Speaking up
Puente provides health and safety-net services that would otherwise be unavailable on the South Coast, though they are taken for granted in the rest of San Mateo County.
Partnership with SamCoast, an on-demand bus service supported by San Mateo County’s SamTrans, provides hundreds of trips to health and other appointments in Half Moon Bay, Redwood City, San Mateo, and Palo Alto.
Tons of food are distributed once a month in La Honda and Pescadero to nearly 15% of the South Coast’s households through Puente’s partnership with Second Harvest Food Bank.
With a grant from Get Healthy San Mateo, a San Mateo County Task Force, Puente is supporting Pescadero and La Honda markets set up to accept food stamps, which will save qualified neighbors save travel time and money, as well as expand the markets’ local base of support.
Puente’s free tax preparation services have helped many individual and families claim thousands of dollars in hard-earned federal and tax refunds.
Puente organizes flu-shot clinics with the San Mateo County Health Department and dental screenings with Sonrisas Dental Clinic in Half Moon Bay.
Puente and its San Mateo County partners can provide enrollment in a variety of county, state, and federal programs including healthcare coverage (Medi-Cal and San Mateo County’s Healthy Families, Healthy Kids, and ACE programs), food stamps, general assistance, and WIC (Women, Infants, and Children).
Puente provides mental health counseling and support to dozens of families and individuals, including the only counseling available to the La Honda-Pescadero Unified School District. Puente supplements its mental health services with programs to support 3rd and 4th graders to foster interpersonal relationships, encourage peer conflict mediation, and teach effective listening skills, to support Latino 5th graders in homework and involvement in the primarily Anglo setting of La Honda Elementary, and to form middle school and high school coed, girl’s, and latino boy’s groups promoting healthy relationships, information on abuse and abusive relationships, and appropriate life skills.
