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Building Healthy, Equitable Communities
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January 2018 Newsletter
Safe Routes to Good Health

Newsletter

Announcing our 2018 Get Healthy Community Implementation Funding Recipients 
We’re excited to announce the seven projects selected to receive 2018 Get Healthy San Mateo County Community Implementation Funding to help advance healthy, equitable communities across San Mateo County! Welcome aboard to:

  • Community Alliance with Family Farmers:  Solving the Bid Dilemma – Innovative Solutions for School Cafeterias to Carry Local Healthy Foods (Healthy Schools and Healthy neighborhoods - Food Access)
  • Envision, Transform, Build—East Palo Alto: Capturing Public Value and Benefits from New Commercial Developments to Advance Healthy Communities (Healthy Economy)
  • Faith in Action Bay Area: Healthy Communities in Action – Connecting Schools and Housing (Healthy Housing)
  • Rebuilding Together Peninsula: East Palo Alto Accessory Dwelling Units Initiative – Expanding Garage Conversion Options (Healthy Housing)
  • San Mateo County Office of Education: Building Capacity in Restorative Justice Practices – Taking it to Scale (Healthy Schools)
  • Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition: Safety, Health, and Equity in Transportation Planning (Healthy Neighborhoods – Transit Access)
  • Youth Leadership Institute: Transportation Equity Allied Movement 2.0 – Advancing Healthy Transportation Options (Healthy Neighborhoods – Transit Access)

We look forward to sharing milestones of their great work with you! Find more information on their projects here.

 

Boards and Commissions Vacancies 
Be A Voice in Your Community: It’s Good for your Health!
Are you interested in getting involved in your community? Try serving on a local board or commission. Research shows that civic engagement and volunteerism is good for health in youth, adults and seniors. Health, Policy and Planning will be monitoring vacancies throughout the county and sharing them on our monthly newsletter and social media so community members can easily access these opportunities to make their communities healthier places to live, work and play.
 
If you are a County of San Mateo resident who regularly bikes or walks, please consider applying for the Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee. Members advise and make recommendations to the Board of Supervisors on funding, projects, programs and policies related to improving and increasing bicycling and walking transportation. The commitment is a two-year term. Applications are due 2/9.

 

Items to include in this newsletter

Staff Perspective Brian Oh

Introducing our Newest Health Equity Team Member
Advancing Health Equity in San Mateo County

I’m so excited to be joining the team as its newest Senior Community Health Planner and bringing over six years of experience in transportation politics, policy, and planning. As a recent transplant from Los Angeles, I look forward to working with you and exploring this great county that my family and I now call home.  Prior to joining the Health System, I worked for the city of Los Angeles, where I oversaw the transportation agenda for Los Angeles City Council President Pro Tempore Mitch Englander.

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Daly City Adopts Kids’ Healthy Meals Ordinance 

Congratulations to Daly City for being the first city in the county to adopt the Kids’ Healthy Meals ordinance! This policy makes water or low-fat milk the first choice in children’s meal combos for chain restaurants. It is a great step forward to curb the consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages among kids that research shows contributes heavily to obesity and diabetes. It also helps promote healthier food habits in our kids. For more information on this effort, click here.

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More Funds to Improve Safety around Schools 

Congratulations to the ten awardees of the Safe Route to Schools and Green Infrastructure Pilot Projects!  City/County Association of Governments of San Mateo County will distribute $2M dollars to the selected projects for bike and pedestrian enhancements that incorporate stormwater improvements around schools. The funding aligns closely with our forthcoming research that identified the top 15 public elementary schools most in need of safety improvements.

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Improved Transportation Metric Supports Healthy Communities 

Long commutes put a significant toll on the health of our residents in San Mateo County. We are excited to see the recently released state guidelines to help cities adopt vehicle miles traveled (VMT) as a metric to measure the transportation impacts of new development. The goal is to reduce the number of vehicle miles generated by the users of new developments. This metric is a significant improvement from the previous measurement that accounted for how much travel delay a new development would generate.

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Expanding Restorative Justice Practices 

On January 23rd, about 40 school administrators, teachers and wellness coordinators came together to deepen their understanding of Restorative Justice Practice (RJP) to create a healthier school environment, increase graduation rates and address disproportionality in schools’ discipline outcomes. Health Policy and Planning has been working closely with the San Mateo County Office of Education to support implementation of RJP in schools across the county.

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Inclusionary Housing is Back and Growing 

With the passage of AB 1505 known as the Palmer Fix, local jurisdictions can now require rental residential developers to include affordable housing. The cities of San Mateo, Belmont, and Pacifica have already adopted inclusionary ordinances for both rental and for-sale development. South San Francisco, Daly City and Redwood City are in the process of adopting new inclusionary housing ordinances.

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Home for All Launched Second Unit Resource 

The San Mateo County Home for All Initiative launched a Second Unit Resources Center to their website. This website has information for homeowners considering adding a second unit to their home and includes resources specific to each city in San Mateo County. There is a calculator for assessing the investment costs of adding a second unit, as well as an idea book featuring case studies and floor plan ideas.

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Improving Health for Vulnerable Families 

We are pleased to announce the Community Collaboration for Children’s Success initiative, a place-based, trauma-informed planning process to identify barriers to success for youth and their families and determine interventions to improve outcomes for the most vulnerable youth in San Mateo County.