Caroline L. Harmon

Caroline L. Harmon Executive Director Community Mediation Program

Caroline Harmon Community Mediation Program, Inc.

The Baltimore City rowhouse is a breeding ground for neighborly disputes, said Caroline Harmon, director of the Community Mediation Center on Greenmount Avenue in Baltimore.The private, nonprofit center intervenes in more than 1,000 conflicts a year from across the region.

Many people who come for mediation have called the police more than 30 times.Preventing that number of calls, Harmon said, translates into savings for both police and taxpayers.

"We offer people a way out, rather than going to police" with disputes over yards, porches, parking, trash, music, noise, and animals, Harmon says."A lot of the issues have to do with Baltimore as a city of rowhouses, and that people are living 10 feet away from each other."

Harmon has three simple tips to try to repair (and prevent) damage: Speak directly.Many disputes involve messages through family members or other neighbors.Said Harmon, "If people talk things out face to face, they can make it better."

Spend time listening as well as talking.

Caroline L. HarmonExecutive DirectorCommunity Mediation Program

Caroline Harmon
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Caroline Harmon

Committee Co-chair

Caroline Harmon, Ass't Treasurer
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Caroline Harmon, Committee Co-chair

Caroline Harmon (2008)

Community Mediation Program, Inc

Caroline HarmonExecutive Director, Community Mediation Program

Caroline Harmon, executive director of Baltimore-based Community Mediation Program, Inc., said about two-thirds of the cases that come to her organization are related to neighbor disputes.

She described a recent case where two neighbors were arguing over street parking on their block.They were both also upset when the other neighbor's children played in the alleyway separating their houses and would yell at them.

They began the mediation process by venting about their problems, Harmon said.Then they worked on brainstorming solutions and left with a written agreement about how they would share parking.As part of the resolution, one woman even offered to watch her neighbor's child while she worked an evening job.