Bio

Born and raised in Santa Cruz County, Sarah Emmert has been dedicated to advancing social justice and community wellbeing since 2007. Her work spans educational and health equity, racial justice, youth leadership, and community safety. With a strong belief in collaboration across sectors, she partners with public agencies, philanthropic organizations, nonprofits, and community collaboratives to develop strategies, strengthen partnerships, and build leadership capacity.

As a consultant, Sarah leads and supports initiatives that center those most impacted by social issues and create meaningful, sustainable change. Her work includes facilitating strategic planning processes, conducting organizational assessments, designing and facilitating inclusive community engagement, and providing technical assistance and capacity building. She brings a Results-Based Accountability and Results Count approach to her work, helping organizations and leaders connect values, data, community knowledge, and action to achieve measurable results.

Over the past two decades, Sarah has contributed to local and statewide initiatives addressing the Social Determinants of Health, including youth-led mental health efforts, violence prevention, juvenile justice reform, and survivor support. Her work has involved bringing together people and organizations across systems to address complex challenges, strengthen collaboration, and advance change.

Previously, Sarah served as Director of Community Impact at United Way of Santa Cruz County, where she oversaw several collective impact initiatives focused on health equity, juvenile justice reform, and culturally responsive community engagement. She also held roles as Public Policy Manager at the Homeless Services Center and Prison Project Coordinator at Barrios Unidos, and served on the Santa Cruz County Juvenile Justice Delinquency Prevention Commission.

Sarah holds a B.A. in Psychology from UC Santa Cruz and an M.A. in Criminology, Law, and Society from UC Irvine.