Our Story: Growing Through Success

Resolutions Northwest (RNW) was incorporated as a non-profit in 1985 by a small group of community members who valued the vision of a restorative juvenile justice system.  Originally a pilot program designed to reduce violence, juvenile crime, and address needs of victims, our restorative justice services quickly proved an effective and extremely efficient alternative to the traditional justice model.

• In 1994 the organization started training students to be conflict managers and peer mediators in their schools and founded the Oregon Peacemakers Conference for middle and high school students. 
• In 1998, the Family Mediation Program (FMP) of the Youth Services Consortium merged with Resolutions Northwest giving us the opportunity to expand our work with youth by incorporating teen mediators into our volunteer mediator pool.
• In 2002, RNW was selected by the City of Portland to be the sole provider of Portland's neighborhood mediation services and soon thereafter to facilitate the residential siting of community social services.
• In 2007, RNW created officially created a Youth Program and Facilitation Program to fulfill the need for more youth oriented programming and growing demand for a variety of facilitation services.  In addition, a collaborative effort between our Youth  and Restorative Justice Programs has resulted in an opportunity to pilot a school program which focuses on using restorative justice principles and practices to help reduce the number of disproportionate minority disciplinary referral within the school and to the Juvenile Justice Department. 

Today, RNW is the largest nonprofit mediation center in the state of Oregon. With 100 volunteers, 11 employees, and an operating budget of $550,000, we provide a wide variety of mediation, education, and training services throughout Oregon.  To promote our mission and meet our goals, Resolutions Northwest is committed to reaching out to all members of Portland's diverse community in our volunteer and staff recruitment and in our service provision.  We are committed to developing new and nurturing existing collaborative relationships with traditionally under-represented and underserved communities while continuing to support and advance community conflict resolution strategies and leadership in Portland.

Our programs are funded through a combination of grants and contracts and generous contributions of community members who care about creating a more peaceful and equitable community.