This is the final week of Sustain SSMC and our behind-the-scenes tour of our core programs that are helping to make San Mateo County more sustainable for everyone!
This week we have an up close and personal look at our Annual Sustainability Awards. Our 2025 event will be the 26th year we come together as a community to celebrate sustainability champions from our county. See application and event details here.
See our other behind-the-scenes profiles to understand the work and impact of SSMC:
We need your support. If you are concerned about the future and want to help ensure San Mateo County is a place where everyone can live full, healthy lives, please consider donating to SSMC. All of our programs, including our annual Awards Celebration, are keeping our government officials and our community focused on sustainability – knowing what to do, how to do it and creating the will to act now. But these programs take significant effort and we need your support to continue this impactful work.
Don’t forget! Donors who set up a recurring monthly donation of at least $20 per month will receive an invitation to our end-of-year donor event. It’s going to be quite a celebration and will include sustainability champions from across the county, along with a very special guest who will open our eyes to sustainability in new ways. Thank you in advance for your donation and we hope to see you at this end-of-year event!
Warm regards,
Sarah Hubbard
Executive Director
Sustainable San Mateo County
SSMC Annual Awards Celebration
At our 2024 awards, Senator Josh Becker said, “Never underestimate that one person can make a difference.” We couldn’t agree more and have based 25 years of sustainability awards on this very idea!
Sustainability work takes more than a good idea. It takes perseverance and courage. By celebrating the pioneers doing this work, we inspire others to tackle sustainability issues facing people in our county.
Before the doors open and the who’s who of sustainability joins to honor our best sustainability actors, there’s a lot of work done by a lot of people. Here’s how it all comes together!
Behind-the-Scenes
Months of planning culminating in one spectacular night:
- Our Nominations Committee begins seeking candidates in October, with significant outreach to ensure we reach potential candidates from all across the county.
- We coordinate with sponsors like the American Institute of Architects’ San Mateo County Chapter for our Green Building awards, and Peninsula Clean Energy for the All-Electric Home award.
- Applications are due in November and our Nominations Committee carefully reviews all the applicants and selects the Sustainability awardees in December.
- We announce the winners in January and invite everyone to the big Awards Celebration. This year it will be on April 6, 2025.
- We work with the winners to share their stories in print, video and with the press to inspire others.
Impact
- 194 individuals and green buildings honored since 1999.
- Nearly 300 local leaders and community members attended last year’s Celebration.
- Over four-fifths of attendees consider the awards event to be one of the best sustainability events of the year in San Mateo County.
- For the first time in 2024, we honored a student with our Youth Sustainability Award and she brought the house down!
What’s Next
- Applications are open for 2025! Apply or nominate a champion from our community.
- Become a sponsor now and receive 6 months of promotion!
- Volunteer for our Awards Committee. Learn more here.
- See a video of last year’s Celebration highlights and learn about past winners.
We hope you’ve enjoyed seeing what goes on behind the scenes at SSMC to keep our county more sustainable for everyone! From the Dashboard to the Ideas Bank, from the Indicators Report to the Awards Celebration, and all the other events, internships, articles and partnerships we didn’t profile, everything we do is to create a world where everyone can live a healthy, happy and productive life. We keep the county focused on and accountable for sustainability. Help us to continue this work.
We appreciate your support and look forward to connecting with you at one of our upcoming events.
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Missed any part of this series? Start with week one, The Sustainability Dashboard!
