Meet our team

THE CRC STAFF

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Julia Feldman
Executive Director
email: [email protected]
phone number: (831) 621-7410

Julia has returned to her roots in mediation after a 20-year detour in County Government where she worked for the Santa Cruz County Probation Department as a Deputy Probation Officer and Supervisor.  She graduated from UC Santa Cruz with a Bachelor of Arts degree in American Studies with a minor in United States/Mexico Relations. Julia first took CRC’s community mediation class in 2000, while she was employed with The Mediation Institute in Monterey, CA. She also earned a mediation certificate from Pepperdine Law School’s Straus Institute of Dispute Resolution, where she studied many different types of mediation strategies. 

Before Julia retired from the County, she attended CRC’s community mediation training a second time and after retirement, took a year off and volunteered in just about all of CRC’s programs, including Parent Teen Mediation, Community and Workplace Mediation and Small Claims Court.  Julia joined CRC’s Board of Directors and joined as a staff member in January 2023 when she began teaching Victim Awareness Education to teenagers and adults and the Domestic Violence Prevention 12-week classes for females experiencing domestic violence.
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Julia is passionate about social justice and increasing restorative justice opportunities in our community. She is honored to carry the torch of leadership at CRC and excited to see how our small but mighty community organization can continue growing to meet the needs of our vibrant community. 

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Lejla Bratovic
Director of Finance
email: [email protected]
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Lejla was the executive director of CRC from 2018 until 2023. She currently serves as a Director of Finance. She has a wealth of experience in conflict resolution, mediation, and non-profit work. Lejla has initiated and executed programs locally and globally, focusing on “Promoting Peace through Dialogue” and encouraging the use of interest-based negotiation as a preferred method for resolving conflict. Although much of her work has been international, Lejla has a strong community focus volunteering at peace focused youth initiatives.

Originally from Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Lejla came to the United States as a refugee in 1993. She holds a Master’s degree in International Policy Studies and a Certificate in Conflict Resolution from the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey. She is an advocate for peace and nonviolence. 

Alaya Vautier
Restorative Justice Programs Director
email: [email protected]
phone number: (831) 475-9733
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Alaya directs the Restorative Justice Programs at the CRC. Trained as a mediator in 2009, Alaya volunteered with the Parent Teen Mediation Program, Victim Offender Dialogue Program and the Family Affordable Mediation Program. Alaya earned a Master’s Degree in International Policy Studies with a specialization in Conflict Resolution and Negotiation in 2005.  In 2008, she interned with Global Majority in Nepal where she co-led workshops on interest -based negotiation and conflict resolution to Nepali youth peace activists. 

Alaya has been working with youth since the late 1990s. She co-led an outdoor leadership program for youth at Humboldt State University, taught surfing for 15 years, co-led Teen Camp at Vajrapani Institute and currently designs and leads the Wise Heart Young Adult Retreat at Vajrapani Institute since 2014. She continues to design and lead trainings on communication, conflict resolution, and restorative justice for corporate and non-profit clients, youth and families and community members. She is proud to have designed our local Neighborhood Courts conference process!

Jill Borba
Workplace Mediation and Training Manager
​Domestic Violence Prevention class facilitator
email: [email protected]
phone number: (831) 219-8229 
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Jill coordinates the Workplace Mediation and Public Training programs, and is also the Domestic Violence Prevention class facilitator.  She began her work with CRC as a Community Panelist and facilitator for Victim Offender Dialogues in the Neighborhood Courts program.  As a bilingual mediator, she has especially enjoyed creating a greater sense of inclusivity by supporting Spanish speaking participants to be able to participate in conferences in their native language. 
 
She enjoyed the work so much that she then did her Community Mediation training in January of 2022 and began doing a variety of mediation programs at CRC.  Her passion for supporting youth led her to primarily focus on Parent Teen Mediation. 
 
Jill holds a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology and Art from San Francisco State University, as well as a Master’s degree in Holistic Nutrition from American College of Healthcare Sciences.

Daniela Solis Salinas
Housing Program Manager
Small Claims Court Coordinator
email: [email protected]
phone number: (831) 345-2891

Daniela coordinates the Small Claims mediation program at the Superior Court in Watsonville and is also the Housing Program Manager at the CRC. She graduated from the University of California, Santa Cruz in 2022 with three B.A. degrees in Legal Studies, Politics, and Critical Race and Ethnic Studies. Before moving to Santa Cruz Daniela gave 600 hours of community service to her hometown. Once moving to Santa Cruz, Daniela aimed to give back to her new community by volunteering at the Conflict Resolution Center. She began as a social media intern and a bilingual Parent-Teen mediator, mediating mainly in Spanish for families who have an English language barrier.
​Daniela strengthened her mediation skills further by branching out to different programs at the CRC. Ultimately, she began mediating for the Small Claims program and after one year of volunteering she became the Small Claims Coordinator. After graduating UCSC Daniela became the Housing Program Manager at the CRC. This program brings housing mediation services to landlords and tenants in Santa Cruz county. Daniela is knowledgeable in California state and local Landlord-Tenant law as well as in dispute resolution to be able to provide counseling and mediation services to a diverse range of housing inquiries. In the future, Daniela hopes to attend law school and continue giving back to her community as a family law lawyer.

Karen Janneth Pulido 
Community Mediation Program Manager
Restorative Justice Programs Coordinator 
Email: [email protected] 
Phone Number: (831)220-0122

​Karen Pulido is the new Restorative Justice Programs Coordinator. She has been involved  with CRC since 2017 when she started volunteering as a translator for Parent-Teen  Mediations. She was trained and certified as a community mediator in 2021 with CRC.  Prior to her current position, she was a Program Associate for a non-profit organization in  Napa and an intern for the Napa Probation Office. Karen attended the University of  California, Santa Cruz, after graduating from Napa High School, where she graduated  with honors and obtained a double major in Legal Studies, Latin American and Latino  Studies. During her university journey, she did internships at the Santa Cruz County  Office of Education, Santa Cruz Teen Court, and Santa Cruz Barrios Unidos. Even  though she currently resides in Suisun, CA., she is delighted and excited to continue being part of CRC and be able to help her community. Her keenness and strong beliefs in justice and real democracy encourage her to work hard in order to be a voice for the unserved population. 

​Nancy Heischman
Trainer
 
Nancy Heischman has worked in the field of Alternative Dispute Resolution since 1993 as a mediator, workshop leader, and consultant. During her fifteen years on staff with the Conflict Resolution Center (CRC) of Santa Cruz County, her focus was on collaborating with local nonprofits, government organizations, and small businesses to develop dispute resolution services tailored to their needs. In 2009, Nancy joined the University of California at Santa Cruz as Director of Campus Conflict Resolution Services. There, she was responsible for establishing services to support prevention, effective management, and informal resolution of conflict at all levels. Since retiring from UCSC, Nancy is happy to have returned to CRC to provide customized training and workplace mediation on a contract basis.

Volunteer Mediators
We rely on a pool of 50 trained community mediators coming from various backgrounds and expertise. If you are interested in becoming a mediator, sign up for our trainings and become a certified mediator!

We are actively looking for native Spanish-speakers volunteer mediators.
​If you are interested in joining our team please contact us at (831)475-6117 or [email protected]