Massachusetts Office of Public Collaboration (MPOC) is a research center and state office sanctioned by state law, “GL Ch. 75, Section 46, sets forth specific legislative authority for MOPC to provide dispute resolution and related collaborative services to public entities.” [1]
Mission and Purpose
MOPC’s mission aims to increase conflict resolution capacity, community collaboration, and consensus-building across statewide sectors. MOPC serves as a nonpartisan deliberative forum and state-level resource for public engagement. MOPC’s work seeks to provide cost savings for state and residents by reducing litigation and settlement expenses and enhancing capacity for effective deliberative interventions addressing public initiatives in the commonwealth.
Massachusetts Office of Public Collaboration serves five core functions: ”(1) Assessing, designing and facilitating collaborative processes; (2) Training and coaching public official as sponsors and conveners; (3) Designing, implementing, evaluating, and securing funding for sustainable public programs; (4) Developing policy, building capacity and conducting research to institutionalize best practices; and (5) Qualifying experienced neutral and collaborative practitioners for service on public contracts.” [2]
Origins and Development
Collaboration (MOPC) began as a pilot project in 1985, formerly known as the “Massachusetts Mediation Service.” [3] As the organization proliferated into collaborative governance and deliberative democracy, the official changed its name to the Massachusetts Office of Public Collaboration.
Organizational Structure, Membership, and Funding
Massachusetts Office of Public Collaboration receives funding from state agencies, interdepartmental agencies, parties receiving service, grant programs, and the Kettering Foundation. The Massachusetts Office of Public Collaboration provides routine fiscal year reports to uphold funding transparency.
MOPC operates as a “free-standing statutory initiate of the University of Massachusetts Boston.” [4]
Individuals can obtain MOPC membership upon employment and internship. Practitioners can become an affiliate, as “MOPC periodically issues a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) to recruit affiliate practitioners to serve on public contracts.” [5]
Specializations, Methods and Tools
MOPC provides services to local and state governmental agencies. Methods include mediation, consensus-building, capacity-building training, monitoring and evaluating systems design, and deliberative dialogue.
Major Projects and Events
Major Projects and Events
For over 25 years, MOPC has worked on various projects spanning an immense topic, connecting government agencies, courts, businesses, nonprofits, and residents in a neutral forum to discuss community objectives.
House Mediation Program (2021)
In response to the housing crisis brought by the COVID-19 pandemic, MOPC initiated the statewide intervention, Housing Mediation Program. In support of the project, “Program funding was initially provided through a contract with the Executive Office for Administration & Finance and appropriated in the FY21 state budget.” [6] Sponsored by the MA Department of Housing & Community Development, the MOPC program applies mediation to navigate homelessness prevention and cost mitigation. MOPC oversees program design, administration, mediators, and trainings.
Project Details: https://www.resolutionma.org/housing.
MA Eldercare Workforce Project (2011)
In efforts to address the elderly care health care crisis, “the Massachusetts Office of Public Collaboration (MOPC) has embarked on a multi-phase project to develop a statewide integrated alliance that addresses these workforce deficiencies in Massachusetts, modeled on the national Eldercare Workforce Alliance launched in response to the IOM report.” [7] In efforts to navigate inter-intuitional negotiation, resource management, and stakeholder collaboration, MOPC received grants to determine stakeholder motivation to increase participation.
Forest Futures Visioning Process Project (2009)
In 2009, MOPC worked with the Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) to design and facilitate reimagining the department’s silvicultural and forest management practices. MOPC conducted stakeholder analysis, supported forming a Technical Steering Committee, crafted process design optimized civic engagement opportunities, and offered the public accessible documentation of intervention feedback. As a result, “the goals of the visioning process – the creation of a facilitative, collaborative process that involved experts, stakeholders, and the general public in the formation of forest stewardship policy and the development of consensus recommendations from numerous stakeholders – were met.” [8]
Project Details: http://www.mass.gov/eea/agencies/dcr/conservation/landscape-designations/
Analysis and Lessons Learned
Publications
Jeghelian, S., Palihapitiya, M., & Eisenkraft, K. (October 2011). Legislative Study: A framework to strengthen Massachusetts community mediation as a cost-effective public service. MOPC, University of Massachusetts Boston.
Massachusetts Office of Dispute Resolution, University of Massachusetts Boston. (2006, January). Research-informed models for communicating the value of court-connected alternative dispute resolution for public funding: Working paper. Boston, MA: Dye, K.
Massachusetts Office of Dispute Resolution & Public Collaboration, University of Massachusetts Boston. (2009, October 15). Legislative hearing on MA foreclosure mediation program bills: Written testimony to the Joint Committee on the Judiciary. Boston, MA: Jeghelian, S. & Palihapitiya, M.
Massachusetts Office of Dispute Resolution & Public Collaboration, University of Massachusetts Boston. (n.d.). Democracy in practice: Lessons from New England. Boston, MA: Palihapitiya, M. & Dye, K.
Palihapitiya, M., & Eisenkraft, K. (February 2013). A Study for the Design and Administration of a Successful Foreclosure Mediation Program in Massachusetts. MOPC, University of Massachusetts Boston.
See Also
References
[1] https://www.umb.edu/mopc/about_us
[2] Ibid
[3] Ibid
[4] https://www.umb.edu/mopc/what_we_do
[5] https://www.umb.edu/mopc/about_us/faqs
[6] https://www.umb.edu/mopc/what_we_do/projects/housing
[7] https://www.umb.edu/mopc/what_we_do/services/eldercare_workforce
[8] https://www.umb.edu/mopc/what_we_do/services/archive_projects/ffvp