3. Public Involvement
The Mariposa County Economic Development Corporation is a private non-profit corporation and as such, is not subject to many of the public participation standards common to many governmental agencies. However, due to the Mariposa EDC’s understanding of the nature of its mission and the need to build strong community consensus on a community economic development strategy, broad based public participation is deemed essential.

As a result, Mariposa EDC membership is open to any individual residing in Mariposa County or has an economic or business interest in the County who supports the goals and objectives of the organization. All meetings are open to the general public and the Mariposa EDC will endeavor to develop news releases, articles and other media presentation to describe the organizations activities and directions. The Mariposa EDC may also conduct an annual public forum on economic development goals and strategies in Mariposa County. This forum could provide the general public with an opportunity to advise the Mariposa EDC of its attitudes, problems or concerns regarding the EDC programs.

4. Partnerships and Strategic Alliances
The Mariposa County Economic Development Corporation’s effectiveness in implementing a successful economic development strategy is closely linked to the local, regional, state and federal network of individuals, organizations and public agencies that serve or have an identity with the county. Formal and informal linkages must be established for effective information exchange and to forge “partnership strategies” on key elements of the Mariposa EDC’s Economic Development Strategic Plan.

The Mariposa County Chamber of Commerce:
There is a potential for duplication of efforts between the Mariposa County Chamber of Commerce and the Mariposa County EDC. Both organizations share a common interest with respect to improving the economic and business climate of Mariposa County. In practice, many members of the Mariposa EDC are also members of the Chamber.

In order to maximize the limited resources of both organizations, the Mariposa EDC has determined that its most effective role would be to concentrate its energies in the area of supporting “Basic” industries; that is businesses that sell their product primarily outside of the area and bring “new” money into the local economy. By contrast, most of the local service industries, with the exception of visitor services, rely on money that is already in the local economy and are termed “non-basic” or “secondary” industries.

Efforts of the Mariposa EDC and Chamber will complement each other and there are many areas where joint efforts will yield better results. An example would be visitor and area promotion efforts. Similarly, EDC business development and maintenance efforts are equally applicable to both basic and non-basic businesses in the County. The Mariposa EDC and Chamber will need to work very closely together to maximize the community benefits of both organization’s efforts.