Local Data on Overweight & Obesity | Local Food Sources, Resources & Sustainable Agriculture | Improving the Food & Activity Environments | Nutrition and Physical Activity Guidelines | School Wellness Policies | Physical Activity Resources | Breastfeeding Resources
Local Data on Overweight & Obesity
Qualitative Research Findings: Focus Group and Key Informant Interviews on the Prevention of Childhood Obesity in San Mateo County
Report on Overweight and Obesity in Children and Adolescents, San Mateo County, April 2006.
Kidsdata has information on children in six Bay area counties including San Mateo County. Data presented by region, topic or demographic. Data is also available for specific cities and school districts.
Within the topics section of Kidsdata, there is information available on weight and physical fitness including 7th grade students who meet all fitness standards from 1999-2006, children in each county who meet all fitness standards by grade level (e.g. 5, 7, and 9), percentage of children who are overweight in each county according to physical fitness tests, percentage of parents concerned about their children's weight in each county, parent's perception of child's weight in each county, and percentage of unfit children by assembly district.
Within the topics section of Kidsdata, there is information available on public school students enrolled in the Free or Reduced Price Meal Program from 1998-2008. Information is available for different counties in the Bay Area.
Improving the Food & Activity Environments
The San Mateo County School Wellness Committee provides a forum for school district staff, students, families, and others interested to collaborate on school wellness issues and exchange ideas, resources, best practices and tools to support coordinated school health and school district wellness policies.
As the first Food System Alliance in California, the San Mateo Food System Alliance has sought to bring together all the parts of the San Mateo County food system into a cohesive group capable of creating an ever healthier and more vibrant local food economy.
The Strategic Alliance for Healthy Food and Activity Environments designed the Environmental Nutrition and Activity Community Tool (ENACT), a concrete menu of strategies designed to help you improve nutrition and activity environments on a local level. Each ENACT strategy presents useful information based on current research and practice and includes model policies and programs, hands-on tools, articles and other publications, and resources.
You are the Food System video is a documentary produced by East Palo Alto Youth Reporters that documents food system change in East Palo Alto.
The National Policy & Legal Analysis Network to Prevent Childhood Obesity (NPLAN) has released a set of model land use policies to help communities create more opportunities for farmers’ markets.
The San Mateo County Health System offers built environment fact sheets, recommendations and resources on topics such as healthy general plans, healthy housing elements, transit-oriented development and health, San Mateo County and transit-oriented development.
Building Health into San Mateo County Cities Toolkit - This document highlights local tools developed or adapted by the San Mateo County Health System, in
collaboration with San Mateo County cities and other County agencies, and provides recommendations for how to include health from the beginning of
planning processes.
JointUse.org is a website created by the Joint Use Statewide Task Force (JUST) to ensure that all children have a safe space to play and be active within easy reach. The website features information on joint use policies, joint use checklist and agreement templates, funding resources, and success stories. It even has a joint use locator where you put in your address and it gives you the contact information of organizations near you that currently have joint use agreements with other organizations in their area.
Public Health Law & Policy (PHLP) has just released a toolkit that helps communities and school districts work together to develop joint use agreements, increasing access to recreational facilities on school grounds. PHLP also developed many joint use resources, including a comprehensive checklist for developing a joint use agreement and model agreement language that can be tailored to any community’s needs.
The Start! movement is focused on motivating and encouraging all Americans to take up walking and other healthy habits as part of their daily routine all year around, and to live longer, stronger heart-healthy lives. The Start! Wellness Program is free and has the tools to help employers make employee wellness a priority. Please contact Lydia Kung at (415) 228-8416 if you have any questions.
Visit www.dcpartnership.org to learn about the work of the Daly City Peninsula Partnership Collaborative, whose mission is to promote and facilitate collaborative efforts to ensure that all members of the Daly City community have access to health, education and social services.
Local Food Sources, Resources & Sustainable Agriculture
Second Harvest Food Bank of San Mateo and Santa Clara Counties includes information about how individuals and families can access food, how organizations can partner with Second Harvest, how you can volunteer at the Food Bank, how you can donate and how you can run a food drive.
As Fresh As It Gets program in San Mateo County offers awards to restaurants that use local, fresh produce. It also holds ongoing events in the community. This website includes information about award recipients.
San Mateo County Produce Calendar
San Mateo County Fresh Fish Calendar
San Mateo County market/farm locations
Institute for Fisheries Resources gives information about when local seafood and fish are in season and where to buy them.
San Mateo County certified farmers' markets
Eating Sustainably Guide describes the food resources in the San Francisco Peninsula and the South Bay with some information on food resources in San Francisco and the East Bay. Includes information such as location of farmers' markets, organic community supported agriculture farms, organic produce delivery services, grocery stores, local organic food brands, and more.
Local Food Source Guide was created for the Palo Alto food shed. Information on where Bay area farmers' markets obtain their produce including distance from farms to markets and location of farms.
Health Environment Agriculture Learning Project (HEAL) is a unique, hands on, award-winning program that instills healthy lifestyle habits in elementary school children while inspiring environmental and agricultural awareness through a comprehensive, interactive curriculum. Thanks to consistent support from Kaiser Permanente, the Silicon Valley Community Foundation and the Hatch Parent Teacher Organization, HEAL will benefit over 600 students in the Cabrillo Unified School District in San Mateo County this year.
Collective Roots posts information about events in East Palo Alto (EPA) at the EPA Charter School's Garden, and offers resources, news, a farmers' market and much more.
Pacifica Gardens is a community garden site on the grounds of the former Linda Mar School. As a partnership with the City of Pacifica and the San Francisco Botanical Garden's Adult Education Program, the garden will be a demonstration center for biointensive gardening and permaculture techniques. Pacifica Gardens will be both an educational experience and a source of food and jobs for the local community.
Map of San Mateo County Public Elementary School Gardens - Please email Jenn Gross (jgross@co.sanmateo.ca.us) if you want to add or remove a school garden or revise information on this map.
The San Mateo County Food System Alliance makes a Call to Action for a Garden in Every School! Learn how to get involved in ensuring that every child in our county have the experience of eating something that they themselves planted.
Nutrition & Physical Activity Guidelines
The Preschool/Childcare Providers’ Committee of the Get Healthy San Mateo County (GHSMC) Task Force produced a set of recommendations on nutrition and physical activity entitled Nutrition and Physical Activity for Early Childhood Ages 1-5. Available in English and Spanish.
The Afterschool Committee of the GHSMC Task Force launched the Healthy Apple Award Program, which recognizes the efforts of afterschool providers to implement healthy eating and physical activity as a component of their program. Click on the materials below to know more about the award program, assess your afterschool program, and access a nutrition toolkit.
The Dairy Council of California helps to improve the lives of millions of Californians through nutrition education, and provides free programs and resource materials to educators and health professionals in California. Their programs are research-based and lead to positive behavior change in food and activity choices.
Family Service Agency of San Mateo County has been providing quality child care that supports working families for over 30 years. Sites are located throughout San Mateo County. Each site has a similar approach applying evidence based on the best practices and the recognition that the first five years of a child’s life are the most important in terms of learning and development.
The Childhood Obesity Prevention Project at Stanford University is a 3-step program that gives parents/guardians the tools to create a healthy eating environment for their children. Step 1: Evaluation and Orientation (30 minutes), Step 2: Weekly Group Therapy with certified therapist (5 weeks) Step 3: “After” Assessment (15 minutes). All participants are rewarded $100 for their time and commitment. Call 650-723-2242 or email jsyu@stanford.edu for more information.
Physical Activity Resources
Local Activity Resource Directory
Be Active Resource Directory - San Mateo County
FitFun Game Guide, developed by the Redwood City School District Wellness committee, is a physical activity resource for K-5 classroom teachers.
County of San Mateo, Parks and Recreation Department lists information on mid and south-county trails and a mid-county trail map.
Open space trail map in Belmont
Recreation areas in Belmont
City of South San Francisco Walking and Biking Map
View a Coastal Conservancy book by Bonnie Lewkowicz called A Wheelchair Rider’s Guide: San Francisco Bayand the Nearby Coast. This downloadable 211-page book suggests trails for wheelchairs and strollers, including areas in San Mateo County. Printed copies of this guide are also available free of charge by calling 510-286-1015.
The Bay Trail provides easily accessible recreational opportunities for outdoor enthusiasts, including hikers, joggers, bicyclists and skaters. It provides a commute alternative for cyclists, and connects to numerous public transportation facilities (including ferry terminals, light-rail lines, bus stops and Caltrain, Amtrak, and BART stations).
Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition is your best source for bicycling information in the Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties. Check this page to learn about interesting events, volunteering opportunities, and current issues facing bicyclists.
Get Fit EPA website has links to videos on how and where to get healthy in East Palo Alto, CA.
The mission of Bike San Mateo County, is to facilitate and encourage more people to get out and ride: to work, to play, to relax and to experience the simple joy of riding one's bicycle.
The mission of Starlings Volleyball Clubs USA San Mateo Chapter is to help prevent childhood obesity in vulnerable populations by addressing its two main causes, poor nutrition and lack of physical activity. The Starlings program helps minority and low-income girls ages 12 to 18 by 1) developing their athletic skills through participation in a team sport, 2) teaching them healthy eating and exercise habits, and 3) providing them with a safe haven where caring, involved adults encourage them to stay away from drugs and gangs, do well in school and go on to college. Click here to read an article about Starlings.
Breastfeeding Resources
San Mateo County Breastfeeding Resources
San Mateo County Breastfeeding Services Table
Does your organization promote healthy eating and active living among youth in San Mateo County? Would you like to be listed here? If so, please email info@gethealthysmc.org with your website address and a brief description of your organization.