NEW YORK, N.Y.—September 2, 2020—The American Arbitration Association-International Centre for Dispute Resolution Foundation® (AAA-ICDR Foundation) has awarded more than $555,800 in grants for the 2020 cycle, funding a wide variety of initiatives support its mission to further the use and improvement of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) processes in the U.S. and other countries.

During the 2020 cycle, the AAA-ICDR Foundation focused on initiatives addressing the following areas (priority was given to grants that focus on restorative justice and access to justice in arbitration):

• Restorative justice
• Access to justice in arbitration
• ADR for vulnerable and underserved populations
• ADR for community focused dispute resolution providing opportunities for dialogue in situations involving racial, ethnic, and religious conflict

“We are honored to be in a position to deliver crucial funding for new and established organizations which seek to utilize arbitration and mediation to resolve disputes in many communities,” said James
R. Jenkins, Chair of the AAA-ICDR Foundation. “The support we provide can also help these initiatives make ADR processes more accessible to people in need, both in the U.S. and around the world.”

The AAA-ICDR Foundation has awarded more than $2.1 million since its inception in 2015. To learn more about the Foundation’s mission to fund high-quality, innovative programs which advance arbitration, mediation, and other ADR processes, visit https://www.aaaicdrfoundation.org/about-us.

The 17 grant recipients for the 2020 cycle include the Ohio State University Moritz College of Law’s Divided Community Project, which was awarded a grant for the fourth consecutive year. The $53,000 the initiative received from the AAA-ICDR Foundation this year will go toward expanding the Divided Community Project’s ADR training academy—enabling it to equip leaders across the country with tools to strengthen democratic engagement, and address civil unrest and community division.

In addition, the AAA-ICDR Foundation has awarded $50,000 in the 2020 cycle to the Research Foundation of John Jay College of the City University of New York. The grant will help fund a project to create a national online conflict resolution platform, which can be offered to communities through libraries.

The AAA-ICDR Foundation has also awarded grants to strengthen ADR access and education in Africa. The Foundation has gifted $75,000 to NULAI (Network of University Legal Aid Institutions) Nigeria, which will support the training of young people from five university law clinics and 15 secondary schools in northern Nigeria in the facilitation of conflict resolution and peacebuilding dialogue.

Grant applications for the AAA-ICDR Foundation’s 2021 cycle which is focused on the need for conflict resolution amid the COVID-19 pandemic and racial injustice were due August 14, 2020. For more information about the 2021 grant cycle, please visit https://www.aaaicdrfoundation.org/grants.

About the AAA-ICDR Foundation
The American Arbitration Association-International Centre for Dispute Resolution Foundation (AAA- ICDR Foundation) is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization that is able to solicit donations and provide grants to fund a range of worthy causes that promote the Foundation’s wide-reaching mission, which is to support the use and improvement of dispute resolution processes in the United States and internationally.

Its focus includes fostering measures that reduce potential escalation, manage and resolve conflicts; increasing access to justice in and through alternative dispute resolution; and encouraging collaborative processes to resolve public conflicts.

The Foundation is a separate 501(c) (3) not-for-profit organization from the AAA®, and the Foundation is not involved in any way in the oversight, administration or decision making of the AAA-ICDR® cases or in the maintenance of the AAA-ICDR's various rosters of arbitrators and mediators.

For more information on the AAA-ICDR Foundation, please visit: www.aaaicdrfoundation.org.