Staff Perspectives
Monthly Staff Perspective
Each month, Get Healthy San Mateo County staff offer their perspective on a public health issue featured in our monthly newsletters.
Forging Ahead with a Stronger Framework
Dear Get Healthy SMC,
It’s hard to imagine that we are in the home stretch of our 2015-2020 Get Healthy SMC Strategic Plan. Five years ago, you told us that being healthy wasn’t just about getting to the gym, having vegetables with lunch, and cutting out soda for kids. You shared your experiences and those of your families and communities that demonstrated that we can’t be healthy in isolation – we need healthy, equitable communities for all.
Local Produce Promotes Health, Economic Well-Being and Sustainable Agriculture
Justin and Grace here combining forces to talk about anchor strategies, which is a framework for building health and wealth in socially disadvantaged neighborhoods. Across the country, hospitals and health systems are using their economic power to improve community well-being. These large place-based enterprises, also known as “anchor institutions”, are using their resources to create economic opportunities for excluded and low-income residents through inclusive workforce programs, equitable procurement policies, sustainability efforts and mission-aligned investments.
Improving Health through Equitable Fee Policies
Dear Get Healthy SMC Partners,
One of my favorite things about this job is the chance to learn about issues impacting our most vulnerable in our County and ways we can advance health equity by building financial security for all people. One issue we’ve been researching recently is the impact local fines and fees can have on residents’ ability to grow their assets and savings.
That’s a Wrap: Lessons from the Community Collaborative for Children’s Success Planning Process
Over the last year and a half, four communities in San Mateo County have been hard at work looking for solutions to overcome barriers to youth success. Despite busy schedules and competing priorities, over 1,000 community members showed their investment in young people’s futures by taking surveys, attending night meetings, knocking on doors, talking to neighbors and digging deep with their communities to come together around top priorities.
Engaging for Community Health
Greetings Get Healthy SMC partners,
Increasing School Breakfast Participation to Address Food Insecurity
Greetings Get Healthy SMC Partners,
A Path to Resilient Homes
Greetings Get Healthy SMC Partners,
Last year, the Built Environment Committee (BEC) of BARHII, which is the Bay Area coalition of public health departments, has been exploring the intersection of habitability and community resiliency. Environmental factors such as extended heat waves and severe weather caused by climate change exposes those who reside in substandard households to higher health risks such as heat-related illnesses or death.
Reflecting on 2018, Looking Toward 2019
Greetings Get Healthy SMC partners,
Youth Speak! Amplifying Voices from the Community Collaboration for Children’s Success
“Family therapy brought me closer to my dad,” says an incarcerated youth at San Mateo County’s Youth Services Center. “I was never as close to my dad as I am now.” We’re discussing what would have made a difference for him—the supports and barriers along his path, which for most of the last two years has taken him in and out of this detention facility. Access to family therapy and a supportive parole officer has been stabilizing since he has been incarcerated, and he pauses to consider the earlier supports that could have made a difference.
Voting is Good for Health!
While voting may not seem like a public health issue, research shows a correlation between voter turnout and positive health outcomes. This means that places with higher rates of voters also have higher rates of positive health outcomes, such as overall improved mental and physical health [1]. Alternatively, places with low voter turnout have higher rates of poor self-reported health, and research shows that there is a connection between reported and actual health outcomes [2].
Get Us Moving, San Mateo!
Every Autumn when school is back in session, I find myself reminiscing about my own childhood. My brother and I walked everywhere, then when we were old enough we rode our bikes all over town. We knew our neighbors and I delivered the local paper to my neighbors on my way to school. I grew up in a leafy suburb in Los Angeles, lived ten blocks from school and my parents never worked more than 20 minutes away. This is not a typical experience in present day California.
Supporting Small Business Health
The fate of local small businesses is tied to community health.
Healthy Communities in the Making: Highlights from our 2018 Get Healthy SMC Awardees
Greetings, Get Healthy SMC Partners:
Affordable Housing is a Congestion Mitigation Strategy
Greetings Get Healthy SMC Partners,
Second Units: The Potential for Promoting Affordability and Quality Jobs
Greetings Get Healthy Partners,
Reflections from the PolicyLink Equity Summit
Colleagues and Friends – I feel more energized than ever to continue our fight for health equity in San Mateo County! I had the great opportunity to join over 4,000 professionals last week at the 2018 PolicyLink Equity Summit. The Summit shared an inspiring vision of diverse leadership paving the way for a more equitable, healthy and prosperous future. It was clear that the issues of Get Healthy San Mateo County are also the issues of the nation, and we were able to dig into them with other jurisdictions and leaders working on similar issues.
Promoting Economic Well-Being in San Mateo County
As Health Policy and Planning’s newest Community Health Planner, I’ll be supporting Get Healthy SMC objectives to improve health outcomes for San Mateo County residents by tackling economic obstacles to health like poverty and financial insecurity.
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.
Reflecting on Our Work in 2017
Hello Colleagues and Friends – As 2017 is coming to a close, I wanted to take the time to reflect with you on our collective priorities under Get Healthy SMC. We are half way through the five year strategic plan and have learned a lot as a collaborative on how the four community-identified priorities come together to impact healthy, equitable communities. We have now built strong partnerships with the leaders working across the priority issues and sharpened our strategies to have impact. I have one or two highlights for each priority that I want to lift up and celebrate with you.
The New California Housing Bill Package
By now, most people who follow housing news know that Governor Jerry Brown signed a landmark housing bill package in September that is expected to fundamentally change the ways we fund and approve housing projects in the state.