Community leaders, passionate advocates and supporters gathered on September 23 at the Burlingame Community Center for Sustainable San Mateo County’s (SSMC) 2026 Sustainability Gala & Auction, an evening dedicated to celebrating local climate progress, driving systemic policy change and empowering the next generation of environmental leaders.

From spirited live auction bidding to powerful stories of youth leadership, the night demonstrated what happens when research, policy and collective action come together. Thank you to the nearly 150 elected leaders, government staff and community, business and student leaders who joined us!

Here are the top highlights from an unforgettable evening!

Grounded in Community: Setting the Stage

Emcee Kirsten Keith, SSMC Board Vice Chair, kicked off the evening with warm welcomes and heartfelt recognition of the night’s sponsors, including top sponsor PG&E, Silver sponsors Donna and Eric Colson and WestLight Energy, and the many local business and individual donors making SSMC’s work possible.

SSMC Board Chair Terry Nagel, drawing on her 12 years on the Burlingame City Council, described how meaningful change is created. She shared, “It takes people who are willing to do the research, bring people together, develop practical solutions and stay with an issue long enough to make a difference. That’s what SSMC does.” She also emphasized that a gift to SSMC is an investment, not just in an organization, but in the kind of community we want to leave for our children and grandchildren.

Policy-Driven Impact: SSMC’s Vision

SSMC Executive Director Sarah Hubbard laid out SSMC’s theory of change, sharing that while individual choices matter, true scalable impact happens at the policy level. Changing one lightbulb helps a household, but local building decarbonization policies transform an entire city.

Sarah highlighted several recent policy wins across San Mateo County supported by SSMC’s work:

• Equitable EV Charging: an expanded focus on multifamily housing, with hundreds of chargers installed.
• Child Care & Family Support: increased investment in child care and coordinated family services.
• Building Electrification & Waste Reduction: new local ordinances that reduce fossil fuels and community education to reduce waste.

To maintain long-term momentum, Sarah officially announced the launch of SSMC’s Giving Circle, which recognizes those whose sustained support funds ongoing advocacy across the region.

Youth Empowerment: Banning Black Plastics

One of the most inspiring moments of the evening focused on SSMC’s Youth Advisory Council (YAC), a cohort of nearly 50 high school and college students tackling local environmental challenges.

Sarah shared how a YAC student team successfully advocated to eliminate non-recyclable, toxic black plastic from food services in the San Mateo Union High School District (SMUHSD). While the District proactively reviews options to replace black plastics, the youth cohort is now partnering with regional organizations to propose a statewide ban on black plastic in California schools.

Keynote Speaker: Dr. Arun Majumdar

Introduced by SSMC Board Member Russ Miller, keynote speaker Dr. Arun Majumdar, Dean of the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability, took the stage to discuss how local communities and academic institutions can partner to accelerate regional resilience. He shared the vision behind the creation of Doerr School of Sustainability – to break down silos and catalyze innovation at a 10x level “to serve life on earth forever.” He explained that the population has grown to over 8 billion, and this “human tsunami” in the last 140 years has brought a more than 10X increase in GDP, energy use, CO2 emission rates, water consumption, etc. These increases have caused a paradigm shift and we cannot stand still or count on incremental changes to survive. Stanford created the Doerr School of Sustainability to provide the knowledge, education and research to innovate in this 10X world.

Dr. Majumdar next shared the research happening between Stanford and local and global communities. This includes the work of Assistant Professor Khalid Osman, working with the local organization Nuestra Casa, to ensure access to safe and affordable drinking water in East Palo Alto.

When asked what is the single most impactful lever our cities and communities can pull right now to accelerate sustainability, Dr. Majumdar shared that by building awareness and motivation amongst people, especially among youth, that can spread in service of food security, water security, etc., we have everything we need to serve life on earth.

To that end, SSMC will continue to provide the research, education, policy advocacy and youth programs to create this momentum for sustainability.

Thank You!

We thank everyone who attended, donated and continues to support SSMC in this vital work to build a sustainable, equitable and vibrant San Mateo County!

2026 SSMC Sustainability Gala & Auction