San Mateo County Pacific Islander Initiative

The Pacific Islander Initiative (PII) is hosted by San Mateo County Healthʻs Office of Diversity and Equity. PII was created to address health disparities within the community and to connect families to resources or services they may not know about, but are eligible for.

After a needs assessment survey was conducted among Pacific Islanders in 2005, there were areas that were identified that needed development and attention. The results showed that the Pacific Islander population does not willingly seek help from available resources because of language barriers, lack of culturally sensitive services, fear of government institutions, and inaccurate information about available resources and services.

The PII is charged to address those challenges and help change systems and policy to make services more accessible for the community. The PII has set goals in order to achieve our mission and vision through education and awareness, prevention and capacity building and leadership.

PII meets first Wednesday of every month from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. In-person at Le Moata (833 Mahler Rd STE 5, Burlingame) or virtual via Zoom.