City Planner, Mediator, and MIT Professor

Community Dispute Negotiation Role-Play: Homelessness in Niceville

Title:

Community Dispute Negotiation Role-Play: Homelessness in Niceville
Publication Type
:
Miscellaneous
Year of Publication
:
1996

Authors:

Lawrence Susskind
Edward Scher
Publication Language
:
eng
Abstract
:
Six-person facilitated integrative negotiation among advocates for homeless people, community and business leaders, and a foundation regarding the allocation of a grant to alleviate local homelessness problems
Citation Key
:
103

Recent publicity in a prominent national newspaper about the town of Niceville’s expanding homeless population, has caused the Ledbetter Foundation to address the issue of homelessness with a one-time grant of $500,000. The simulation explores the role a facilitator can play in this type of community problem-solving effort. The stakeholders represent five different attitudes towards homelessness which are sometimes contrary, yet lend themselves to coalition building. It is up to the foundation representative to reconcile the parties’ philosophical differences to develop a satisfactory “package”.