Dear Equity Ally,

This month marks the second anniversary of the County of San Mateo's Core Equity Team. This interdepartmental team has led the charge for Countywide action and capacity building in diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB). They have racked up many achievements in this short time frame, building tools and resources to empower staff to bring an equity lens into operations across departments. This includes an internal Equity Resource Hub with a resource and training library, equity data portal, equitable community engagement toolkit, equity impact assessment toolkit, and much more. Additionally, they have launched several pilots for staff-wide foundational equity training, equity impact statements into Board of Supervisor memos out of the County Executive’s Office, and employee affinity groups.

As part of this third year of Countywide equity initiatives, we seek to proactively inform you and other dedicated community members of the equity-centered work happening across the county and how you can get involved. This community bulletin is just the start of providing more ongoing and regular communication from the County of San Mateo Racial and Social Equity Team with additional efforts, including launching a central website for the County's equity work and resources later this year. We would appreciate feedback about what information you most want to hear from us. For feedback, please email Andrew Knaack (aknaack@smcgov.org).

Sincerely,
The County of San Mateo Equity Team
Shireen Malekafzali, Chief Equity Officer (she/her)
Belén Seara, Equity and Belonging Manager (she/her)
Andrew Knaack, Equity and Belonging Associate (he/him)