Building Our Local Community
A community dedicated to taking care of its people and its environment, year after year, is a community that will prosper. We each have a role to play.
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Growing Family Economic Stability
Sand Hill Foundation funds programs in San Mateo County that help youth and families with low-income stabilize, grow, and thrive through:
Education
College access and completion programs for youth and young adults aged 11-25.
Job Training and Entrepreneurship
Creating career pathways through vocational and entrepreneurship training, and access to capital for small businesses.
Housing Security
Home preservation, shelter and rapid rehousing, and legal services to prevent homelessness.
Featured Grantees
Peninsula Bridge
JobTrain
Legal Aid of San Mateo County
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Promoting Mental Health and Well-Being
Our goal is to develop seamless and equitable opportunities to access high-quality mental health and wellness supports in San Mateo County through:
Prevention and Early Intervention
Expanding access to culturally-informed and responsive mental health services and social-emotional programming designed to center the unique needs and experiences of young people and their families.
Systems Change in Mental Health
Our Wellness Partnership collaborative, building partnerships across the mental health care and youth-serving systems in San Mateo County to ensure delivery is more equitable, integrated, coordinated, and healing-centered.
Access to Nature
Elevating access to the restorative properties of time outside through environmental experiences and family-focused, nature-based programs.
United for Youth: Vision 2030 Plan of Action
San Mateo County Launches Blueprint for Youth Well-Being
San Mateo County’s children and youth are facing an increasing number of challenges to their behavioral health and well-being. In response, the County’s multi-agency Coalition for Safe Schools and Communities launched United for Youth in partnership with more than 20 public agencies and community-based organizations to:
- Understand the landscape of both the challenges and supports around youth behavioral health and well-being, and
- Develop a plan of action that aligns strategies, prioritizes collaboration, maximizes available and new funding, and embraces accountability to improve access and equity.
The United for Youth: Vision 2030 Plan of Action is centered on five priorities. These priorities are relevant countywide but focus on specific populations and geographies experiencing behavioral health service inequities. Sand Hill Foundation is providing funding to integrate local nonprofits into the action plan.
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Featured Grantees
Ayudando Latinos A Soñar
Adolescent Counseling Services
Vida Verde Nature Education
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The Wellness Partnership
Improving Systems For Youth Mental Health
Launched in 2018, the Wellness Partnership invests in local organizations and public agencies working together to streamline and strengthen the system of mental health and youth services in San Mateo County. Focused on promoting prevention and early intervention services at sites where youth already are, like schools and youth development programs, the funded collaboratives bridge gaps by bringing together clinical providers and youth-serving professionals to build fluency, recognize, and efficiently respond to the earliest signs of mental health concerns or emotional challenges.
To date, the initiative has supported the planning and development of six distinct efforts that include over 36 organizational partners in San Mateo County. Systems change is inherently collaborative, which we believe is necessary to improve results. Each funded group takes a different approach to systems change – from workforce training and capacity building to hyper-local, neighborhood-level coordination and family/caregiver education, to the development of integrated youth mental health centers designed with, by, and for youth.
The Wellness Partnership Vision
We believe if the resources to support prevention and early interventions that reduce risk factors and build protective factors were more coordinated, healing-centered, accessible, and integrated into a variety of youth development engagements, more young people would receive the appropriate level of mental health support when they need it and experience optimal health and wellness.
Wellness Partnership Resources
Innovative approaches require a learning mindset. Here are resources related to the Wellness Partnership and youth mental health in San Mateo County.
Wellness Partnership Theory of Change
New County Plan: United for Youth 2030
Improving Systems for Youth Mental Health
Our Latest Evaluation Report
The Wellness Partnership
All of the groups demonstrate strengths in the following areas:
Systems Integration
Integrating mental health prevention, screenings, and referral services across sectors, creating access points where they may not have been before.
Partner Coordination
Strengthening or creating a coordinated system of care to ensure young people receive support as they need, particularly for underserved populations and geographies.
Equitable Access
Building culturally-informed, preventative programs to help build awareness, strengthen relationships for young people, and increase access to mental health supports.
Shared Investment
Evidence of distributed financial investment, with budget accounting for various stakeholders’ roles and time.
If you are a youth-serving organization based in San Mateo County interested in learning more about the Wellness Partnership, please contact Jessi Misslin at jessi@sandhillfoundation.org
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Wellness Partnership Members
Active Partnership: 2018-2023
Piloting a network of integrated youth mental health centers designed with, by and for youth that reduce stigma, embrace mental wellness, increase community connection and provide access to culturally-responsive services.
Lead Agency:
Stanford Center for Youth Mental Health & Wellbeing
Partners:
Foundry, IDEO.org, Lucile Packard Foundation for Children’s Health, Peninsula Health Care District, Santa Clara County Behavioral Health Services
Active Partnership: 2018-Present
Unique collaborative of mental health and community organizations in East Palo Alto and east Menlo Park working together to increase capacity and access to culturally appropriate mental health services and support for Ravenswood youth.
Lead Agency:
Children’s Health Council
Partners:
Boys & Girls Clubs of the Peninsula, CASSY, Child Mind Institute, One EPA, Ravenswood City School District, Ravenswood Education Foundation, San Mateo County BHRS, Stanford University – Dept of Psychology, Ravenswood Family Health Network, California Children’s Trust, The Primary School
Active Partnership: 2018-Present
A coalition of community organizations supporting the “whole health” of youth, the initiative offers prevention programs, mental health training and early intervention services to young people (ages 11 – 24), parents, schools, mentors, and program staff.
Lead Agency:
Friends for Youth
Partners:
Siena Youth Center, Redwood City PAL, One Life Counseling, Star Vista
Active Partnership: 2023 – Present
Piloting a network of integrated youth mental health centers designed with, by and for youth that reduce stigma, embrace mental wellness, increase community connection and provide access to culturally-responsive services.
Lead Agency:
Daly City Partnership
Partners:
Daly City Youth Health Center, Asian American Recovery Services
Active Partnership: 2018-2022
Increased on-site provision of wellness programs for young people and families in supportive housing program, including direct services, art-related interventions, and peer counseling.
Lead Agency:
LifeMoves
Partners:
NAMI San Mateo and Santa Clara Counties, Palo Alto University, Creatrix Institute, Star Vista
Active Partnership: 2018-2022
Development of mental health awareness & response training modules (including COVID-19 responsive curriculum) for out-of-school time professionals with a pilot launch in Daly City.
Lead Agency:
CalSAC (California School Age Consortium)
Partners:
Mid-Peninsula Boys & Girls Clubs, Footsteps Childcare, Daly City Parks & Rec Dept, California Afterschool Network
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Advocating for Nature and Sustainable Communities
We seek to preserve and protect our natural environment for future generations through advocacy and community engagement in these areas:
Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation
Local policy planning and advocacy to ensure community resilience in the face of climate change, with a particular emphasis on the participation of disproportionately impacted communities.
Open Space Preservation
Opportunities to leverage public resources for open space protection, stewardship, and access improvements in San Mateo County.
Sustainable Agriculture
Efforts to build a more equitable, safe, and sustainable economy of local agriculture and fresh food distribution that benefits farm workers and families with low income.
Featured Grantees
Climate Resilient Communities
Nuestra Casa
