On January 3, 2025, Casey Karges will begin his 18th year as Executive Director of The Mediation Center (themediationcenter.org), one of six centers tasked with ensuring high-quality mediation services are available to Nebraskans across the state. The Mediation Center handles cases covering a vast array of subject matter; from child custody matters to small business disputes. Recently, The Mediation Center’s Restorative Justice program for youth encountering the legal system has grown rapidly to expand equitable, radically just access to youth legal systems. To meet the ever-increasing needs of the youth in Lancaster County, Casey was invited to attend Georgetown University in 2023, along with a group of other county leaders, to participate in a certificate program aimed at, and so named, Advancing Racial Justice and Equity in Youth Legal Systems. This program seeks to build the following within its participants: an understanding of anti-racist frameworks in the context of the youth legal system; practical skills to promote anti-racism within this system; and strategies for combating the overrepresentation, and inequities associated therewith, of non-white youth within the legal system. They continued their work together throughout 2024 on a capstone project for their certificate.
Casey earned his Master of Divinity Degree from St. Paul’s School of Theology, is an ordained United Methodist Clergy. He served as Executive Director of the Nebraska Conference of the United Methodist Church for five years and currently serves as pastor of Cortland United Church.
The Mediation Center was established in Lincoln in 1992 as a non-profit organization dedicated to providing all individuals in Lancaster County the opportunity to access professional mediation services regardless of their ability to pay. Learn more at themediationcenter.org.