Partnership Network

School community members are calling on district leaders to address climate change, yet administrators often lack the resources or capacity to respond. With climate emergencies increasing every year, each costing schools time and money, district leaders have no choice but to respond.

What is the Sustainable and Climate Ready Schools Partnership Network?

The San Mateo County Sustainable and Climate Ready Schools Partnership Network supports school district leaders in addressing their community needs to be climate-responsive and prepare for a changing environment in a way that increases their capacity and resources. Through the network, school districts will work collaboratively with a range of organizations who will offer technical assistance to help districts transform their campus facilities and operations to be green and climate-ready. Example technical assistance includes:

Consultative Services and Coaching: Provide background and overview (includes policies and expectations), share best practices, identify needs and assets, and problem-solve together.
Training and Professional Development: Deliver training and professional development for a wide variety of stakeholder audiences including faculty, staff, leadership teams, students, parents, and community partners.
Assessment and Strategic Planning: Give baseline or benchmark assessments as well as support for the development and implementation of strategic plans that focus on the big picture or on specific focus area efforts.
Project Management: Support or direct the management of green facilities projects.
Networking: Connect school stakeholders to relevant community-based partner organizations, utility companies, funding agencies, or other school leaders in San Mateo County.

Why Participate?

A student puts separates landfill from recycling. Why build sustainable and climate-resilient school communities? According to the Green Schools Alliance, schools that adopt climate adaptation and mitigation strategies can:

Prepare students for the future economy
Increase student participation and engagement
Improve student academic outcomes
Create a stronger sense of community
Reduce absenteeism by improving student and staff health
Reduce consumption and waste
Save on energy, water, and other operational costs
Experience higher teacher retention and lower health costs

Step One

Fill Out an Intake Form

School districts that are interested in receiving technical assistance are encouraged to fill out a district intake form to help the network understand their strategic goals and identified needs.

Step Two

Meet to Determine Needs

Leaders will meet virtually with staff from the County Office of Education and Office of Sustainability to discuss the intake form and the various services available to the district.

Step Three

Receive Technical Assistance

School district leaders will meet on a regular basis with network experts who can address their specific needs. Needs and opportunities will be reassessed as the year progresses.

Interested in signing up? Click on the button below to fill out an intake form, which will be used during a one-to-one meeting that will focus on understanding your district's needs and goals for meeting state requirements and expectations across facilities and operations, as well as preparing your community to be resilient from climate disruptions. Also, email elsi@smcoe.org or Julie Hilborn (jhilborn@smcoe.org) in order to schedule your first meeting.

Meet Our Network Partners

Countywide Partners with Multiple Focus Areas:

San Mateo County Office of Education
San Mateo County Office of Sustainability
San Mateo County Office of Emergency Services
City/County Association of Governments (C/CAG): Regionally Integrated Climate Action Planning Suite (RICAPS)

Countywide Partners with Select Focus Areas:

- Peninsula Clean Energy (PCE) is the community-led electricity provider for San Mateo County and, beginning in 2022, for the City of Los Banos. We provide clean electricity at lower prices than PG&E and invest proceeds back into the community. As one of California’s Community Choice Aggregation (CCA) organizations, PCE has the flexibility and local control to use innovative options in purchasing and generating electricity for residents and businesses. PCE’s goals include continuing to provide energy that is 100% carbon-free and that will be 100% renewable by 2025.
  - Webpage for schools here
  - Video detailing services for schools here
  - One page flyer on services for schools here.
- C/CAG is the City/County Association for Governments of San Mateo County. C/CAG deals with issues that affect the quality of life in general; transportation, air quality, stormwater runoff, hazardous waste, solid waste and recycling, and more. C/CAG is eager to engage with schools to address all of these issues as they occur on campuses and disrupt student health and learning.
- SMCOE Safe Routes to School encourages and enables school children to walk and bicycle to school by implementing projects and activities that improve the health, well-being, and safety of children, which result in less traffic congestion and emissions caused by school-related travel.
- Commute.org's mission is to reduce the number of vehicle miles traveled (VMT) by commuters to decrease congestion, improve the environment, and enhance quality of life. Commute.org is a joint powers agency (JPA) located in San Mateo County, California. The JPA is comprised of 19 cities and towns as well as the County of San Mateo.
- Flows to Bay (C/CAG Stormwater Pollution Prevention)→ Water pollution degrades surface waters, making them unsafe for drinking, fishing, swimming, and other activities. The San Mateo Countywide Water Pollution Prevention Program (the public outreach arm of which is Flows To Bay), was established in 1990 to reduce the pollution carried by stormwater into local creeks, the San Francisco Bay, and the Pacific Ocean.
  - One page flyer detailing services for schools here.
- OneShoreline (San Mateo County Flood and Sea Level Rise Resiliency District) → The San Mateo County Flood and Sea Level Rise Resiliency District, also known as OneShoreline, is an independent government agency that works across jurisdictional boundaries to secure and leverage public and private resources for the long-term resilience of our region. One Shoreline plans and builds solutions to the climate change impacts of sea level rise, flooding, and coastal erosion, and enhance the environment, recreational opportunities, and quality of life within communities throughout the county.
  - Webpage for schools here
  - One page flyer on services for schools here.
- Midpeninsula Regional Open Space (Midpen)→ Midpen helps plants, animals and people thrive throughout the greater Santa Cruz Mountains region by preserving a connected greenbelt of more than 65,000 acres of public open space. These diverse and scenic landscapes, from bay wetlands to redwood forests and coastal grasslands, host an incredible diversity of life, making our region one of the world’s biodiversity hotspots.
- San Mateo County Parks → The San Mateo County Department of Parks provides recreational opportunities in a safe and effective manner, and protects and enhances the natural resources of the County. SMCP operates 24 separate parks, encompassing over 16,000 acres, and 190 miles of county and local trails, including three regional trails.
- Food Systems Alliance → The San Mateo Food System Alliance (SMFSA) seeks to support, enhance and maintain an enduring and interdependent food system that is economically viable, environmentally sound and socially just that connects people to agriculture and enhances the health of all residents of San Mateo County. As the first Food System Alliance in California, founded in 2006, the group has sought to bring together all the parts of the local food system — from production to processing, distribution, preparation, retail, consumption and waste — into a cohesive group capable of creating an ever healthier and more vibrant local food econo.my. The members of the SMFSA include community based organizations, local government actors, food bank representatives, residents and more.
  - Webpage for schools here.
- Each Green Corner → Each Green Corner seeks to bridge the gap between home gardeners and food distribution non-profits to increase the pipeline of fresh, healthy, and culturally-diverse produce for our non-profit partners to distribute throughout our local communities. In the process, EGC promotes awareness about food insecurity in our communities, the deep connection between food security and public health, the importance of permaculture and sustainable agriculture to environmental health, and using urban agriculture as a means to build community.
- RethinkWaste → RethinkWaste, also known as the South Bayside Waste Management Authority (SBWMA), is a joint powers authority formed by eleven local government jurisdictions (City of Belmont, City of Burlingame, City of East Palo Alto, City of Foster City, Town of Hillsborough, City of Menlo Park, City of Redwood City, City of San Carlos, City of San Mateo, the County of San Mateo and the West Bay Sanitary District) in San Mateo County, California. ReThinkWaste strives to serve as solid waste industry leaders in public health, safety and environmental stewardship by providing our ratepayers with innovative cost-effective zero waste programs and Member Agency climate action plan alignment through education, engagement, infrastructure, and policy development.
  - Webpage for school services here
  - Video on school services here
  - One page flyer here
- Recology → The Recology mission represents a fundamental shift from traditional waste management to resource recovery. We seek to eliminate waste by developing and discovering sustainable resource recovery practices that can be implemented globally.

Other Relevant Partners:

Higher Education: San Mateo County Community College District, Environmental and Climate Change Literacy Project (ECCLPS), Stanford
Government Agencies and Commissions: San Mateo County Board of Supervisors, San Mateo County Youth Commission, San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission (BCDC), Bay Area Air Quality Management Board, California Environmental Protection Agency (CalEPA) and CalRecycle
Local Non-Profits and Citizen Action Groups: Burlingame Citizens Environmental Council (CEC), Menlo Spark, Sustainable San Mateo County, Thrive Alliance’s Environment & Sustainability (E&S) Thrive Action Group (TAG), Rotary Club
State and National Non-Governmental Organizations: Center for Ecoliteracy, Drawdown, Green Schoolyards America, Green Schools National Network, One Planet Schools (Bioregional’s One Planet Living), Strategic Energy Innovation (SEI), U.S. Green Building Council - Center for Green Schools, Ten Strands and the California Environmental Literacy Initiative (CAELI)

Julie Hilborn

Coordinator, Environmental Literacy and Sustainability

Email: jhilborn@smcoe.org

Phone: (650) 802-5406