Economic Development Recovery and Resiliency Playbook - Flipbook - Page 30
Case Study:
Community Outreach
to make changes. While the questionnaire provided a
framework for the discussion, participants were able to ask
additional questions during the meeting.
Mariposa County Economic Vitality
Strategy, May 2017
In addition to the stakeholder meetings, staf created an
EVS Update web page on Mariposa County’s website that
included a blog with meeting updates and comments,
information about the strategic plan, and project updates.
Staf also created Facebook and Instagram pages for public
engagement and reached out to the local media with press
releases and invitations to the scheduled meetings.
This report ofers a helpful example of how to conduct
community outreach. In 2017, the Mariposa County Board
of Supervisors directed staf to update the county’s existing
Economic Vitality Strategy (EVS)12, which was created in 2007.
The 2007 EVS had not been reviewed or updated for 10 years.
A Framework for Community
Engagement
Staf first created a list of 28 stakeholder organizations
throughout the county and then scheduled meetings
with each one. Participants received a questionnaire that
identified the strategy’s two goals, which were to
strengthen the tourism industry by making Mariposa a
year-round destination, and to diversify Mariposa
County’s economy with suitable business development
opportunities. The questionnaire asked the stakeholder
participants five questions:
1. Do you believe these two goals are still appropriate for
Mariposa County?
2. Within each goal, there are strategies to achieve the
goal, and several actions to achieve the strategies.
Please review each action. Please identify five actions
to which you believe the county should give priority.
3. Are there additional strategies or actions that should
be included in the EVS?
4. Are there strategies or actions that are no longer
relevant or appropriate?
5. Are there economic development issues or
opportunities that are unique to your community
and that are not identified with the EVS (for example,
issues that are unique to your community or unique
to agriculture)?
Staf distributed the questionnaire to the stakeholders prior
to each meeting. At the stakeholder meetings, staf used the
questionnaire as a facilitation structure for the meeting and
took notes on public white sheets, which allowed attendees
12
22
Mariposa-County-EVS_Final-Report-62017 (mariposacounty.org)
CALED | Economic Development Recovery and Resiliency Playbook
Consolidating Community Input and
Updating the Strategy
Afer all 28 meetings were conducted (over a period of three
months), a uniform report was produced for each of the
community meetings. Staf presented the data generated
from the community outreach (stakeholder meetings,
Facebook and blog input, and private letters) at a regular
meeting of the Mariposa County Board of Supervisors.
The meeting’s agenda item included the 28 reports, the
schedule of meetings, the questionnaire, all notes from
social media and the blog, and the four private letters.
When the county hired consultants to create the 2017
EVS update, staf provided them with all the Board
of Supervisors’ meeting attachments to inform the
consultants about the community’s requests. The
consultants continued where the county lef of and
interviewed several stakeholders and conducted a Town
Hall meeting to solidify the EVS goals and objectives.
The Mariposa County Board of Supervisors adopted
the 2017 EVS Update on July 17, 2017, during the Detwiler
Fire evacuation.
Following its adoption, hard copies of the printed plan were
distributed to stakeholders, and the project web page was
updated with a link to the adopted plan.
The community outreach did not end afer the adopted
plan was distributed. Staf continues to review the plan on
an annual basis, reports to the Board of Supervisors with
updates, maintains a current version of the master plan on
the website, and updates the social media pages.
