Policy Consensus E-News — December 2009

If you are unable to properly view this email, please click here.

PCI and US Institute for Environmental Conflict Resolution Launch Regional Environmental Forums Initiative

Mechanisms to pursue collaborative decision-making at the regional level throughout the U.S. are not well-defined, resulting in missed opportunities to resolve conflicts and address emerging environmental challenges. Regional Environmental Forums (REFs) are a mechanism to advance cooperative efforts to identify problems and devise solutions to environmental and natural resources issues. PCI and the U.S. Institute for Environmental Conflict Resolution (U.S. Institute) have launched a REFs initiative to link various levels of government both vertically and horizontally in collaborative problem solving processes. The forums will engage representatives from federal, tribal, state, and local government in collaborative problem-solving. The forums will also reach out to nongovernmental organizations, industry, and academia as necessary to understand and resolve issues.

The forums will enhance efficient and effective collaborative decision making and conflict resolution by making the integration of the best available science and new technologies core to their operations. This will include the use of geographic information systems, visualizations, decision support systems, and other tools to aid in the synthesis and dissemination of key information.

PCI and the U.S. Institute are working to establish a pilot REF in the Pacific Northwest (including the states of Washington and Oregon) to foster communication at multiple levels of government. Over time, forums may be established in other regions of the country. The forums will work cooperatively with the White House Council on Environmental Quality, the Office of Collaborative Action and Dispute Resolution at the U.S. Department of the Interior, the Conflict Prevention and Resolution Center at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and other similar offices within federal and state agencies.

The work of the forum will be directed by an intergovernmental Steering Committee consisting of federal agency regional directors, state agency directors and representatives of Governors' offices. The committee, co-chaired by federal, state, and local government leaders, will guide the work of the forums, particularly the identification of opportunities to pursue collaborative solutions.

For more information on the REFs initiative contact PCI Executive Director Greg Wolf or U.S. Institute Executive Director Mark Schaefer.

University Network for Collaborative Governance Annual Meeting

UNC School of Government February 28 - March 2, 2010

University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, School of Government

Co-hosted by UNC's School of Government and North Carolina State University's Natural Resource Leadership Institute

Please join the members of the University Network for our annual meeting in 2010! The meeting is also open to non-member university-based centers and programs. If you are part of such a center and want to learn more about the Network, this is a great way to meet members, hear about Network projects, and participate in Network activities.

We will begin with dinner and an opening session on Sunday, February 28th, continue with an all day meeting on Monday, March 1, and adjourn by 4pm on Tuesday, March 2. Meetings will take place at UNC Chapel Hill's School of Government and at the nearby Siena Hotel.

Registration is now open through January 29, 2010. Download a registration form from the meeting webpage, which will include a full agenda and other materials as they are developed.

For more information, contact Sarah Giles at PCI or one of our three co-hosts, John Stephens (UNC), Mary Lou Addor (NC State), or Steve Smutko (NC State).

Delaware and Minnesota's Health Systems Perform Well Due to Collaboration

Minnesota

A recent report from the Commonwealth Fund, "Aiming Higher for Health System Performance," places Delaware and Minnesota among the top seven states for health system performance. Both states were singled out as successful due to the collaborative nature of their systems. Minnesota ranks among the top quarter of states while Delaware is among the most-improved between the years of 2007-2009. The report attributes these states’ advancements to the collaborative efforts helping stakeholders to work together. 

In their efforts to improve the overall health care system, Minnesota has set an example by using collaboration to bring public and private sector stakeholders together. According to the report, "The health care marketplace in Minnesota is characterized by its nonprofit health plans and physician-led, integrated group practices, both of which seem naturally oriented toward collaboration. Over the past two decades, numerous coalitions have emerged to improve health system performance: government took the lead in the early 1990s to expand coverage, employers focused on value-purchasing, providers refined well-organized systems of care, and health plans developed community measures of health system performance." The structure of reform in Minnesota has been somewhat informal since its development and is referred to as “coalitions of coalitions.” These coalitions have resulted in the training of many individual health care providers, business leaders and state officials to understand health care change, which has created an environment where many people are able to act together when an issue arises.

DelawareBeginning in 1990, the Delaware Health Care Commission was created by the Delaware General Assembly to develop efforts for greater availability of health care. The commission consists of eleven members from the public and private sectors. These stakeholders meet regularly to look at the challenges and find solutions to improve the system. Local leaders in Delaware refer to "the Delaware Way," or high-level collaboration, in describing the Delaware’s strong performance in level of access to and quality of care. Collaborative efforts to provide health care for more residents has led to the Commission-run Community Healthcare Access Program (CHAP), which aims to provide low-cost or free care to those residents who are low-income and uninsured. Through CHAP, government officials, health care providers, health systems and community organizations have developed a collaborative framework and created solid ground for future reform.

White House Open Government Directive

Open Government

This month, the Office of Management and Budget has issued a Directive to executive departments and agencies to take specific actions to implement the principles of transparency, participation, and collaboration set forth in the President’s Memorandum on Transparency and Open Government in January. The Directive comes after this summer's 3-phase public process to solicit and craft recommendations on the principles of open government and how to embed them within federal government. In addition, the Administration has released a Progress Report that provides examples of initiatives across federal agencies. OMB Director Peter Orzsag says, "The directive, sent to the head of every federal department and agency today, instructs the agencies to take specific actions to open their operations to the public.. . . Collaboration improves the effectiveness of government by encouraging partnerships and cooperation within the federal government, across levels of government, and between the government and private institutions." The Directive mandates the Deputy Director of OMB, the Federal Chief Information Officer, and the Federal Chief Technology Officer to establish a working group that will share best practices on promoting participation and collaboration, including how to experiment with new technologies, take advantage of the expertise and insight of people both inside and outside the Federal Government, and form high-impact collaborations with researchers, the private sector, and civil society.

PCI Video Series: "A Model for Civic Engagement"

Bike to Work

Community Focus, NPCC's civic engagement program in California, established Air Quality "Resource Teams,” which have been working since 1991 in San Francisco Bay Area counties to change behavior and reduce air pollution at a local grassroots level. Hear from team members as well as the key creators of the model in "Air Quality Resource Teams: A Model for Civic Engagement."

Community Focus founder Malka Kopell and former Bay Area Air Quality Management District Director of Public Information, Terry Lee, describe how the teams address the District's need for a public awareness campaign to educate residents about air pollution and encourage them to be a voluntary part of the solution. Several community members, from a variety of sectors and levels of local government, describe what their teams do and how members contribute resources, such as time, energy, expertise, money and influence, to decrease both traffic congestion and ground level ozone pollution.

For more information about the teams, contact Community Focus Associate Director Stephanie Anderson.

UN Climate Change Conference in Cophenhagen: Case Studies

COP15

As part of Mediators Beyond Borders' Copenhagen Initiative and preparation to observe the proceedings of the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen and urge delegates to include mediation in the new protocols, MBB has collected a variety of case studies demonstrating the use of mediation, consensus building and collaborative problem solving in resolving environmental and climate-related conflicts. The case studies cover examples in both international and domestic examples:

Share PolicyConsenus E-News with your leaders and colleagues by forwarding this edition to them. Or, direct them to www.policyconsensus.org, where they can sign up to receive it in their own e-mail inbox!

Please send comments and suggestions.