Jeanette Pantoja
Public Health Planner II, Metropolitan Area Planning Council
Jeanette Pantoja joined MAPC’s Public Health team in July 2018. As Public Health Planner, Jeanette’s work focuses broadly on supporting collaborative approaches to address the social and physical conditions that impact health outcomes and disparities in the region. She is particularly interested in supporting local healthcare and public health institutions’ engagement in efforts to address housing instability and in the integration of public health and local climate resiliency planning.
Jeanette’s work at MAPC includes evaluation of collective impact initiatives, policy research and analysis, and the development of tools and training materials to support public health stakeholders’ participation in local planning and land use decision-making.
She previously worked as an intern with MAPC’s Government Affairs team. As an intern, Jeanette supported advocacy efforts though policy research, analysis, and writing. She contributed to MAPC’s 2018 State of Equity Policy Agenda and a housing best practices toolkit for the Metro Mayors’ Housing Task Force. Prior to her graduate studies, Jeanette spent several years facilitating collective impact initiatives and advocating for the community development needs of her predominantly farmworker community. Her work for the California Endowment’s Building Healthy Communities initiative helped her develop a capacity for the integration of health equity into local land use planning and practice. She engaged residents, community groups, and public agencies on successful campaigns to improve access to affordable housing, active transportation, and open space. She also worked for California Rural Legal Assistance, where she helped rural communities with contaminated drinking water access technical assistance and funding to secure improved water, wastewater, and transportation infrastructure.
Jeanette received her Master’s in Urban Planning with Distinction from the Harvard Graduate School of Design and holds a Bachelor of Arts in Integrative Biology from the University of California, Berkeley.
