Neighborhoods

Neighborhood Conflicts

An overburdened court system is not designed to effectively handle many neighborhood conflicts, as evidenced by the frequency which neighbors in conflict return to court – sometimes three and four times for the same issue.

Community Conferences are effective for ongoing and intractable conflicts among neighbors, neighborhood associations, and/or businesses.

Using Conflict to Build Community

A trained Community Conferencing facilitator invites everyone affected by the situation to be part of resolving the conflict.  The Community Conference takes place at a time and location that is convenient to participants.  Since everyone affected by the incident is included in deciding how to repair the harm, compliance with agreements is extremely high. 

During the Community Conference, everyone discusses:

1. what happened
2. how everyone has been affected
3. how to resolve the matter and prevent it from happening again (written agreement).

Impact:

• People are held accountable to each other (not an institutional authority)
• Reduces need for costly legal representation
• Anyone in need is connected to a network of support
• Reduces calls to the police
• Prevents entry into deeper end of criminal justice system
• Builds trust and community cohesion

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