For close to a decade, the Ford Foundation has supported a variety of efforts to advance both knowledge about and the use of alternatives to the adversary process for the settlement of disputes. The Center for Dispute Settlement of the American Arbitration Association; the In· stitute for Mediation and Conflict Resolution in New York City; the Center for Community Justice in Washington, D.C.; the Institute for Environmental Studies at the University of Washington in Seattle, Washington; and the Office of Environmental Mediation at the Uni-versity of Wisconsin have played a major role in advancing the state of the art in the disposition of major disputes as well as in introducing mechanisms for grievance management and conflict resolution.