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Divided Community Project

The Divided Community Project strengthens community efforts to transform division into action. The project focuses on increasing resilience and building trust to make real progress in identifying and meaningfully addressing the causes of community division.

To date, the project has published three reports: Key Considerations for Community Leaders Facing Civil Unrest and Planning in Advance of Civil Unrest, and Divided Community and Social Media.  Planning in Advance offers points to consider for a community that seeks to develop a strategy to deal with civil unrest before it occurs.  Key Considerations provides a checklist to consider when a community faces civil unrest and when that community begins to build consensus about dealing with the underlying problem.  Social Media collates tech-based ideas which community leaders might implement to build trust and resilience in their communities.

The Bridge Initiative at Moritz

Launched in January 2019, the Bridge Initiative at Moritz provides mediators and other experts with extensive experience in helping local leaders respond effectively to civil unrest and tension in communities across the country that can help mediate conflicts between community and law enforcement, train local community members on effective strategies to keep protests safe, and offer technical assistance to executives and community members seeking to build sustainable infrastructure for inclusive engagement.

Community Resiliency Initiative

The Divided Community Project’s Community Resiliency Initiative is a coalition of community leaders who have convened broad-based community planning efforts to address division in their communities.

Academy Initiative

Developed in partnership with the American Bar Association Section of Dispute Resolution, the Academy Initiative trains core leadership groups from diverse communities across the country to plan in advance of civil unrest while developing conflict planning and conflict resolution skills. Our first Academy cohort meets in Chicago in March.  Stay tuned for future Academy opportunities.

American Spirit Initiative

If we discuss our shared aspirations, we tend to keep in mind that we have joined a venture larger than ourselves, one that we care deeply about, one that we want to preserve for the next generations.  We especially benefit by discussing our core aspirations when, as now, the differences that have always characterized our nation turn vitriolic, when our inability to work together becomes a drag on our progress.  A widely embraced American Spirit can motivate us as well as stir within us a generous spirit toward each other.  It might become the catalyst to the continued building of our nation.

Model Standards of Conduct for Mediators

The Model Standards of Conduct for Mediators was prepared in 1994 by the American Arbitration Association, the American Bar Association Section of Dispute Resolution, and the Association for Conflict Resolution. A joint committee consisting of representatives from the same successor organizations revised the Model Standards in 2005. The Reporter for the 2005 effort was Professor Joseph Stulberg. The 2005 revision, including the Reporter’s Notes, can be found at the link below.

Indisputably Blog

Indisputably: The ADR Prof Blog discusses the latest dispute resolution topics from an academic perspective. The contributors include world-class ADR faculty from around the nation, including Professor Sarah Cole, Director of the Program on Dispute Resolution at Moritz.

Bridge Initiative

The Bridge Initiative compiles a bibliography as a resource for innovative dispute systems designers and scholars who look for ways to help people bridge differences, particularly when they are divided in ways that they feel deeply. The books, articles and websites listed in this site are not limited to resolution of identity-based conflict. The bibliography also includes writings about dispute resolution in nations other than the United States or within cultural communities in the United States that may offer insights to the dispute systems designers looking for new ideas and a broader understanding of cultural and political influences on dispute resolution. For more information on the Bridge Initiative, contact Professor Nancy Rogers.