Policy Consensus E-News — October 2003

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NPCC's New 'Transportation Solutions' Report Available

The National Policy Consensus Center has published Transportation Solutions: Collaborative Problem Solving for States and Communities (1.09 MB PDF). The report—the second in NPCC's ‘Solutions' series—offers recommendations for governors and state transportation officials on ways to enhance the use and effectiveness of collaborative problem solving around transportation issues.

The report is an outgrowth of an April 2003 colloquium for people involved in transportation collaborations, including federal and state agency representatives, consultants, dispute resolution professionals and representatives from professional associations and local planning organizations.

Drawing on the extensive experience of the colloquium participants, the report examines the state-of-the-art in transportation collaboration, including successful practices and lessons learned. A printed version of the report will be available in mid-October, along with an on-line collection of Transportation Case Studies—which will be featured in next month's e-news.

State Programs Updates

PCI has published its annual update on the activities of state dispute resolution programs. This year's issue features reports and highlights from more than 40 DR programs across the country, including:

Nine law or rule changes in Hawaii that will positively impact dispute resolution processes state wide.
An update from Virginia's Interagency Dispute Resolution Council, created in 2002 by the Virginia Administrative Dispute Resolution Act. The act encourages use of ADR and collaborative problem-solving in government by requiring state agencies to develop policies and procedures for DR across a broad array of governmental functions.
An executive order from Nebraska's Governor mandating use of a mediation option by every state agency.
And many more.

Download the complete PDF version 2003 State DR Programs Update (300 KB PDF).

Creating Partners in Problem Solving at the Community Level

The University of Virginia's Institute for Environmental Negotiation had been working for some time with the Virginia Association for Community Conflict Resolution, a statewide nonprofit consisting of nine community mediation centers, to strengthen their capacity to address community issues.

After learning about the approach of a program called Oregon Solutions, the two Virginia organizations developed and launched a new initiative called "Community Solutions." Tailored to the needs of communities in Virginia—including school-community disputes, neighborhood-development disputes, and governmental / public policy input processes—Community Solutions works to identify and assist groups who will be affected by public decisions to devise effective solutions that all stakeholders can support.

Under the rubric of Community Solutions, community mediations centers in Virginia have launched several major projects involving local-level stakeholders. For example:

The Harrisonburg CMC facilitated a two-day Watershed Conference organized by a group of citizens and nonprofit organizations associated with a Watershed Roundtable in the Shenandoah Valley.
The Norfolk CMC facilitated tri-faith diversity discussions, the Ryan White AIDS fund dispute, a local community health clinic, and a business/neighborhood dispute.
The Charlottesville CMC is convening a series of "Community Conversations" on controversial topics such as the siting of a mixed-use development in a low-income African American neighborhood.

To learn more about Virginia's Community Solutions program, contact Tanya Denckla at the Institute for Environmental Negotiation.

Oregon Solutions, the forerunner of Virginia's Community Solutions program, works to develop sustainable solutions to community-based problems that support economic, environmental, and community objectives. Its aim is to build solutions through the collaborative efforts of businesses, government, and non-profit organizations. To date, Oregon Solutions has launched 20 community-based collaborative projects that have addressed a variety of environmental, social and economic issues at the local level.

Based on Oregon Solutions' success, NPCC is working with other states to explore developing similar programs for addressing state objectives through on-the-ground, community-level projects. The NPCC model centers on the idea that many state agencies have program objectives that can only be met at the community level.

To discuss possibilities for how to develop a State Solutions model in your state, contact Abby White.

State Programs To Meet in Orlando

PCI's annual meeting for State Dispute Resolution Programs is scheduled for Wednesday, October 15 in Orlando, Fla. The meeting will be held prior to the start of regular sessions at the Association for Conflict Resolution conference. Both the PCI and ACR meetings will be at the Disney Coronado Springs Resort. PCI's meeting will begin in the morning with a plenary session focused on how to communicate and market these programs more effectively to users and policymakers. One of the afternoon tracks will be for court programs, co-sponsored by the ACR Court Section. A registration form is available on the PCI website, and also will be mailed to state DR programs.

What's New in Your State?

Does your state DR program have a news item or project success that you would like to share with other E-News readers?

If so, we would like to hear from you. Please contact Chris Carlson at PCI with your story idea!

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