Maine Working Group Focuses on Advancing
State, Community Use of Collaborative Practices
 Maine State Rep. Ted Koffman |
Koffman said Maine is advantaged because of its “low turnover rate” among people at the center of discussions about the environment, the economy, and other key policy issues. “We’re able to develop truly long-term relationships, and can often put together a process and group of leaders in little or no time, if the issues are relevant to our concerns. So we have history and experience with these approaches, and the skill sets have been fairly well honed by a number of people, including those who attended the forum and who have helped shape our Collaborative Practices Working Group.”
According to Diane Kenty, Director of Maine’s Court ADR Services and a PCI/NPCC Board Member, the Working Group came together following 1999 legislation that launched best-practices guidelines for agencies using collaborative, consensus-based processes.
“After some frustrating attempts to organize a state dispute resolution office during the big-budget-cuts era, we realized there were a lot of community people and leaders who really were interested in these kinds of processes,” Kenty said. When the Working Group was introduced to the Oregon Solutions model, members decided a community approach to engaging leaders might work in Maine. Today, she said, the Working Group members hope to develop a Maine Solutions project similar to Oregon’s and to the Community Solutions pilot projects now underway in Virginia.
Kenty said the June forum was an important step toward realizing that goal. “It helped increase awareness of the collaborative efforts that are going on now, both in Maine and around the country,” she said.
In addition to the opening presentation by Rep. Koffman, the forum agenda included panel discussions about successful collaborations around the state, a presentation on the Oregon Solutions model; and breakout sessions focused on building strategies, networks, and support.
Larry Susskind, founder and Director of the Public Disputes Program at Harvard’s Program on Negotiation, gave a keynote address titled “The Role of Community Leaders in Supporting Collaborative Problem Solving.” In it, he described the role of “mobilizers,” who are instrumental in identifying issues and have the energy and evidence to get them onto a public agenda; “conveners,” who typically are elected or appointed officials with the authority to act; and experienced “neutrals” to facilitate a collaborative process without bias.
Kenty’s hope, she said, is that the Working Group and events like the forum will move Maine toward a more comprehensive approach to community problem solving, followed by “the introduction of collaborative governance on a larger scale in Maine.”