Greg Berman, Center for Court Innovation - I made a quick trip to Syracuse for the opening of the Near Westside Peacemaking Project. Building on the model of a similar program that we created in Red Hook, Brooklyn a couple of years ago, the Near Westside project seeks to resolve conflicts by adapting a Native American tradition to local problems. Local volunteers are trained to serve as "peacemakers" by Native American practitioners. The basic idea is to take a restorative justice approach to conflict, bringing together affected parties for multiple conversations that will hopefully yield a consensus about how to address the problem and move forward. Peacemaking is a particularly good fit for messy problems involving multiple participants who must continue to interact.
Our hope is that the peacemaking project, which will handle referrals from the justice system, schools and neighborhood groups, will play a role in the continued revitalization of the Near Westside neighborhood, which has struggled with crime and poverty for many years. The project is located in the heart of the community at 601 Tully Street, at an intersection that also features a school, a park and a church.
The peacemaking project has already successfully resolved one complicated dispute involving local school children and their families. Another three conflicts are in the process of being addressed. Also encouraging is the amount of good will the program has engendered in the community. Dozens of local residents came out to celebrate the launch of the program, including many of the volunteer peacemakers. Also on hand were the chief of police and representatives from the local housing authority, district attorney's office, and parole department.
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