For the first time in recent memory, a Marin job fair is set for June 7, with more than 70 employers lined up, and 20 more on a wait list. The free event, running 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at San Rafael’s B Street Community Center, 618 B St., was originally planned as a “boot camp” for the area homeless population, said Andrew Hening, San Rafael’s director of homeless outreach and planning. But the interest from the business community was so overwhelming that organizers decided to open it up for the entire pool of job-seekers.
The response to the job fair hints at how dire Marin’s workforce shortage problem has become. Marin’s unemployment rate has hovered near 3% for over a year which economists consider “underemployment.” So, new strategies like a job fair can help maximize our local workforce potential and provide employers a new hiring source. Job seekers who have been on the sideline for a number of reasons, can be hired, trained and brought into the workforce at entry and mid-level service jobs. Rather than fill jobs with people who live outside of the county, we should tap into our local population as much as we can. Any effort to hire local workers and lessons commute traffic helps maintain our quality of life and is a good thing for our community.
Marin Economic Forum wholeheartedly supports the job fair and encourages all of us to promote this event. Congratulations to the 70+ local employers that have signed up to participate in the June 7 Jobs Fair!
Congratulations to Napa and Salt Lake City for coming up with solutions to build affordable housing in their respective communities.
At the Housing Shortage and Inequality event that MEF hosted May 4 at the Embassy Suites in San Rafael, MEF offered a few creative solutions to addressing these challenges, including preparing an Environmental Impact Report (EIR) in a specific market area so communities and developers can have plans and pre-approvals in place to create new neighborhoods.
A recent Marin IJ story reported that Marin grew more in 2017 (population) than its county neighbors of Sonoma and Napa, attributing much of that growth to last October’s wine country wildfires. The population estimates were provided by the state Department of Finance and showed that Marin County had a net people gain of 624, or 0.2%, compared with net population losses of 0.3% in both Napa and Sonoma counties. Throughout the state, more than 13,200 housing units were lost last year, mostly to fires in northern and southern California, the IJ reported.
The Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit District has received $21 million in state transportation funds to construct an extension to Windsor, train officials announced last week. The grant, coupled with $40 million proposed in the upcoming ballot issue Regional Measure 3, would allow SMART to complete the Windsor extension.
Marin Economic Forum (MEF) is celebrating a significant transportation improvement. Last Friday, April 20, Caltrans opened the long-awaited third eastbound lane on the San-Rafael-Richmond Bridge. The third-lane is providing much-needed, instant relief to thousands of working commuters leaving work in the afternoons and evenings and is open from 2 pm to 7 pm weekdays. Highly functioning infrastructure is essential to talent attraction and worker productivity some of the issues we have been concerned about at MEF.
Robin Sternberg’s Attends CALED’s 38th Annual Training Conference
Last week Marin Economic Forum’s Chief Executive Robin Sternberg attended the 38th Annual Training Conference hosted by the California Associate for Local Economic Development (CALED). The event was held in Monterey with approximately 400 economic development professionals from nearly 100 communities in California. Robin was the only economic development representative from Marin. CALED’s mission is dedicated to advancing its members’ ability to achieve excellence in delivering economic development services to their communities and business clients. The association consists of public and private organizations that focus on the business of creating and retaining jobs.
Today Marin Economic Forum had the opportunity to present Housing Shortage and Inequality data to the Board of Supervisors. The lack of supply versus the demand for housing in Marin is reaching a tipping point that is genuinely threatening our economy. In addition to social consequences, housing inequity profoundly limits the potential of people who live among us as well as the broader economy. A recent study of California counties found that Marin County is one of the state’s counties with the highest levels of economic inequality.
As transportation officials consider options to expand the Richmond Bridge to mitigate morning commutes coming into Marin and evening commutes leaving the county, the concept of a third lane on the north side of the upper deck coming into Marin has risen to the top – yet only as a section of roadway for pedestrians and bicyclists. In January, however, Marin Supervisor Damon Connolly (full disclosure, Damon is on MEF’s board), said that the third lane should also be used for westbound (inbound) vehicles, especially during morning commute times.
We intend to use this space to highlight news and issues that impact Marin County residents and businesses, particularly in the areas that Marin Economic Forum (MEF) plays an instrumental role in affecting change and making Marin – which is pretty great already, a better place to live, work, grow a business, thrive and raise families. Look for something from us every Tuesday, as we plan to post regular blog items, and we will also periodically publish newsletters and announce when MEF is in the news.
-Robin
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