"If you educate a man you educate an individual, but if you educate a woman you educate a family (nation)"

They call it a 'peace virus' and hope that if it is introduced to communities such as Bellevue Manor, a tense neighbourhood of low-income housing in Ottawa's west end, it will be contagious. So far, the virus is not only catching, but is spreading to other parts of the city.
That is part of the philosophy of the Ottawa-Carleton Neighbourhood Coalition for Conflict Resolution, a grassroots organization that is convincing even skeptics you can often change patterns of violence before the courts become involved.
Four years after its creation, the organization is making believers of doubters - from hardened cops to would-be criminals - on both sides of the law. But despite the praise, its future looks murky.
Run out of a small office on Merivale Road, the coalition operates on a shoestring. A $240,000 grant from the Trillium Foundation helps pay the rent and other bills as well the salary of its staff member and Executive Director, Jabril Abdulle. That grant is to run out in a year. So far, no further money has been found.
Which is a shame. Because the neighbourhood coalition saves many thousands more dollars than it costs by changing patterns of behaviour and settling disputes before they get to court.
One way the coalition has tried to change violent patterns in Bellevue Manor is by training members of some of the community's 36 cultural groups in conflict resolution techniques. Those volunteers, who are given regular refresher courses, are sent back to their communities infected with what Mr. Abdulle calls the "peace virus."
There are numerous signs that the virus has begun to take hold and spread since the coalition was founded in 1994 after Mr. Abdulle, a sociology student at Carleton University, decided he wanted to do something about violence in the neighbourhood housing projects. The most notable effect is a reduction in police calls to the neighbourhood.
The community of 33,000 people located near Caldwell Avenue - Ottawa's largest public housing development - had been notorious for the number of calls its members made to police. Those calls have dropped since the coalition moved into the neighbourhood, and many complaints are now passed back to the coalition for mediation and resolution.
As an unexpected side-benefit, the majority of the dozen community members originally trained in mediation have found a new self-cinfidence. Ninety per cent of the volunteers who were originally trained for the project have since found jobs.
How does it work? Cases range from disputes between neighbours to more serious matters, including assaults and break-ins. In a case that was documented for a program on Vision TV, five teenagers from the community were the subject of a mediation effort after they were charging with breaking in and stealing chocolate milk and other food from a west-end dairy,
After hearing of the harm done to the company - a total loss of nearly $10,000 in stolen and spoiled food - the youths offered an apology and a promise to make restitution for the damage. Some of the five volunteered to work at the company. Others offered to work in the community. Since the mediation meeting with police, company officials, parents and volunteers, two of those youth have made the honour roll at their school for the first time.
The coalition has been so successful in its own community that it has been asked to help mediate disputes throughout the region. It has the wholehearted support of police. Staff-Sgt. Gary Nelson of Ottawa-Carleton police, vice-president of the coalition's board of directors, volunteers more than 20 hours a month to the organization. Other board members, including Cheryl Picard and Rena Ramkay of the mediation centre at Carleton University and Elizabeth Chin of Ottawa-Carleton Housing, also volunteer their time.
In all, more than 64 volunteers, most from the neighbourhood, help the organization handle up to 15 cases every month and demand is growing. Pretty impressive for an annual public investment of $240,000. A little peace virus, it seems, goes a long way.

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