One of California’s Three City-Run Health Departments Reorganizes Into Four Divisions

Pasadena’s Public Health Department has consolidated from six divisions to four over the past two years, a reorganization the city has positioned as improving collaboration and aligning services with available resources. 

The change comes at one of only three city-run health departments in California. Pasadena, Long Beach and Berkeley are the only cities in the state that operate their own local health jurisdictions rather than relying on their county, according to the city. The department is now publishing profiles of each of its four divisions, beginning with the Health Promotion and Policy Development Division. 

That division works to promote healthy behaviors, prevent chronic disease and connect residents with services, partnering with community organizations, health care providers and schools, the city said. It oversees programs including the federal Women, Infants and Children nutrition program, known as WIC; the Tobacco Control Program; a Community Engagement Program; the Local Oral Health Program; Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters; Black Infant Health; Cal-InSPIRE; and the Maternal, Child and Adolescent Health Program.

The division reported measurable results. In 2025, its community health workers — known as promotores — reached more than 4,545 community members with health education, referrals and outreach, according to the city, and it maintained an exclusive breastfeeding rate among WIC-enrolled infants at six months that exceeded the state average. Many of the promotores positions are grant-funded, part of the funding picture behind the move to match services to resources. 

The division is led by Division Manager Judith Dunaway, who has more than 20 years of public health experience, 13 of them with the department, the city said. Dunaway has secured more than $1.2 million in grant funding, launched the promotores program, developed a WIC roadmap the city says was adopted by the State of California, and helped lead Pasadena’s flavored tobacco ban. She manages an annual division budget of more than $5.2 million and has served as the department’s acting director and acting deputy director. 

That tobacco ban is now city law. Under Ordinance 7381, adopted in 2021 and enforced beginning in July 2022, Pasadena prohibits the sale of menthol cigarettes and other flavored tobacco products, including flavored vape liquids and hookah — a local measure that mirrors California’s statewide flavored-tobacco ban, which voters upheld through Proposition 31 in 2022.