Thrive Community Forum: Working Towards Equitable Vaccine Access in San Mateo County: Nonprofit Outreach Tool Kits & Community Needs Assessment Update

Program

Presentation of Vaccine Messaging Toolkits by San Mateo County and Carolyn Becker, The California Department of Public Health. These messaging tool kits support equitable vaccine distribution and access. The State and County have partnered with community based organizations and local leaders to develop these materials that can be tailored to your local communities.

Stanford’s Gardner Center Study: A Community Assessment of Unmet Basic Needs During the COVID-19 Pandemic by Brandon Balzer Carr, Quantitative Research Associate. This study assessed rates of housing, food, healthcare, childcare, and job insecurity before and after the pandemic began, as well as the challenges of distance learning and knowledge of community resources such as rental assistance and food distribution. The study focuses on families from Redwood City and North Fair Oaks, but we will discuss ways the data can be extrapolated to other regions of the County.

Facilitated Discussion on San Mateo Vaccine and Community Needs by Georgia Farooq, Executive Director of Thrive Alliance; Pamela Kurtzman, MPH, Chief Executive Officer of Sequoia Healthcare District and presenters.

Thrive invites nonprofit leadership, staff, and board members, along with local philanthropic, business, and government leaders to join us for this timely forum.

Sponsored by: Sequoia Healthcare District, San Mateo County

*Zoom information will be sent to registered attendees.

SPEAKERS

County of San Mateo

Peggy Jensen, Deputy County Manager, County of San Mateo

Jessica Stanfill Mullin, Sustainability Program Manager, Livable Communities, Office of San Mateo County

Danielle Lee, Assistant Director, Office of Sustainability, San Mateo County

Emma Gonzalez, Community Affairs Manager, County Manager's Office of Community Affairs

Shireen Malekafzali, Senior Manager for Health Policy, Planning & Equity, Get Healthy San Mateo County

Carolyn Becker, Senior Communications Officer, The California Department of Public Health (CDPH)

Carolyn Becker is coordinating the state’s media and communications initiative around the COVID-19 vaccine in conjunction with the Office of Governor Gavin Newsom and the California Health and Human Services Agency (CHHS) with respect to the broader COVID-19 harm reduction campaign. Prior to serving the State of California, Carolyn was as a Senior Vice President at Mercury Public Affairs, where she ran large-scale communications efforts related to health and social justice, including as the campaign lead and account project manager for the State of California’s Census 2020 communications campaign. Before that, Carolyn was an Executive Producer for the top-rated news station in Sacramento.

Brandon Balzer Carr, Quantitative Research Associate, John W. Gardner Center for Youth and Their Communities at Stanford University

Brandon Carr conducts research practice partnerships with schools, community-based organizations, and local leaders in the greater Bay Area. Brandon’s expertise includes multivariate statistics, survey methods, psychometrics, post-secondary education, basic needs, education psychology, and LGBTQ+ psychology. Brandon completed his doctoral training in social psychology at UC Santa Cruz and has published multiple community engaged research projects in peer-reviewed journals. Brandon grew up in San Jose, currently resides in San Francisco, and is fully convinced he could never leave The Bay.

Miriam Yupanqui, Executive Director, Nuestra Casa de East Palo Alto

Miriam Yupanqui is building a movement to transform East Palo Alto into a place where every resident thrives. A thriving community is one where everyone has a place to call home, a living wage, and the same opportunities for success we see across Highway 101. In her words, “President Obama once said that no one who works 40 hours a week should live in poverty. In East Palo Alto, people are working 60 hours plus per week and living in poverty. We are building leaders in our community to change that.” Miriam attended College Track and graduated from Carlmont High School. She received her B.A. from UC Berkeley and her M.P.A. from the University of Southern California. Miriam served as a Board Member of Nuestra Casa prior to being hired as the Executive Director. Miriam also has vast experience working in our communities and program evaluation. Before Nuestra Casa, she was a Program Manager at Family Connections in Redwood City. There she developed and implemented their Young Scholars Program.

Lisa Tealer, Executive Director, Bay Area Community Health Advisory Council

Lisa Tealer brings extensive experience in leadership, diversity and inclusion to her role as BACHAC’s Interim Executive Director. During a decades long career with Genentech, she was an accomplished Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) practitioner, with extensive project management and strategic partnership development skills. She has a comprehensive community liaison/investment background, including strategic work with management and leadership development, people with disabilities, STEM education, and LGBTQA initiatives. Her career achievements and community dedication have been honored with recognition including the 2016 Extraordinary Contribution Award from AAIB (Genentech’s African American ERG), the 2016 Champion Award from gPRIDE (Genentech’s LGBTQA ERG), the 2015 Applause Award (Genentech Peer Recognition for ERG Management), the 2014 North America Disability Matters: Steps to Success Award, a 2013 Gracias Award from the Latinas Contra Cancer, and the 2009 Heroes for Health award from BACHAC. Lisa earned a B.A. in Biology from Mills College and a California Diversity Management Certificate from the Bauer College of Business, University of Houston.