The Trinity County Economics team formed out of necessity and opportunity. Sonoma State University requires all graduating seniors to complete an internship before graduating. During the Spring of 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic caused many students to unexpectedly lose their internships. 

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One of the Sonoma State University professors is on the Congress for New Urbanism's California Chapter Board of Directors, along with Buildaberg Principal Scott Watkins, MBA MPP. Through this connection,  The Sonoma State professor contacted Scott and asked if he would be interested in hosting an intern for the summer. With a couple of short weeks, a total of four interns joined Buildaberg. Without any advanced planning, Scott developed a framework on the fly to channel the interns efforts toward developing a set of Economic policies Trinity County could consider during their upcoming General Plan update.

 

The fortitude of these four interns, faced with the potential delay in graduating during the pandemic, along with their general curiosity of how planning theories and policies can strengthen the Trinity County Local Economy, has led to Trinity County Economics. This website is a culmination of their collective efforts.