Items to include in this newsletter
Congratulations to Sonali!
Sonali Suratkar is now our work-out-of-class community health planner. Sonali will continue to lead the Healthy Retail and Safe Routes to School efforts for the CalFresh Healthy Living program but she will take her passion for healthy neighborhoods policy and systems change to support key ongoing initiatives with the Food System Alliance and the Climate Ready initiative.
Apply for our Fall Internships!
Our team is seeking two graduate interns to start this Fall: a Health Equity intern and a Healthy and Resilient Communities intern. These internships are a great opportunity to learn firsthand how we can advance equitable and healthy communities via policy and systems change. Learn more here: https://www.smchealth.org/health-policy-planning-internships
New Climate Ready SMC Web Visualization Tool
Extreme heat events in San Mateo County will continue to increase in the coming decades. The local jurisdictions that will see the largest increase of these events are Atherton, East Palo Alto, Foster City, Menlo Park, North Fair Oaks, Redwood City, Pescadero, and Woodside. Cities with higher rates of vulnerable populations are at a disadvantage to adapt to this hazard. Check out the Climate Ready San Mateo County dashboard to see how your community will be impacted by extreme heat and other hazards.
Boards and Commissions Vacancies
City of Daly City: There are two vacant seats on the Recreation Commission. Deadline: Open until filled. Residents and registered voters of Daly City apply today!
Nature Pod Walk is a Success
The San Mateo County Park Rx (Park Prescription) program promotes the use and enjoyment of parks and public lands to benefit your physical and mental health. Nature Pods provide an outdoor experience for small groups of children from communities of non-traditional park users. Thank you to our partners: Ranger Katherine Wright from County Parks, Kym Teppo from Friends of Huddart & Wunderlich Parks, and Dr. Borovina from the San Mateo Medical Center for helping us host our first nature pod of the season where a small group of families were invited to join a guided outdoor walk.
Engaging North Fair Oaks Community to Promote Healthy Retail Efforts
We are partnering with Siena Youth Center for a pilot program to explore ways to engage retail stores, youth and community members in North Fair Oaks to promote healthy beverages and foods. If you have ideas to share or would like to assist in planning this pilot program, or a healthy retail program for your community, please contact Sonali Suratkar, ssuratkar@smcgov.org.
Let’s Grow Trees to Cope with Heat Waves and Improve Health Outcomes
The webinar “Leveraging Data, Partnerships and Policies to Unlock the Multiple Benefits of Trees” highlighted the health benefits of increasing the tree canopy in formerly redlined communities, showcased a new digital tree dashboard to identify the best locations for trees, and set a path forward to increase collaboration to address barriers to planting more trees.
Vaccine Pop-Ups and Equity
Partnerships with faith-based organizations continue to strengthen our COVID-19 vaccine rollout to highly impacted communities. Last month, this effort was piloted in East Palo Alto with success and will be expanded on. If you are a community leader from a marginalized or under-vaccinated community and have an idea for a vaccine pop-up location please use this form to submit your proposal.
Local Youth Civic Empowerment Trainings to Kick Off Soon
Congratulations to the thirty youth from across the county who were selected to start the civic empowerment and health equity trainings! Youth Leadership Institute and Daly City Youth Health Center will kick off the trainings in July. The trainings will develop youths’ skills, so they are ready to advance equitable and healthy policies in boards and commissions.
Congratulations to CCCS NFO/RWC Partners Chosen as Silicon Valley Next 2021 Fellows!
Sponsored by the Center for Excellence in Nonprofits, the Silicon Valley Next fellowship program provides training, coaching, peer support, and other services to prepare nonprofit leaders of color for executive leadership. We congratulate the following CCCS partners on their fellowship opportunity and look forward to their continued positive impact serving youth and families in Redwood City and North Fair Oaks:
Move, Sip and Munch in the Wind!
San Mateo County Office of Education, CalFresh Healthy Living and Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition successfully hosted a Safe Routes to School event at JFK Elementary School in Daly City on May 26, 2021. About 50 children (grades 1-5) learned bicycle and road safety tips through storytime, which featured stories about bicyclist and pedestrian safety and a hands-on skills-building bicycle clinic known as a bike rodeo.
COVID-19 Resources for Employers and Workers
The California Labor and Workforce Development Agency (CA LWDA) has developed a Safer at Work Outreach Toolkit to support workers and employers in preventing the spread of COVID-19. Fact sheets are available in multiple languages, including:
Congratulations to EMS Corps Graduate Lucia Liu!
Congratulations to Lucia Liu of South San Francisco for graduating from the EMS Corps Academy this past month! We are excited for your path ahead in emergency medical services and wish you all the best as you continue pursuing your career goals. We are pleased to announce that there are nine applicants so far from San Mateo County for the next EMS Corps cohort beginning Fall 2021. Stay tuned for more information as this next cohort gets underway in August.
Eviction Moratoriums are a Policy Tool to Support Health
The State Eviction Moratorium was extended through the end of September of this year. It is estimated that 11,000 families in San Mateo County risk evictions without this moratorium. A UCLA study showed how removing eviction moratoriums was associated with increased infection and mortality rates. Landlords and renters can access information on the rental relief program in multiple languages here.