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Building Healthy, Equitable Communities
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Justin Watkins
Senior Community Health Planner

Staff Profile

Justin leads Get Healthy’s Healthy Schools and Healthy Food work. He co-chairs the School Wellness Alliance Advisory Group in partnership with staff from the San Mateo County Office of Education, which works with school districts throughout San Mateo County to create safe and supportive environments for students, staff, and parents. Most recently focusing on the implementation of Restorative Justice Practices in schools. Justin also supports the San Mateo Food System Alliance and oversees Health Policy and Planning’s food-related projects. Justin is excited to work more closely with the CalFresh Healthy Living Program team to align their project goals with those of Get Healthy SMC.

Staff Perspective Justin Watkins Grace Streltzov

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.

Staff Perspective Justin Watkins

A Vision for San Mateo County Food and Farm Bill

Get Healthy San Mateo County and its partners have a long history of working to ensure that all residents of San Mateo County have access to healthy and affordable fresh food. Get Healthy SMC has supported numerous projects to achieve this goal, while we’ve made great progress, there is still work to do. Get Healthy SMC along with the San Mateo County Food System Alliance recently embarked on an ambitious project to connect all of the various food related efforts underway in the county to maximize their impact in the community.

Staff Perspective Justin Watkins

Supporting Academic Achievement

Research shows that academic achievement is closely related to health outcomes throughout the life course. Working with the goal of reducing health inequities and improving health outcomes, we support academic achievement through implementation of restorative practices in our schools and across San Mateo County school districts.

Staff Perspective Justin Watkins

Farm to School

The majority of children in San Mateo County and across the country are not eating enough fruits and vegetables. Get Healthy San Mateo County (GHSMC) is working hard to change that by supporting Farm to School initiatives in San Mateo County schools that encourage students to become more engaged in the food system and increase their interest in lifelong healthy eating.

Staff Perspective Justin Watkins

Getting smart on health

Educators and public health professionals both know that healthier children are better prepared to learn both in and out of school. This makes perfect sense; children affected by health issues are not able to fully focus on their studies and are therefore less likely to perform at their full potential. From the public health perspective, educational attainment is one of the key determinants of lifelong health outcomes; people with higher educational attainment live longer.

Staff Perspective Justin Watkins

Do you want to be healthy when you grow up?

Hi, Get Healthy Partners! As a Community Health Planner at Get Healthy San Mateo County, I work to improve student wellness by creating healthy school environments and addressing persistent health inequities amongst our youth. Here is why I’m so dedicated to this work:

Research shows that healthy kids are more likely to be healthy adults. Children and teens spend much of their young lives in school. So, creating healthy school environments is an enormous opportunity to ensure a healthy population.