CDSC released our annual report for fiscal year 2025.The Community Dispute Settlement Center had another successful year in FY25, providing
essential services to a wide range of individuals and organizations. In the past year, CDSC:
- Mediated 193 cases—a 30% increase from the previous year
- Trained 1054 people—a 55% increase from the previous year
- Provided conflict resolution services, including mediation and conflict coaching, to 1059 people—a 45% increase from the previous year.
Overall, we assisted 2,113 individuals in FY25, a 47% increase from FY24 (following a 60% increase from FY23 to FY24). This superlative record of services came primarily from a cohesive team combining strong organizational skills with a clear understanding of (and dedication to) CDSC’s mission. Looking ahead, continued growth will likely come from our ability to provide broad outreach and from a strong and diverse volunteer roster providing excellent, timely conflict resolution services.
New for CDSC this year was the expansion of our restorative practices work in the Cambridge Juvenile court, the translation of CDSC’s mediation documents into the six most common languages (other than English) spoken in Massachusetts, and our partnership with the Community Consulting Teams Boston (CCT) to hone CDSC’s messaging. We were also selected for an Online Dispute Resolution (ODR) Pilot Program by the Trial Court of the Commonwealth, to help small claims litigants resolve their disputes through an online platform. CDSC continued to provide monthly roundtables during the academic year on a range of essential topics, and to distribute a quarterly newsletter.
Mediation services, including facilitation and conflict coaching, were provided thanks to a robust roster of 75 volunteers, and services were available both in person and virtually. Our Basic Mediation Training was offered twice—including once free of charge to all participants who could augment our volunteer roster with proficiency in languages other than English—and our Practicum provided dozens with hands-on mediation work under the guidance of an experienced mediator as we welcomed Chandra Banks as Practicum Coordinator!
Read more in our report: