Body of News Release
Marin County, CA – The County of Marin is moving ahead with creating an updated roadmap to help boost its regional economy.
An experienced consulting firm will guide the County as it undertakes the development of a new, countywide Economic Vitality Strategic Plan. The new plan will holistically update the County’s initial 2022 planning effort and reflect the County’s recent establishment of a centralized economic development function within the Office of the County Executive. That mission stemmed from significant shifts in the local economy after the COVID-19 pandemic shutdowns of 2020 and 2021.
On June 9, the Marin County Board of Supervisors awarded a $250,000 contract to BAM Consulting Inc. and Strategic Economics Inc. to develop the County’s new Economic Vitality Strategic Plan. The final plan will reflect the updated landscape of economic development and vitality in Marin – including the County’s establishment of dedicated Economic Vitality staffing in 2023 and the dissolution of the nonprofit Marin Economic Forum in 2025. The forum had served as an independent strategic and statistical databank for the Marin business community for 12 years before closing.
With community and economic vitality named as one of the Supervisors’ top ongoing priorities, the County has stepped up to become a unifying local leader in the effort to build long-term economic sustainability. Undertaking a new countywide strategic plan is intended to be a way to support inclusive, equitable, and connected communities throughout Marin and advance key Board goals in bringing vibrancy to public spaces; fostering local talent and innovation; creating new opportunities for public-private partnerships; and ensuring workforce and housing alignment.
Supervisor Brian Colbert, Supervisor Mary Sackett, and County Executive Derek Johnson led a cross-sector delegation visit to San Luis Obispo in fall 2025 with the goal of learning more about successes in that region with placemaking, workforce alignment, and collaboration. Insights from the visit informed the County’s desired direction on the upcoming Economic Vitality Strategic Plan.
“We have recognized the need for a more comprehensive and coordinated approach to economic vitality, especially since the pandemic,” Johnson said. “That disruption of income streams, employment and creation of new patterns of how we live and work reinforced how much economic opportunity is tied to things like housing and community well-being. This new countywide strategic plan will become a critical guiding roadmap to success with measurable outcomes, implementation steps, and regional coordination.”
County staff has engaged with representatives in Marin’s cities and towns to ensure the County’s regional plan can both complement and support individual efforts in those municipalities. The County’s chosen consultants will provide technical analysis and establish a regional advisory committee on economic vitality that will help guide the new plan.
The County plans to hire an economic vitality director to join the Office of the County Executive. That director will help finalize the plan and present a status update to the Board of Supervisors at the end of the calendar year.
Learn more about Marin County’s economic vitality efforts on its website.
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Photo caption: County Executive Derek Johnson (center) and Supervisor Brian Colbert (right) joined Supervisor Mary Sackett and a cross-sector delegation visit to San Luis Obispo in fall 2025 with the goal of learning more about successes in that region with placemaking, workforce alignment, and collaboration.