BOARDS, COMMISSIONS, AND
COMMITTEES
OUTREACH AND RECRUITMENT SUCCESS PLAN
2026 Annual Recruitment
1 Contents
Overview ................................................................................................................................... 2 City Clerk’s Office Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Strategic Framework Initiative .... 2 Outreach Plan and Purpose ........................................................................................................................... 2 Objectives ................................................................................................................................................................... 2 Metrics for Success ............................................................................................................................................... 2 Population .................................................................................................................................................................. 3 Outreach Objectives ............................................................................................................................................ 3 Outreach Plan ...................................................................................................................... 4 Outreach Priorities............................................................................................................................................... 4 Recruitment Timeline ........................................................................................................................................ 4 Survey Findings and Recommendations for the 2026 Boards & Commissions Recruitment Cycle ................................................................................................................................................ 5 Metrics ..................................................................................................................................... 10 Community Organizations & Resources ............................................................ 11 Social Media Outreach .................................................................................................. 12 Resignations & Expiring Terms ............................................................................... 14
2 Broaden the outreach and recruitment strategies for B oards, Commissions, and Committees to bolster inclusive participation reflecting the diversity of the City of San Mateo’s community.
This plan aims to establish priorities, strategies, and messaging for Boards, Commissions, and Committee’s recruitment outreach in 202 6 and beyond within the City Clerk’s Office. Aligned with the Clerk’s Office Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Strategic Framework Initiative, its objective is to enhance communication and engagement during the recruitment process effectively, thereby improving overall effectiveness and wider community participation.
• Increase the number of applicants per vacancy.
• Broaden the range of applicants by engaging with individuals from underrepresented groups.
• Utilize established partnerships and explore new collaborations to advertise and highlight vacancies.
• Inform the community about the City's advisory committees and ways for individuals to engage and take part in these opportunities.
• Conduct and analyze results from regularly scheduled demographic studies of Boards, Commissions, and Committees, including applicant data.
• Track levels of engagement on recruitment efforts through social media and associated webpages.
City Clerk’s Office Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
Strategic Framework Initiative
Outreach Plan and Purpose
Objectives
Metrics for Success
Overview
3 (See March 3, 2025 Boards and Commissions – 2025 Demography Study Agenda Report for a full comparative analysis).
While the 202 5 Boards and Commissions Demographic Survey revealed progress and positive trends, representation disparities were identified.
Several populations are underrepresented . Compared to the city’s general population, people of color, multilingual individuals, renters, and young adults are underrepresented on our Boards & Commissions. The study also revealed geographic disparities in representation between Council districts.
During this year’s recruitment cycle, a concentrated effort will be made to reach these underrepresented populations.
• Identify opportunities to leverage existing relationships with community organizations and faith-based institutions.
• Partner directly with organization leadership to promote vacancies at regularly scheduled meetings and special events.
• Expand existing contact list and further develop connections that have been established but are potentially underutilized.
• Consider smaller groups comprised of volunteers, event organizers, and neighborhood leaders.
Population
Outreach Objectives
4 Overarching priorities to bolster recruitment and outreach to members of underrepresented communities within the City of San Mateo:
Priority #1: Engage with Community Members & Partner to Bolster Outreach Efforts Work directly with partners to engage, collaborate, and communicate throughout the outreach & recruitment process.
Priority #2: Accurate, Open, and Strategic Communication Efforts Promptly distribute accurate information related to B&C recruitment through a variety of City communication channels. Strategize key messages and create high- quality content to effectively reach and educate potential applicants.
Priority #3: Data Collection
Monitor progress and collect data throughout this year’s outreach and recruitment cycle.
Date Event
3/2/2026 Confirm Reappointments and Establish Annual Appointment Subcommittees
3/22/2026 Recruitments Begin
4/24/2026 Recruitments Close
5/5/2026 Appointment Subcommittee Interviews Begin
6/1/2026 Council Action on New Appointees
Recruitment Timeline
Outreach Plan
Outreach Priorities
5 Outreach to New Residents
According to the 2025 survey, the average number of years lived in San Mateo was 24.5 years, with over 77% residing in San Mateo for over a decade.
A longstanding connection to the city continues to be a desirable attribute for applicants, however, outreach to new community members provides opportunities to bolster participation in future recruitments and attract applicants with different lived perspectives and experiences.
Outreach Objectives:
• Share Boards & Commissions informational material with organizations that provide realty and rental services to new residents. • Include Boards & Commissions informational material in new resident resources.
Expand existing contact list and build relationships with community organizations whose member-base consists of individuals who identify as Hispanic and Latino, as well as those who identify as Asian.
According to the 2025 B&C Demography Survey, none of the survey respondents identified as Hispanic, Latino, or of Spanish origin. 24% of the San Mateo population shares this identification. Representation of respondents who identify as Asian was 14% in 2025. 26% of the San Mateo population identifies as Asian.
Outreach Objectives:
• Identify opportunities to leverage existing relationships with community organizations and faith-based institutions.
o Partner directly with organization leadership to promote vacancies at regularly scheduled meetings and special events. • Expand existing contact list and further develop connections that have been established but are potentially underutilized.
o Consider smaller groups comprised of volunteers, event organizers, and neighborhood leaders.
Survey Findings and Recommendations for the 2025 Boards & Commissions Recruitment Cycle
6 Expand Messaging to Multilingual Applicants
A smaller proportion of commissioners speak a language other than English at home compared to the general population. B&C members are largely monolingual English speakers. Roughly half of San Mateo’s population speaks a language other than English.
At present, representation on B&Cs for Asian and Pacific Islander and Spanish speaking communities is minimal compared to the San Mateo population.
Note, that while the city is not exploring recruitment specific to members of the community whose primary language is not English, outreach to multilingual individuals broadens the range of input available to advisory members as well as members of the community who speak a language other than English and may have limited English proficiency. Incorporating outreach to multilingual communities and organizations will serve to increase participation, engagement and representation from community members who do not speak English as their primary language.
Outreach Objectives:
• Conduct outreach to applicants who speak a second language to narrow the divide between local government and community members who have limited English language proficiency.
• Provide translated resources.
Youth-Targeted Educational Messaging
Age distribution amongst Boards and Commissioners is closely aligned, consistently representative of the 25-44 age bracket, but over-represent the 65+ age bracket. However, San Mateo B&Cs lack young adult representation.
In 2025, there were no young adults between the age of 18 and 24. Youth representation has increased overall, with the introduction of Youth Commissioner positions on the Park and Recreation Commission, Sustainability and Infrastructure Commission, Senior Advisory Commission, and Library Board.
Outreach Objectives:
• Develop material to educate younger populations and introduce them to the idea of serving on a Board or Commission (if they are not presently able to apply or ineligible due to age, they may participate in future recruitments).
• Share educational material with high school student leadership programs and voter education programs to encourage youth engagement.
7 8
Outreach to Educational Institutions
According to the 2025 survey, San Mateo’s Boards and Commissions members are highly educated, with about 66.7% holding a post-graduate degree in 2025, which represents a decrease from 75.6% in 2023. 33.3% of Commissioners in 2025 hold a bachelor’s or associate degree, representing an increase from 24.4% in 2023.
An educated applicant pool is greatly desired. However, individuals who do not yet possess but are actively pursuing higher education (or participating in alternative professional programs) may also be potentially viable candidates.
Additionally, those pursuing advanced degrees or certifications are generally comprised of young adults, which is also a target population.
Outreach Objectives:
• Conduct outreach to local educational institutions and professional programs.
Outreach to renters, apartment communities, and nonprofit rental housing providers.
Renters remain under-represented. The results who that 10.8% of boards and commissioners rent or live with parents. 4.4% are identified as other living arrangements. There continues to be an over-representation of homeowners in 2025.
Outreach Objectives
• Contact apartment communities and local tenant organizations.
9 The map below shows the distribution of
Board and Commission Members
currently serving.
The map below shows the distribution of
applicants from January 2023 to present.
Promote Vacancies to Residents of Districts 2, 3, And 4.
District 1 remains the highest represented amongst at 38%, however this was a decrease of almost 10 percentage points from 2023. District 2 remains underrepresented at 8% and experienced a decrease of 2.42 percentage points. Districts 3, 4, and 5 experienced increases in representation.
Outreach Objectives:
• Conduct outreach to neighborhood associations/groups & organizations in those specific areas.
• Partner with Council Members representing these districts to reach members of these communities.
10 Standard metrics will be tracked to measure the success of this year’s outreach and recruitment efforts.
Email Outreach
• Monitor engagement on vacancy & outreach emails (including eNews messaging containing information related to B&C recruitment)
Digital Audio Advertisements
• Track impressions of displays click through rate and total engagement.
Website
• Page views and visitor data on webpages related to recruitment as well as webpages for individual B&Cs.
Social Media
• Engagement, reach and quantity of posts related to outreach and recruitment
Printed Materials
• Number of printed materials distributed to high-traffic locations.
Other Metrics
o Applicant and appointee demographics
o In-Person/Phone inquiries
o Number of materials translated to Spanish or another language o Survey responses
o Proactive collection of applicant demographics data
Metrics
11 The following list of non-profit/community-based organizations provide a sample of the community organizations and resources to be contacted with to engage with Boards, Commissions, and Committee recruitments. This list is not exhaustive and is expected to grow as partnerships develop.
• American Association of University Women (AAUW)
• Center of Independence of Individuals with Disabilities • CORA (Community Overcoming Relationship Abuse)
• Human Investment Project, Inc. (HIP)
• JACL: San Mateo Japanese American Community Center
• Mid-Peninsula Boys & Girls Club, Inc.
• NAACP San Mateo Branch
• Organization of Chinese Americans San Mateo
• Peninsula Conflict Resolution Center
• Peninsula Family Service
• Peninsula Jewish Community Center
• Samaritan House
• San Mateo Adult School
• San Mateo Area Chamber of Commerce
• San Mateo County Health System, Aging and Adult Services • Self-Help for the Elderly
• Silicon Valley Community Foundation
• Taulama for Tongans
Community Organizations & Resources
12 Twitter Accounts
• @CityofSanMateo
• @SanMateoPD
• @SMCFireDept
• @SMFieldUpdates
Instagram Accounts
• City of SanMateo CA
• San Mateo Public Library
• San Mateo Police Department
• San Mateo Parks and Recreation
• San Mateo Consolidated Fire Department
Facebook Accounts
• City of San Mateo
• Central Park Master Plan
• Dine San Mateo
• Fire Department
• King Center
• Police Department
• Public Library
• San Mateo Parks and Recreation
• San Mateo Teens
Other ways to get the word out to large numbers of people:
• San Mateo Nextdoor - A private social network for your neighborhood.
Make sure to sign up and follow the City's Nextdoor feed for updates, news and events.
• City of San Mateo YouTube Channel - San Mateo has an ever growing collection of videos featuring community events, workshop and much more. See what we’re up too!
• NotifyMe - The City website email notification system offers a wide variety of subscriptions topics for the community.
Social Media
Oh
13 In-Person Community Engagement Opportunities
Recruitment will begin in late March and close in May (with extended recruitment for any vacancies that received limited interest).
Special Events:
Event Date Lead Organization
State of the City Monday, March 30, 2026
Eggstravaganza Saturday, April 4, 2026 Parks & Recreation Earth Day Clean Up Saturday, April 25, 2026 Public Works Mental Health Matters
5K
Saturday, May 31, 2026 SM PAL
Recurring Events:
Event Date Lead Organization
College of San Mateo
Farmers’ Market
Saturdays, 9am –
1:00pm
Pacific Coast Farmers’
Market Association
25th Avenue San Mateo
Farmers’ Market
Begins approx Tuesday
May 7, 2026 Tuesdays
3:00pm – 7:00pm
Pacific Coast Farmers’
Market Association
14 Commissioner Commission Duration of Service in
Current Commission
Interest in
Continued Service
Sheri Boles Community Relations 4 years and 10 months Yes Jennifer Kim Community Relations 1 year and 11 months Yes Alison Joly Library Board 11 months Yes
Erin Finn Library Board (Youth) 1 year No
Oliver Baker Library Board (Youth) 1 year Yes
Peter Wicher Park and Recreation 2 years and 7 months Yes Dahlia
Anapolsky
Park and Recreation
(Youth)
1 year Yes
Tolifili Fa Mosquito & Vector
Control District
2 years Yes
Seema Patel Planning 5 years Yes
Susan Rowinksi Senior Advisory 1 year No
Pranav Sathish Senior Advisory (Youth) 1 year Yes
Sigalle Michael Sustainability &
Infrastructure
3 years and 10 months Yes
Zachary Scott Sustainability &
Infrastructure (Youth)
1 year Yes
Advika Singh Sustainability &
Infrastructure (Youth)
1 year Yes
Karen Moen Measure S Oversight
Committee
3 years and 2 months No
William Yang Measure S Oversight
Committee
3 years and 2 months Yes
Resignations & Expiring Terms