Each year the VACCR member centers, combined, mediate over 10,000 cases and assist more than 25,000 clients in mediation, facilitation, training, and information and referral. In addition to the benefits that accrue to the individuals involved in conflict resolution procedures, there are a number of benefits to our community and institutions as well. These include:

• Establishes innovative, cost-efficient, and effective public-private partnerships - for example with the courts, police, legal services, etc. - to meet community needs.
• Provides early intervention to prevent costs to the communities of unmitigated conflict, community disruption and ill-will, litigation, and violence.
• Meets unmet community needs that cannot be met by the private sector alone.
• Increases community access to conflict resolution resources.
• Implements state policy that encourages the use of mediation and similar dispute resolution processes.
• Conserves state resources by accessing volunteers, coordinating statewide efforts, and leveraging foundation and community funds to support the program.
• Improves community self-governance and empowerment.
• Provides accountability through statewide reporting and evaluation.

Public disputes, or public policy disputes or community-wide disputes are conflicts that involve more than just a few people and where a public policy issue may be at stake. VACCR Centers may be involved in both the larger types of these processes such as those involved in the siting of large public works projects like highways, buildings, parks, power stations, nuclear reactors and landfills or in resolving large scale environmental issues, community visioning, etc. as well as smaller scale issues. The latter include school community conflicts around re-districting or personnel changes or policy changes; church-community conflicts concerning expansion or the addition of a school or health facility, municipal-community conflicts regarding the location of half-way houses, drug treatment centers, or subsidized housing units. VACCR has started a special project known as "Virginia Community Solutions" to assure that communities across Virginia have access to these types of stakeholder processes.

VACCR Centers are becoming increasingly involved in restorative justice type processes. There are a number of different names for similar processes that have the goal of helping victims of crime and the offender who committed the crime deal with each other and the results of the crime. Goals include reintegration of the offender into the family and community, encouraging personal responsibility, restitution to the victim and bringing a sense of closure to those involved. Cases can range from youth offender misdemeanors to serious adult felonies including even murder and rape.

There is much conflict within families and between roommates or housemates. Issues such as sharing of facilities, responsibility for utility payments, how to deal with a parent suffering from dementia, how to divide property after the death of a parent, medical decision making for disabled parents or other family members who cannot make decisions for themselves, etc.

Many relatively small disputes between consumers and merchants are not easily susceptible to settlement through the courts either because of the cost or the difficulty of implementing a court judgment. For example, a consumer might purchase a used car from an independent used car dealer or just someone selling their car. Shortly after purchase, the car blows a gasket or starts to leak fluids or stops running. This is actually fairly typical for older cars costing only a few thousand dollars. Both the seller and the buyer are often persons of limited financial resources. If they go to court neither may be able to collect on their judgment. The seller cannot readily refund the purchase price. In mediation they can work out some kind of payment plan, a repair plan or a car replacement plan.

Traditional litigation of custody and visitation issues is very destructive and not very effective. With mediation, parties can spend sufficient time to explain their needs, interests, values, goals and principles and then identify ways of parenting that satisfy those needs. For example, one parent might be locked into a position demanding "sole custody" of the child.  It turns out that the child has severe asthma and this parent has always been in charge of managing the child's medications and communicating with the doctor about the child's care.  Demanding "sole custody" could be this parent's way of ensuring that the child would continue to receive proper asthma management.  During mediation the parents could work together to craft ways that the asthma would continue to be well managed - by focusing on medication routines, monitoring, scheduling of doctor visits, emergency procedures, etc.  By establishing agreements on these issues, the parent who had not usually managed the asthma care develops greater knowledge and understanding of the child's illness.  This will also help ensure good asthma care when the child is with that parent whether they ultimately agree on a joint or sole custody arrangement.

School Peer Mediation: VACCR Centers are often involved in helping to build and maintain school peer mediation programs through training and mentoring. For example, in Massachusetts, the Attorney General’s office has funded on-site community mediators in high schools and middle schools through local VACCR Centers.

Youth Issues: There are a number of youth issues that are often susceptible to resolution through mediation even when they cannot be resolved through other methods. Such issues as runaway teens, truancy, intra-family assaults, etc. can often be mediated because mediation can include all those who need to be involved in making a decision, such as the parents, the youth, school officials, police representatives, social service office representatives, etc.