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The San Mateo County Board of Supervisors accepted a $490,000 grant for resources related to equity would be coming to San Mateo County during its Tuesday, Sept. 11, meeting, according to a press release.
The Silicon Valley Community Foundation, supplied the funds. The grant will assist the county’s newly formed Office of Racial and Social Justice, which the board unanimously approved earlier this year, to better allocate resources, the board said. It will also help the county build an equity data portal.
“A big thank you to the Silicon Valley Community Foundation for giving us a very generous grant. Obviously, it was very competitive,” board President Warren Slocum said in a statement.
Shireen Malekafzali, the county’s chief equity officer, said the grant will have a large impact across the county in understanding how to meet the needs and concerns of the population.
“We need data to understand how the county’s decisions about funding and program planning impact our communities so that we know if we are reaching our goals of equity for the diverse populations of our county,” Malekafzali said. “This grant will help the county shore up our data tools so that we can better understand the needs, concerns, and priorities for those most impacted by inequities and then make better-informed decisions.”
She said the funding would allow the county to answer questions about whether certain geographic or demographic communities are in higher need or facing added barriers.
Nicole Taylor, the president and CEO of SVCF, said in the release, that SVCF is “pleased to support the county of San Mateo in continuing to prioritize the equitable distribution of public funding and investing in strategies and solutions to ensure that every resident has a voice in shaping their futures.”
According to SVCF’s website, in 2023 they donated over $186 million to nonprofits across San Mateo and Santa Clara counties. The Grove Foundation and The David and Lucile Packard Foundation contributed financial support to SVCF’s grant to San Mateo County.
