Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Increasing Housing Stability Through State-Funded Community Mediation Delivered By The Massachusetts Housing Mediation Program (Hmp) Fy2023 Evaluation Report, Madhawa Palihapitiya, Karina Zeferino

Massachusetts Office of Public Collaboration Publications

The Massachusetts Housing Mediation Program (HMP) is a comprehensive statewide program that provides free housing mediation services as a tool to increase housing stability with the intention of preventing homelessness created by landlord-tenant disputes. It is administered by the Massachusetts Office of Public Collaboration (MOPC) at the University of Massachusetts Boston and deploys the community mediation system infrastructure with 11 Community Mediation Centers (Centers) participating and serving all 14 counties of the Commonwealth to provide free conflict resolution services for tenants and landlords/property managers with housing disputes at any stage, from the earliest point a problem occurs, up to, and …

Addressing Barriers To Diversity, Equity, And Inclusion In Massachusetts Community Mediation, Madhawa Palihapitiya, Shino Yokotsuka, Karina Zeferino, Jarling Ho

Massachusetts Office of Public Collaboration Publications

This report presents over three years of systematically engaging, documenting and analyzing the diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) needs/gaps and assets of state funded community mediation centers in Massachusetts. The report was compiled by researchers and an in-house DEI expert at the statutory state office of dispute resolution, the Massachusetts Office of Public Collaboration (MOPC) at the University of Massachusetts Boston. The office has been serving as a neutral forum and state-level resource for over 30 years.

The report is based on qualitative research that falls into the category of community based participatory research conducted through a series of community …

Addressing Barriers To Diversity, Equity, And Inclusion In Massachusetts Community Mediation, Madhawa Palihapitiya, Jarling Ho, Shino Yokotsuka, Karina Zeferino

Massachusetts Office of Public Collaboration Publications

This report presents over three years of systematically engaging, documenting and analyzing the diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) needs/gaps and assets of state funded community mediation centers in Massachusetts. The report was compiled by researchers and an in-house DEI expert at the statutory state office of dispute resolution, the Massachusetts Office of Public Collaboration (MOPC) at the University of Massachusetts Boston. The office has been serving as a neutral forum and state-level resource for over 30 years.

The report is based on qualitative research that falls into the category of community based participatory research conducted through a series of community …

Seeing Race As We Are: Avoiding, Arguing, Aspiring, Michael A. Cowan

New England Journal of Public Policy

Racial conflict in the United States pushes people to positions of argument or avoidance, more or less intensely and for varying lengths of time, depending on external events like the murder of George Floyd. Neither stance produces the conversations required to seek common ground and compromise around racial issues. Argument alone deepens divisions and avoidance leaves them to metastasize in the social body. In an attempt to go beneath these two positions, this article first explains the role and form of interpretation in all conflict and dispute resolution and how it is shaped. Then it examines the concepts and strategies …

Increasing Housing Stability Through State-Funded Community Mediation Delivered By The Massachusetts Housing Mediation Program (Hmp) In Fy2022, Madhawa Palihapitiya, David Sulewski, Karina Zeferino, Jarling Ho

Massachusetts Office of Public Collaboration Publications

This report presents findings and recommendations from an evaluation of the Massachusetts Housing Mediation Program (HMP) administered by the MA Office of Public Collaboration (MOPC) at the University of Massachusetts Boston in partnership with 11 Community Mediation Centers (Centers). The program is funded by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and implemented in partnership with the Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD). The program was initially part of the Governor’s Eviction Diversion Initiative (EDI), which ended in the latter half of FY2022 and is continuing as an intervention to support housing stability. The evaluation was conducted by MOPC’s research unit comprised …

Massachusetts Community Mediation Center Grant Program: Fiscal Year 2014 Report & Evaluation, Susan Jeghelian, Madhawa Palihapitiya, Kaila O. Eisenkraft

Massachusetts Office of Public Collaboration Publications

The Community Mediation Center Grant Program, funded by the commonwealth and administered by the state’s office of dispute resolution, was established to “promote the broad use of community mediation in all regions of the state” by awarding operating grants to eligible community mediation centers. This annual report describes the progress made in broadening access to community mediation by the grant program under the challenge of reduced state funding in FY 2014. Due to the funding cut, fewer centers were funded in FY 2014 compared to FY 2013, which reduced the quantity of services provided. However, the amount of money per …

Massachusetts Community Mediation Center Grant Program, Massachusetts Office Of Public Collaboration, University Of Massachusetts Boston

Office of Community Partnerships Posters

The CMC Grant Program was established in FY 2013 to provide state operational funding to community mediation centers that provide services through trained volunteers to primarily low-income citizens for a wide-range of family, neighborhood and community conflicts.

Ma Forest Futures Visioning Process, Loraine Della Porta, Massachusetts Office Of Public Collaboration, University Of Massachusetts Boston

Office of Community Partnerships Posters

The Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) initiated the Forest Futures Visioning Process to develop a long-term strategy for managing the 308,000 acres of lands in the State and Urban Parks system. The Massachusetts Office of Public Collaboration at UMass Boston designed and facilitated this year-long collaborative visioning process which culminated in a set of consensus recommendations for a 100 year vision for the forests of Massachusetts.

The Massachusetts Community Mediation Centers Program, Madhawa Palihapitiya, Massachusetts Office Of Public Collaboration, University Of Massachusetts Boston

Office of Community Partnerships Posters

As part of the public service mission of UMASS Boston, the MA Office of Public Collaboration (MOPC) partnered with the Community Mediation Coalition of Massachusetts in compiling a research study and design for a Community Mediation Centers Grant Program to increase sustainability, scope and quality of Massachusetts community dispute resolution as a mechanism for increasing access to justice for all Massachusetts communities.

Research-Informed Models For Communicating The Value Of Court-Connected Alternative Dispute Resolution For Public Funding, Kevin Dye

Massachusetts Office of Public Collaboration Publications

The purpose of framing the research in the following models is to assist the court and its court-connected mediation programs in their ongoing dialogue with the funding decision-makers in addressing the question: Is state funding of community mediation centers and court ADR generally a worthwhile investment? As a means of setting forth components of an analytic framework, the following simplified financial models are offered to draw out salient aspects of the nature of the investment. The simplified models are employed primarily for the purpose of illustrating the investment in terms of classic financial models familiar to a budget analyst. These …