The saying goes, “we can’t improve what we don’t measure,” and the County of San Mateo is committed to always improving our services so all residents can achieve their full potential.  

This performance guidance utilizes the targeted universalism approach to help identify the residents with the greatest need and tailor strategies that will fairly benefit all residents.  

Performance measures evaluate how effectively a program, organization, or system is achieving its intended goals. They serve a few purposes and are used to:​ 

• Track Progress – Monitor whether activities are producing the desired outcomes over time.​ 

• Improve Accountability – Demonstrate to stakeholders (e.g., funders, the public, elected officials) that resources are being used effectively.​ 

• Support Decision-Making – Inform strategies, budget allocations, and policy changes based on what's working or not.​ 

• Increase Transparency – Make goals, activities, and results visible to internal and external audiences.​ 

• Drive Improvement – Identify areas needing change or innovation and guide performance improvement efforts.​ 

• Make the invisible, visible- the disaggregation of data and intentional community engagement expose hidden trends and disparities that can inform decisions and strategies to support populations with greater need.  

Please review the documents below for more details, and if you have questions about performance measures for your contract, please contact your contract manager directly.