2020-Present

2020

With support from the JAMS Foundation, RSI begins a study of what it would take for online dispute resolution (ODR) serving thinly resourced families, courts and communities to be accessible, ethical, effective, feasible and sustainable.
As the COVID-19 pandemic begins, RSI transitions to virtual operations, including moving all foreclosure and child protection mediation services online.
RSI works with 13 court jurisdictions and other program partners across northern Illinois to assess their interest in eviction mediation and to begin providing technical assistance. Three judicial circuits in northern Illinois sign on to establish eviction mediation programs.
RSI begins working with the 16th Judicial Circuit Court in Kane County to develop RSI’s first eviction mediation program.
RSI partners with the University of California-Davis to begin the first expert external evaluation of any family court ODR system in the United States. The evaluation looks at a text-based ODR program in Ottawa County, Michigan, that assists parents with resolving parenting time, decision-making, child support and other issues.
Executive Director Susan M. Yates is awarded the ADR Professional of the Year award by the Association for Conflict Resolution – Chicago Chapter.

2021

During the year, RSI receives grants to support its eviction mediation work from the following entities: the American Arbitration Association – International Centre for Dispute Resolution Foundation, the Emergency Rental Assistance Program and Eviction Help Illinois.
RSI launches the Holistic Online Program for Evictions (HOPE) Mediation Program to prepare self-represented tenants for mediation and provide guidance to other courts nationwide. The program produces new resources including an Eviction Mediation special topic, blog posts on eviction diversion, implementation reports and program evaluations.
RSI develops a Restorative Justice special topic and publishes it on RSI’s online Resource Center.
RSI launches an eviction mediation program in the 16th Judicial Circuit Court, in Kane County, Illinois, and conducts outreach and needs assessments for other courts in northern Illinois regarding eviction mediation.
In its first year, the Kane County Mediation Program provides pre-mediation in about 500 cases and mediates over 375 cases. The agreement rate in these cases is 74%.
RSI launches the 17^th Circuit Eviction Mediation Program, serving Winnebago and Boone counties in Illinois.
RSI launches the 21^st Circuit (Kankakee County, Illinois) Eviction Mediation Program.
RSI develops a Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility special topic and adds it to RSI’s online Resource Center.

2022

During the year, RSI receives grants to support its eviction and foreclosure mediation work from the following entities: the American Arbitration Association – International Centre for Dispute Resolution Foundation, Eviction Help Illinois and Homeowner Assistance Fund.
Brian Roche is elected Board President to fill the unexpired term of Raven Moore.
RSI publishes its first report summarizing survey responses from parties early in its Kane County, Illinois, eviction mediation program. Survey respondents, including tenants, landlords and attorneys, give favorable ratings to their experience in mediation.
RSI publishes an implementation report on its Kane County eviction mediation program. The report finds that judicial support, collaboration among program partners, effective program administration and buy-in from landlords and their attorneys were essential to early program success.
RSI publishes a second report summarizing survey responses from parties in its Kane County eviction mediation program in the first quarter of 2022. Surveys indicate participants continue to have a generally positive experience in mediation.
RSI and UC Davis researchers publish an evaluation of a Collin County, Texas, pilot program that uses a text-based ODR platform to resolve debt and small claims cases. In 73% of cases where both parties used the platform, participants resolved their dispute and avoided trial, a rate similar to that of cases that had the opportunity to use in-person mediation.
RSI and UC Davis researchers publish a groundbreaking evaluation of a text-based ODR platform used in a family court in Ottawa County, Michigan. The first expert external evaluation of any family court ODR system in the US, it finds that parties who used ODR for child custody, parenting time or child support matters were four times as likely to reach agreement as those who were offered ODR but didn’t use it.
RSI Executive Director Susan M. Yates is a panelist for the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts 59th Annual Conference plenary session, “Mind the Gap: Technology, Access, Connection, Equity, and Justice.”
RSI Director of Research Jen Shack participates in an American Bar Association online roundtable on Eviction Mediation in a Time of Crisis and Pandemic.
RSI publishes an evaluation of the first full year of its eviction mediation program in Kane County. It reports that over a quarter of eligible cases were mediated, and nearly three-quarters of mediations resulted in an agreement that avoided eviction.
RSI publishes its findings from a study supported by the JAMS Foundation on the potential for ODR to serve thinly resourced families, courts and communities in a way that is accessible, ethical, effective and sustainable.

2023

Support from the Rackham Foundation enables RSI to embark on the Trust Project, groundbreaking research into the intersection between mediator behaviors and party trust.
With funding from the Illinois Equal Justice Foundation, RSI’s eviction mediation program in Kane County, Ill., reaches the milestone of having helped over 1,500 households avoid a sheriff’s eviction since the end of Illinois’ eviction moratorium in October 2021.
RSI continues to share eviction mediation expertise, publishing two reports summarizing survey responses from parties in its Kane County Eviction Mediation Program in 2023 and speaking at a statewide housing conference.
Backed by a grant from the American Arbitration Association – International Centre for Dispute Resolution Foundation, RSI kicks off its OPEN (ODR Party Engagement) Project, conducting focus groups in three low-income and low-literacy communities across the US to get feedback on sample communications that courts use to explain online dispute resolution to self-represented parties. Findings will be used to develop a communications guide for courts.
RSI Director of Research Jennifer Shack participates in several activities to share the insights gained through the landmark evaluations of text-based ODR she has recently conducted with University of California Davis Professor Donna Shestowsky. These include publishing articles with Professor Shestowsky in the American Judges Association journal and the American Bar Association Section of Dispute Resolution magazine. Jennifer Shack also presents at national conferences of the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts and the ABA Section of Dispute Resolution.
RSI’s evaluation of New Hampshire’s statewide Eviction Diversion Program finds that after rental assistance became unavailable to participants, mediation agreement numbers held steady, but a larger percentage of the agreements led to tenants moving out.

2024

Funding from the Illinois Equal Justice Foundation (IEJF) enables RSI to continue to administer its eviction mediation program in Kane County, Ill.
RSI Executive Director Susan M. Yates is awarded the D’Alemberte Raven Award by the American Bar Association Section of Dispute Resolution.
After 28 years at RSI, Executive Director Susan M. Yates leaves RSI to pursue new opportunities in the nonprofit and ADR worlds.
Heather Fogg becomes RSI’s new Chief Executive Officer, with the unanimous approval of RSI’s Board of Directors.
RSI develops a guide, a worksheet and a checklist to support courts communicating with the public about ODR and shares them via a new OPEN Project website section. For OPEN Project Phase 2, RSI creates and usability tests a webpage, a notice document, an informational video and an interactive guide to help courts communicate effectively about ODR. Grants from the AAA-ICDR Foundation make the OPEN Project phases 1 and 2 possible.
With funding from the Rackham Foundation, RSI completes the pilot phase of the Trust Project and begins working with mediator partners to continue its research on how behaviors during mediation affect trust.
The Center for Conflict Resolution in Chicago engages RSI to develop a guide to support community mediation center staff in their efforts to increase diversity in their mediator rosters, and to assess their implementation outcomes. The project is funded by the AAA-ICDR Foundation.
RSI’s Board of Directors welcomes two new members, Professor Oladeji Tiamiyu of the University of Denver and Professor Nancy A. Welsh of Texas A&M.
RSI Director of Research Jennifer Shack presents findings from the OPEN Project at several conferences and webinars to increase courts’ awareness of the communication tools available.
RSI is awarded funding from the IEJF to expand and improve our Kane County Eviction Mediation Program to better serve parties who have experienced domestic violence.