 Mediation and Conflict Resolution Office (MACRO)
Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) programs across the country vary greatly in areas such as developmental history, mission and goals, funding support, program location, and types of service offerings. The one thing they collectively share: the continual search for new and different ways to resolve conflict and policy dilemmas and how best to make their services and programs more understandable and accepted by the public. Maryland’s Mediation and Conflict Resolution Office (MACRO) stood out as a leader in the ADR field.
On Person’s Vision
Rachel Wohl envisioned the creation of a statewide ADR program in the state of Maryland. However, she could not create such a massive program on her own. She needed a champion who would move this initiative forward. She pitched the idea to Judge Robert M. Bell, the Chief Judge of the Maryland Court of Appeals. Wohl claimed Bell as the first progressive judge to not take a narrow view on the way a court system should be set up. Bell believed that court systems should be held accountable for all the ethical issues a community may face.
 In 1998, Judge Bell created the Maryland ADR Commission. The Commission was charged with the task of finding an appropriate use for mediation and conflict resolution processes throughout Maryland’s courts, neighborhoods, schools, government agencies, criminal and juvenile justice programs, and businesses.
Seven hundred people around the state offered feedback to the initiative. They helped the Maryland ADR Commission develop a consensus-based Practical Action Plan called Join the Resolution. To implement the plan, the Commission asked the Mediation and Conflict Resolution Office (MACRO) to join their team. Rachel Wohl would play her part as the Executive Director of MACRO, a court-related agency that serves as an ADR resource for the state.
The governor and legislative offices would support this initiative as well providing an initial amount of $500,000 to establish the Commission. Two million dollars per year followed from the judiciary. MACRO is responsible for dispersing the judiciary’s money to community mediation centers across the state. MACRO also received a one-time grant of $300,000 from the Hewlett Foundation to be used to support other states with similar ADR initiatives.
What started as the vision of one woman grew into a statewide ADR program from which all of Maryland could benefit.
MACRO is a key player in providing support and services about ADR in Maryland, implementing a number of different programs across the state. One program is called the Maryland Program for Mediator Excellence (MPME). This program is being used nationally as a potential model for states interested in implement a system for continual improvement in the quality of mediation. MACRO is working with the court system to develop a web-based data collection and evaluation system for Maryland’s court-based ADR programs. This would allow administrators analyzing data to be able to better understand, improve, and capture the benefits of court ADR programs. Another program MACRO is launching is a multi-media public awareness campaign. The first campaign produced 24 posters with the theme “Mediation: It’s Your Solution.” Court, school, government, and community mediation programs across the state were able to customize the posters to display information about their own offerings. MACRO also supports numerous pilot projects and assists ADR programs, educational efforts, and services in courts, schools, community mediation centers, the State Attorney’s offices, juvenile justice programs, and government agencies statewide.
Program Recognition
MACRO is used constantly as a best practice model, and “Maryland has won national acclaim for its multi-faceted approach to ADR as well as for the Maryland Judiciary’s leading role in helping to prevent disputes from reaching a stage at which court intervention is necessary.”
For more information, go to www.courts.state.md.us/macro. |
