Center Opens City’s Cultural Lines of Communication

In Los Angeles, a city with one of the world’s most diverse populations, disputes between people from different cultures are common. Sometimes the disputes are relatively minor, such as arguments between renters and landlords. Sometimes the disputes turn into ugly physical confrontations.

“There’s a lot of conflict in this city between people of different languages and different ethnic backgrounds ... and there’s a need for more people to help solve the problems,” says Najeeba Syeed-Miller, executive director of the Asian Pacific American Dispute Resolution Center. “Our goal is simple: Help people live together peacefully.”

Established in 1989, the downtown center serves mostly the city’s Asian and Pacific Islander population, but also works increasingly to mediate problems among people from all backgrounds.

The organization has a team of mediators, many of them volunteers, trained to recognize and honor subtle cultural differences as they wade into disputes. They work face-to-face with people at the center’s downtown offices and consult by telephone. And they work with businesses, helping them identify ways to solve racial and cultural differences.

“A lot of times it comes down to the simple issue of respect,” said Syeed-Miller. “One way of solving problems is to teach people about respecting differences.”

Syeed-Miller came to Los Angeles to head the center after graduating from Indiana University’s law school in 2000. She was born in Kashmir, a region in India long troubled by religious and ethnic violence.

“I resolved when I was young that I would devote myself to help build bridges,” she said.

Daniel Leyva builds bridges, thanks to about 25 hours of training at the resolution center. The 17-year-old senior at Foshay Learning Center, a school near USC for kindergarten through 12th grade, is a key figure in a peer-mediation program that the resolution group runs on the Foshay campus. Last year, teens like Leyva worked on more than 80 cases at the school, and the program was recognized by the Los Angeles County Human Relations Commission.

“Before I got into this, I would just sit on the sidelines and watch people who had problems, afraid of getting involved,” said Leyva, who plans to go to college and become a veterinarian. “Now I am right in there, bringing people together. It’s helped me be more assertive and given me skills that are going to help me for my whole life.”

The resolution center staff wants to create more programs like the one at Foshay in other Los Angeles schools, if it can raise enough money. The group has received a $15,000 grant from the Los Angeles Times Holiday Campaign, money collected in last year’s seasonal fund-raising effort. Funds raised in the annual Holiday Campaign benefit charitable agencies throughout Southern California.

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