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December 2006 Newsletter.pdf 

The Keystone Conference

Consolidating Our Collective Wisdom: Best Counsel and Advice to the Next Generation

by Carolyn Penny

Imagine, for a moment, facilitating the facilitators.

One hundred and six senior mediators and facilitators, including a number of EPP practitioners, gathered at Keystone, Colorado from October 8 to 11, 2006.  The gathering, titled “Consolidating Our Collective Wisdom: Best Counsel and Advice to the Next Generation,” was hosted by The Keystone Center and Mediate.com, with particular involvement by Peter Adler, Robert Benjamin, and Jim Melamed.  . . .

EPP Section Endorses Administration Efforts in ECR

New Federal ECR Policy Taking Off

by Kirk Emerson

On November 28, 2005, Joshua Bolten, then Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), and James Connaughton, Chairman of the President's Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), issued a policy memorandum on environmental conflict resolution (ECR).  This joint policy statement directs all federal departments and most independent agencies to increase the effective use of ECR and their institutional capacity for collaborative problem solving. . . .

EPP Section Supports ECR Policy Memo

by Cindy Cook and Michael Elliott

At the ACR EPP Section meeting in June 2006, members discussed the OMB and CEQ’s policy memorandum on environmental conflict resolution (described above in an article by Kirk Emerson).  EPP members agreed that the memo was based on sound collaboration and consensus building definitions and principles.  On November 9, 2006, we sent all EPP members a memorandum that outlined activities that you can undertake to help advance the joint policy statement and the use of ECR in federal government.  . . .

EPP 2006 Conference Follow-Up

An Introduction to Dialogue, Deliberation, & Deliberative Democracy

by Lisa Bedinger

The EPP Section’s June 2006 conference provided an introduction to the world of Deliberative Democracy for many of the practitioners in attendance.  Many EPP Section members found that their work has a strong overlap and commonalities with the work of practitioners in the dialogue and deliberation (D&D) field. . . .

Section News

EPP Leadership Council Election Results

Congratulations to the following members whom you recently elected as At-Large Members of the EPP Leadership Council . . .

Transitions

 CDR Associates in Transition

by Forsyth Kineon

This is another in an occasional series of stories about trends in the conflict resolution field.  The present topic is leadership transition – from the founders to a new generation of leaders – in some of the major environmental and public policy dispute resolution organizations. . . .  This year, we examine a 28-year-old Rocky Mountain organization founded by four partners with a mutual vision.  By sharing the experiences these organizations underwent, we hope to assist others as they embark upon similar transitions. . . .

Getting Started In The Field

Passion for the Process

by Christine Gyovai

I was 19, living in northern California, and involved in a work exchange program at the Heartwood Institute when I took my first mediation training course.  After an active listening exercise with a close friend following the training, I experienced how powerful it was to really feel heard.  I was hooked from that point on. . . .

Trends

Maxwell School of Syracuse University Holds Conference on Collaborative Public Management

How does collaborative public management change what it means to be a leader?  The Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University (SU) recently sponsored a three-day conference in Washington, DC, to consider this topic and its implications for the future of public administration. . . .

News You Can Use

EPP Members Publish Report on Facilitating Brownfields Projects

EPA provided support to a dozen brownfields projects across the country to find out if facilitation works.  The answer is a resounding “yes.”  The experiences at the pilot sites are described in “Evaluating the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Brownfields Facilitation Pilot Projects,” by EPP Co-Chair Michael Elliott and EPP member Greg Bourne. . . .

Research Corner

Negotiating High Stakes Water Conflicts:  Lessons Learned From Experienced Practitioners (2003)

by Stephen E. Snyder

In an effort to understand the human dynamics at work in a difficult and contentious water negotiation, the Natural Resources Law Center of the University of Colorado Law School convened two workshops of persons with extensive experience in such negotiations. . . .The goals of the two workshops were the same: to understand why water conflicts are so difficult to resolve by negotiation and to develop some practical guidelines for how to organize and conduct a difficult water negotiation. . . .

Newsletter Issues

Writers Welcome . . .

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. . . As Is Feedback

We would like to know if the EPP newsletter is meeting your needs and if you have suggestions for improvement.  . . .

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March 2006 Newsletter