Engaging for equity

Marin is home to some of the most civically active residents in California and ranks third most racially disparate county in the state. Designing engagement that works requires understanding both.

Updated August 28, 2026 at 1:59 PM PDT

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The Marin context

  • Marin's median household income is $142,785, but the top 20% of earners make more than 22 times what the bottom 20% make.
  • Between 2010 and 2023, lower-income households left the county at nearly double the rate of higher-income households, driven largely by housing costs.
  • 64% of Marin's workforce commutes from outside the county, meaning many people affected by county decisions aren't available for standard weeknight meetings.
  • 41.2% of local transit riders speak a language other than English at home; 31.2% speak English less than very well.
  • The majority of Black and Latino households in Marin are low-income, reflecting persistent disparities in housing, economic mobility, and access to services.

Effective engagement isn't about holding more meetings — it's about designing processes that reflect the actual diversity of the county, reduce barriers to participation, and make it possible for the people most impacted by decisions to help shape them.

The three principles

Inclusion

Designing processes that make space for the people most affected by a decision, particularly those who've historically had the least access to government. Casting the widest net isn't the goal — a process that reaches 500 people but misses the 50 most directly affected has failed its purpose.

Listening

An active discipline: creating conditions where people feel safe enough to say what they actually think, not just what they think government wants to hear. Low turnout is data. Repeated concerns from the same community are data. Silence from a community that has every reason to care about a decision is data. For guidance on responding to low turnout, contact OCE Communications or the Office of Equity.

Consistency

Trust is built through repeated, reliable behavior over time. Communities that've been let down by government processes in the past won't extend trust based on one good meeting. Close the loop every time, not just when the outcome was positive.

Design to the margins first. When engagement works for the people facing the most barriers, it tends to work for everyone.
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