Nowhere is this view more compelling than in Harlem. Harlem's residents shop elsewhere for gifts, clothes, furniture, and electrical appliances. Businesses, especially retail, cannot operate without community support. Increasing resident earnings, community social programs, and economic redevelopment monies will help create a market for goods and services in Harlem. People need a means to deal with differences and clashing interests as they work to develop the larger community.
Mediation can perform such a function.
It has an integrative capacity to resolve, non-adversarially, disputes that might otherwise seriously divide institutions, and harm individuals and communities. Mediation cannot generate social change or social justice, nor can it directly enhance a l9cality's economic prospects. But it can provide a level playing field where stakeholders pursue their legitimate interests in a cooperative, negotiative setting, even ultimately as partners rather than adversaries. At the very least, mediation may better manage individual disputes and produce more acceptable results. The problem of whites dominating the businesses in a predominantly black neighborhood will not disappear simply because a particular conflict has been resolved.