Thrive Alliance (Thrive) and Sand Hill Foundation are thrilled to formally announce a new three-year, $875,000 initiative to fund Thrive’s leadership in coordinating San Mateo County’s youth-serving ecosystem and implementation of San Mateo’s countywide roadmap for youth mental health, United for Youth: Vision 2030.

This multi-year grant will help Thrive continue to build, steer, and sustain—for the long term—essential community infrastructure and resources to support San Mateo youth and their mental health and wellbeing as youth mental health needs grow.

“Half of all mental health conditions begin by age fourteen, with most going undetected, while the organizations young people turn to are facing budget shortfalls and hiring freezes,” Georgia Farooq, Thrive’s Chief Executive Officer, said. “San Mateo County has never lacked for people doing extraordinary work on behalf of young people. What it currently lacks is the connective tissue between them. United for Youth: Vision 2030 gave us a shared destination, and this investment lets us strengthen the infrastructure to get there together.”

With more than 200 cross-sector member organizations, Thrive is San Mateo County’s trusted hub for nonprofit training, capacity development, convening, and coalition building—all in service of a stronger nonprofit sector and more resilient San Mateo community. Thrive’s robust network includes more than 50 community organizations that directly serve youth, and it has been a longtime leader and convener in the local youth ecosystem through its Children & Education Thrive Action Group (TAG), Youth Policy Affinity Group, and annual Partnerships in Education Summit.

In support of the Vision 2030 Plan of Action, an initiative led by the Coalition for Safe Schools and Communities and backed by the San Mateo County Office of Education (SMCOE), Thrive will partner with SMCOE to launch Nonprofit Communities of Practice: quarterly virtual sessions offering timely updates, peer learning, and direct dialogue with County partners implementing the plan.

Thrive will serve as a bridge between the nonprofit community and this county-wide effort, running these convenings and additional in-person gatherings on youth mental health and wellbeing alongside the annual Partnerships in Education Summit, co-organized with SMCOE and the Stanford Haas Center for Public Service.

As part of this work, Thrive will also partner with Stanford University Graduate School of Education’s John W. Gardner Center for Youth and Their Communities to develop a theory of action and evaluation framework that will guide the effort, helping the regional youth-serving ecosystem to measure, learn, and improve together. Drawing on its long-standing relationships with San Mateo County school districts, the Gardner Center will serve as a strategic thought partner on convenings, service gaps, and policy strategy.

Across this multipronged effort, Thrive’s essential work of connecting youth-serving organizations will help align local nonprofits, agencies, and stakeholders on practice and policy, reduce duplication, and make sure no entities are working in isolation, all with the goal of ensuring that San Mateo County’s young people can access quality, equitable mental health and wellbeing support.

“This initiative is about building a San Mateo County where every young person and every family can get the support they need—where the organizations serving them are talking to each other, learning from each other, and advocating together,” said Ash McNeely, Executive Director of Sand Hill Foundation. “This capstone grant reflects our great confidence in Thrive’s ability to carry this vital work forward as convenor and catalyst. We hope this support helps sustain local collaboration and cross-sector partnerships for youth mental health and wellbeing, years beyond our time as an active funder.”