing the building and can’t climb the stairs going up to the front door, come to the west-side entrance off the driveway between the Old Courthouse and the City-County Building.
Juvenile Court Office and mediation rooms: We continue to have our office off the lobby at Knox County Juvenile Court, 3323 Division Street, Knoxville, TN 37919. We hold in-person intake and mediation sessions in the mediation rooms off the court’s lobby.
The Community Mediation Center is a nonprofit organization that provides mediation services to people so they can resolve and manage their conflicts amicably, inexpensively and rapidly. Community volunteer mediators are trained, mentored and supervised to co-mediate by our staff. CMC spreads awareness of mediation options in the community through education and the dissemination of information, fostering collaboration and cooperation among courts, organizations, and individuals involved in the mediation process. We are committed to serving low-income individuals who could not otherwise afford to mediate, but we are able to do mediations for everyone, regardless of ability to pay.
The CMC was chartered in Tennessee in 1994 as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation. We grew out of a collaboration between UTK college of Law Mediation Clinic, the UTK Conflict Resolution Program, Knoxville Bar Association, and Legal Aid of East Tennessee, all of whom helped begin mediation programs in Knox County in the years before CMC was incorporated. We provide volunteer court mediation services for the Knox County General Sessions and Juvenile Courts and a program to mediate divorces primarily for participants of low or modest means. We prioritize our work with Knox County, but also serve surrounding counties on request: Blount, Sevier, Anderson, Loudon, Roane, Grainger, Union, and Jefferson.
You don’t have to wait until you’re in court to mediate, although that’s the time many people first find out about mediation. You’re able to initiate mediation at any time. Our application process is simple, and our mediations are scheduled to be convenient to working people. Mediation prices are set on a sliding scale which takes into account individual income and family size. Your attorney is very welcome at the mediation sessions, although some people choose to mediate without attorneys present.
Email contacts work well in these times of remote work and uncertain openings and closings:
Jacqueline O. Kittrell, Executive Director: jackie.kittrell@2mediate.org
Dawn Forshay, General Sessions Court Mediation and ERAP Mediation Program Director: dawn.forshay@2mediate.org
Jen Comiskey, Juvenile Court Mediation and Training Director: jen.comiskey@2mediate.org
Sharon M. Upshaw, Divorce and Post-divorce Mediation Program Director: sharon.upshaw@2mediate.org