A Center for Mediation
I remember my grandmother trying to mediate a financial dispute between two of her neighbors. She was diplomatic in her manners and was able to reduce the tension and help both the neighbors come to terms with their hard feelings and agree to settle their debt in a peaceful manner without going to the court. A mediation center does exactly that!
A person with skills and training in mediation helps you walk through the difficulty of being trapped by miscommunication and misunderstanding, and rather focus on the core issues in a conflict situation. And not only can you and your community get help from our center but you can also help others in your community by getting trained as a mediator.
Asian Pacific American Dispute Resolution Center (APADRC) is a mediation center that was founded in 1989 to provide mediation and conflict resolution services. It is dedicated to serving traditionally underrepresented and underserved communities which face barriers such as language, culture, and income. Thus, APADRC provides culturally and linguistically appropriate conflict-resolution services. For instance, many people don’t understand the legal process or the communication styles of people from other ethnicities. A situation like that makes communication difficult and intimidating and hampers the dispute resolution process. Therefore, APADRC offers mediation services so that people can smoothly move through their communication in conflicts to achieve peace in their personal and professional lives.
APADRC has recently started a South Asian Mediation project with a grant from the South Asian Bar Association by recruiting two South Asian interns, Mouj Soleri and myself, Hala Mohammad. Through this project, our center is working on outreaching to the South Asian population in Los Angeles County and raising awareness about the services offered through the APADRC. Moreover, because we are fluent in Hindi, Urdu and Punjabi, we can handle cases that require assistance with these languages. Furthermore, the APADRC builds partnership with other community non-profit organizations such as faith-based organizations, government agencies, and schools to collaborate on different projects that foster cross-cultural understanding and improve race relations among the diverse populations of Los Angeles County.
The most beneficial aspect of utilizing the center’s services is that it is less costly than the litigation process. With the difficult financial times that we all currently face, many of us are finding ourselves in need of outside intervention like assistance of lawyers and unfortunately that ends up being costly with the court and lawyer fees. Our center offers its mediation services regarding neighbor-neighbor conflicts, landlord-tenant disputes, family disputes, and professional conflicts etc. The APADRC is an organization that is dedicated to serving our community to help people bring about some peace in their lives through mediation. Furthermore, mediation is a voluntary process and mediators are neutral, and keep your information confidential. With the combination of neutrality and well-defined positions from parties in conflict, we move towards greater understanding and resolution. Also, our center provides referrals to other organizations, as we have built partnerships in the community.
I would like the readers to pass the word around and recommend our services to their families and friends and to use our services. Giving back to your community and helping bring peace to your community is a gift that will last through the seasons.
If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions, don't hesitate to contact us.
Our office phone number is 213-250-8190 and you are welcome to navigate our website www.apadrc.org
