THURS-003 - Reimagining Policy Coordination and Capacity Building in San Mateo County

Brief Abstract Summary: This Learning Lab presentation shares the journey, best practices and tools employed by San Mateo County Health in building departmental capacity to advance health equity through municipal, county and state-level policy. Centering equity, the approach focuses on four pillars of guiding shared policy work, building staff expertise, strengthening departmental capacity, and establishing interdivisional collaboration for policy advocacy and implementation. It provides actionable strategies for engaging across divisions, highlights the role of health policy in addressing the social determinants of health, and outlines methods to assess and strengthen organizational capacity. The session reflects on a year of the new departmental Policy Work Group, presents a case study of San Mateo County Health’s reimagined policy approach and encourages attendees to share experiences through multimodal engagement. It will be suitable for public sector leaders, cross-sector professionals and students.

Detailed abstract description: Health policy is a powerful tool for creating environments that promote prevention, equity, and well-being, while driving norms-change. At San Mateo County Health, the Public Health, Policy & Planning division is taking a leadership role in strengthening departmental engagement on policy and legislative drivers to address the social determinants of health (SDOH) by fostering collaboration across divisions that have historically operated with dispersed policy roles. This presentation reflects on year-1 of a journey to build internal capacity, assess current knowledge, and develop coordinated strategies for advancing policy at a municipal, county, and state legislative level.

This presentation will provide an inside look at how San Mateo County Health is navigating the challenges and opportunities of aligning policy efforts across divisions. Attendees will hear about:

The role of establishing a departmental Policy Work Group

Insights from health departments on parallel paths of embedding institutional commitment, building capacity and driving unified policy action.

Development of an internal Policy Inventory, based on qualitative input from divisional leaders to identify common themes and shared challenges within their policy work

Attendees will gain insights and contribute to shared thought leadership through discussion on:

Coordinated approaches for policy alignment within government systems

Effective legislative tracking and building pathways for health and equity in all policies

Innovative opportunities for departments to leverage policy as a tool for prevention and equity

The session is grounded in foundational understanding of inequities in San Mateo County, overview of data, and presentation on ongoing drivers of disparities. The policy approach speaks to a departmental recognition of the need for sustainable change to improve health, education, economic, and social-wellbeing outcomes, particularly for communities who continue to be marginalized by inequitable systems. Participants will recognize how intentional capacity-building and coordinated approaches can strengthen policy impact at the local level. This session is relevant for public health professionals, policy planners, organizational leaders, and students who aim to integrate cohesive policy work on SDOH and health equity across a public health department or health system.