#111. Peggy Murphy: How Humboldt County Grows Business Without Selling Out

Send us Fan MailHumboldt needs good jobs, a stronger tax base, and a plan that doesn’t depend on the next boom saving us. I sit down with Peggy Murphy, the County of Humboldt’s Economic Development Director, to get specific about what economic development really looks like on the ground: helping local businesses stay open, building a workforce pipeline, and making sure we’re not “buckshotting” our limited time and money across a hundred disconnected ideas.We talk through the cannabis industry boom-and-bust with clear eyes. Peggy explains how legalization brought heavy regulation, stacked licensing, and real supply chain costs that crushed margins right as the market got oversaturated. That leads into Project Trellis, a cannabis business support program created because cannabis still can’t tap federally funded Small Business Development Center services. If you’ve ever wondered why whole towns feel different after an industry contracts, this part connects the dots.From there we zoom out to the long game: industry studies like Project Rebound, aligning business attraction with workforce development, and using tools like the Samoa Peninsula Enhanced Infrastructure Financing District to make sites build-ready. We also hit broadband as economic infrastructure, why “ultra-rural” communities get misunderstood by state and federal decision makers, and how tourism marketing can focus on longer stays without trying to overrun the place we love. If you care about Humboldt County economic development, workforce training, remote work, small business growth, and sustainable industry, you’ll hear what’s possible and what’s in the way.Subscribe wherever you listen, share this with one person who cares about Humboldt’s future, and leave a review so more people can find the show. Support the showAbout 100% Humboldt with Scott HammondHumboldt County CA USA is the home of some of the most iconoclastic, genuine, and interesting folks in the world.We are getting curious about the movers, shakers, and difference makers in Humboldt County CA-Home of the giant redwoods, 6 Rivers, and the vast Pacific Ocean.We will discover what makes people live/evolve in the beautiful, diverse, isolated, and ever-changing North Coast of California 100%!Listen in and learn what it is to be 100% Humboldt! Find us on You Tube, Linked In, Facebook, Instagram, and Tik Tok!