Irvine, Calif. – The nonprofit JAMS Foundation approved a $400,000 grant over two years to the Divided Community Project, a program run out of Ohio State University, Moritz College of Law. The program aims to support public officials and community leaders with useful tools and resources to avert instances of civil unrest before they occur and constructively address violent social conflicts that do arise.
Grande Lum will serve as the Project's director. Mr. Lum recently completed a 3.5-year term as director of the U.S. Department of Justice Community Relations Service, where he oversaw response teams following high-profile incidents in Ferguson, Mo., Sanford, Fl., Staten Island, N.Y., Baltimore, Md. and elsewhere. He will be aided by Nancy Rogers and Joseph Stulberg of Ohio State University, Moritz College of Law, as well as experienced interveners, public officials, current and former chiefs of police, bar association representatives, community leaders, scholars and researchers nationwide.
The JAMS Foundation is excited and proud to support the Divided Community Project, and to work together to promote dialogue and engagement in high-conflict communities. As an ADR organization, we are deeply committed to resolving conflict, and we look forward to helping communities across the country to build stronger relationships and bring about positive change.
- David Brandon, Managing Director of the JAMS Foundation
We thank the JAMS Foundation for their support. This is a unique moment in our nation’s history for the dispute resolution community to further to take a leadership role to prevent division from devolving into polarization. Projects like these are essential to bring peace and improve relations in our communities.
- Grande Lum, Project Director, Divided Community Project
Components of the project will focus on dissemination and implementation of resources through pilot programs in select cities nationwide. It will develop tools to stimulate case studies that successfully instigate planning in advance of civil unrest and hopefully prevent any escalated conflict in the early hours and days of unrest.
About the JAMS Foundation (www.jamsfoundation.org)
The nonprofit JAMS Foundation is the largest private provider of ADR-related grants in the world. The Foundation was established in 2002 by JAMS, the largest private provider of alternative dispute resolution services worldwide, and is funded by JAMS mediators, arbitrators and employee associates who contribute a percentage of their income. The JAMS Foundation has provided more than $6 million in grant funding since its inception. Founded in 1979, JAMS and its more than 300 full-time mediators and arbitrators are responsible for resolving thousands of the world’s most important cases.
