Minnesota Agencies

The OCDR seeks to provide effective forums for collaborative problem solving, public decision-making, and community involvement on contentious public issues, and to build capacity within public agencies.  The office serves as a statewide catalyst to advance sustainable resolution of matters of public interest, broad use of community mediation throughout Minnesota, and effective collaboration and dispute resolution in state and local government.

The Office of Dispute Resolution was established within the State Planning Agency in 1985.

In 2013 the legislature renamed it the Office of Collaboration and Dispute Resolution (OCDR) and resituated it under the Bureau of Mediation Services (BMS) to, among other things, serve the following purpose: promote the broad use of community mediation in the state; assist state agencies, offices of the executive, legislative, and judicial branches, and units of local government in improving collaboration and dispute resolution; and support collaboration and dispute resolution in the public and private sector by providing technical assistance and information on best practices and new developments in dispute resolution options.

Governor Tim Walz issued Reorganization Order 197 in July 2019 which moved the OCDR from BMS to the Department of Administration. 

The OCDR describes its current purpose this way on its website: "[use] collaborative processes and the science of human relations to help government and stakeholders improve relationships, build trust, and develop wise and durable solutions to seemingly intractable issues."