At Working Partnerships USA, we’re building something that can meet this moment: organizing across communities, training new leaders, and fighting for a Santa Clara County where everyone can thrive with dignity and justice.
Year in Review, By the Numbers
WORKING FAMILIES
HOUSING
145
LABOR, GOVERNMENT,
BUSINESS STAKEHOLDERS
ENGAGED TO SOLVE OUR
HOUSING CRISIS
FAIR WORKPLACE
COLLABORATIVE
5K
WORKERS ENGAGED
THROUGH FWC
OUTREACH AND TRAINING
TRADES
PROGRAMS
116
GRADUATES READY TO
PURSUE A PATH TO
UNION CAREERS
HEALTHCARE
ACCESS
5.1K
HOUSEHOLDS EDUCATED
ON HOW TO PROTECT
THEIR MEDICAL COVERAGE
CIVIC ENGAGEMENT
PROGRAM
11.5K
VOTER CONTACTS
ACROSS MEASURE A
CAMPAIGN
BUILD THE FUTURE
14
CITIES COMMIT TO
INVESTING IN
CHILDCARE FOR ALL
EMPLOYER
ENGAGEMENT
200+
BUSINESS OWNERS
TRAINED TO PROTECT
WORKPLACES AGAINST
ICE RAIDS
CLEAN ENERGY
WORKFORCE
$100K
SECURED FOR
PRE-APPRENTICESHIP
SCHOLARSHIPS IN
GREEN UNION JOBS
GIG WORKERS RISING
1,000
DRIVERS ORGANIZING
FOR CHANGE
CARE WORKERS COUNCIL
25
CARE WORKERS
ORGANIZING FOR
CARE FOR ALL
BERRYESSA FLEA MARKET
VENDORS ASSOCIATION
290
VENDORS ORGANIZING
FOR THEIR FUTURES
CIVIL RESISTANCE
135
LABOR AND COMMUNITY
ALLIES TRAINED IN
COMMUNITY DEFENSE
COMMUNICATIONS
50+
MEDIA MENTIONS
ACROSS MULTIPLE CAMPAIGNS
LEADERSHIP
DEVELOPMENT
7
FATHER BILL LEININGER
SUMMER JUSTICE INTERNS
Federal Rapid Response & Mass Mobilization
This year brought unprecedented attacks on our communities: cuts to our safety net to fund billionaire tax breaks, gutting of healthcare access for the most vulnerable among us, the kidnapping of community members in the name of immigration enforcement, and the rise of tech oligarchs profiting from it all. But we came together and said, “We take care of each other.”
Working with labor and community partners across California—including Bay Resistance, South Bay AFL-CIO Labor Council, and We Are California—we combined mass action, worker protection, and strategic capacity-building to defend against attacks on democracy and our communities. We coordinated statewide rolling actions opposing budget cuts through the Don’t Starve California campaign.
Our sustained efforts helped us win Measure A, a ballot measure that saves our regional public hospital system from devastating budget cuts. We passed legislation through San José City Council and Santa Clara County requiring that federal agents conducting enforcement within city boundaries must identify themselves and cannot wear masks, and also secured protocols between counties and cities for responding to ICE threats, including employer engagement, de-escalation plans, emergency management preparedness, and collaboration with community organizations. In addition to these, we strengthened workplace protections, engaging over 110 businesses, and gaining the commitments of over 40 small business owners to get additional training in ICE response protocols. We’re equipping community members with know-your-rights education and supporting local governments to ensure these protections hold in the face of ongoing threats. Over 200 labor and community leaders have completed our Noncooperation Training, learning strategies to respond to authoritarian threats.
Through all of this work, we’re building a strong multiracial, multigenerational base of workers, families, tenants, students, health care professionals, and others, who come together to fight for a better Santa Clara County.
We’re building the power we need to define our own futures.
Working Families Housing
In September, we launched Working Families Housing, an initiative to solve Santa Clara County’s housing crisis by creating new strategies to produce union-built, mixed-income quality housing faster than traditional approaches. Along with the South Bay AFL-CIO Labor Council, Santa Clara County Building Trades Council, San José Chamber of Commerce, we formed a coalition with over 100 stakeholders representing labor, pension funds, developers, local government, philanthropy, and community organizations to share knowledge and expertise through technical workshops on finance, public policy, and governance. Our work led to support for collaboration on Working Families Housing in the City of San José Budget Message, and we are now evaluating proof of concept models for projects across Santa Clara County.
Making Tech Work for Workers
We believe technology should serve the people who power our economy—not exploit them. That means ensuring that tech innovation is guided by equity, racial justice, and worker voice. As corporations rapidly adopt AI in workplaces across industries—automating jobs, intensifying surveillance, and concentrating power—we’re bringing partners together to learn about AI’s impact and to fight for workers to have a voice in shaping the future of work. This year, we partnered with the UC Berkeley Labor Center to bring together California workers, unions, researchers, and community allies at the Making Tech Work for Workers convening in Sacramento. With over 330 attendees, including representatives from over 200 trade unions, we shared strategies for responding to the ways AI is already transforming work—and imagined a future where digital innovation is guided by the needs of working people, from warehouse workers and truck drivers to teachers, nurses, and gig workers. In 2026, we’re scaling this work into a sustained campaign for worker power over technology, combining political education, strategic advocacy, and coalition-building to ensure that workers and community members control how emerging technology is deployed in government services, healthcare, workplaces, and our communities.
Defending Healthcare For All
$330 million for public health | 5,000+ households reached with critical information
When the current administration introduced HR 1’s devastating cuts to the healthcare we count on, our hospitals faced closure, and critical services were slated to disappear. We responded on multiple fronts—in the streets, at the ballot box, and in our communities.
We brought together labor and community partners to save our public hospital system, successfully placing Measure A on the ballot and winning with an overwhelming 56% of the vote. This victory generates $330 million annually for five years, closing the funding gap and protecting our local hospitals and healthcare system.
Alongside our “We Are California” partners statewide, we mobilized Santa Clara County residents against proposed cuts to healthcare, nutrition, and other critical community programs through the “Hands Off” and “Don’t Starve California” campaigns. We joined coalition partners in Bakersfield and Orange County in a solidarity fast, and continue organizing against these attacks.
We also worked to ensure our community was prepared for what was coming. With Medi-Cal stopping new enrollment for some immigrants in 2026, we are hosting community town halls in collaboration with the County of Sant Clara to provide free education about the enrollment freeze. Over 200 people attended our townhalls to learn from Medi-Cal enrollment experts and get their questions answered, while our broader outreach reached over 5,000 families with critical information about protecting their healthcare access.
Fast Food Fair Work
3,000+ petition signers | Secured City and County leader commitments
Together with South Bay Labor Council, SEIU 1021, SEIU International, and the CA Fast Food Workers Union, we advanced policy to create a first-of-its-kind countywide Know Your Rights training program for Santa Clara County’s 26,000 frontline fast food workers—many of them immigrant workers facing both workplace exploitation and the threat of ICE enforcement. County staff recently accepted our report on the project’s progress and plans to pilot training in early 2026, with a full launch later in the year. We won this despite McDonald’s and the fast food industry spending over $1 million opposing labor champions in recent Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors and San Jose City Council races, and threatening further spending. We’re continuing to organize to ensure this program launches and equips workers with the knowledge they need to protect themselves at work and in their communities.
Gig Workers Rising (GWR)
15+ organizing committee leaders | 3 actions | 70+ cars in SFO caravan
Gig workers are on the frontlines of organizing to have a voice in shaping how algorithms and AI are used to manage their work. Through Gig Workers Rising, drivers are building power and demanding transparency over the automated systems that control their pay, assignments, and working conditions.
Through monthly Digital Rights Leadership Team meetings with 25+ drivers, we developed strategies to request data and expose algorithmic control. We mobilized over 70 cars at SFO Airport demanding accountability, and worked with UC Berkeley Labor Center to strengthen CCPA protections for workers. As the AI and technology landscape continues to evolve at exponential rates, we will continue to advocate for making tech work for workers, not against them. We’re also proud to have supported SEIU and the California Gig Workers Union in their fight to secure sectoral bargaining rights for gig workers across California, a transformative victory years in the making that creates pathways to collective power.
Manufacturing Futures
65+ manufacturing workers interviewed | 11 businesses engaged
We launched the Bay Area High Road Manufacturing Initiative (BAHRMI), a groundbreaking collaborative effort to transform manufacturing across Alameda, Contra Costa, Solano, San Mateo, and Santa Clara counties into a high-road ecosystem that centers job quality, equity, and sustainability. This work is essential to building a resilient regional economy prepared for the future, one where clean energy solutions, quality jobs, and sustainable infrastructure strengthen our communities for generations to come.
BAHRMI is building a powerful coalition of partners to establish new workforce standards, attract significant resources to the region, and drive California toward achieving our climate goals through equitable manufacturing. Through this initiative, we interviewed manufacturing workers and engaged local businesses to understand industry challenges and opportunities firsthand. We are now designing pilot workforce development programs that will create pathways to good union jobs for blue-collar workers.
In addition to this, we’ve secured over $30 million in funding for clean energy initiatives and advanced high-road battery manufacturing commitments. We won passage of bid preference policies that embed labor and environmental justice standards into multi-billion dollar power procurements by Silicon Valley Clean Energy and San José Clean Energy, and helped create California’s first “High Road Contractor Badge” for San José Clean Energy’s home electrification program. Together, these efforts ensure that the manufacturing sector of the future is built on worker voices, shared prosperity, and the clean energy infrastructure our region needs to thrive.
Trades Programs
180 new graduates and alumni placements
This year, we expanded our trades program to integrate San Mateo County’s Trades Introduction Program (TIP), strengthening the regional pipeline and building on nearly a decade of success. Since its inception in 2015, the Trades Orientation Program (TOP) has equipped over 700 graduates with the skills, support, and certifications needed to build fulfilling careers in the construction trades.
This expansion has strengthened both programs, allowing us to effectively coordinate and deliver two programs in tandem while maintaining high placement rates and far exceeding industry standards for women and non-binary participation. We also launched our first-ever stipend pilot to better support participants, and secured $100,000 in San José Clean Energy scholarships for San José residents participating in TOP.
Build the Future
14 out of 15 Santa Clara County cities commit to Childcare for All
As co-organizers of the Build the Future coalition, we are shifting the conversation about childcare in the South Bay and building a foundation to provide affordable and quality childcare for all Santa Clara County families. Nearly unanimously, 14 out of 15 Santa Clara County cities have committed to addressing the childcare crises and working with Build the Future to ensure that childcare is a region-wide priority.
We had lots of fun connecting with our community while hosting a booth with volunteers at Viva Calle San José, the biggest community event of the year! On June 8 and September 7, Build the Future volunteers brought fun and education to families with our lively booth during the event, featuring interactive activities for kids and resources for families about why affordable childcare is a public good that benefits everyone. The Build the Future Policy Symposium in Redwood City taught elected officials different policies they can implement to make childcare more accessible in their cities. Together, we’re making childcare accessible and affordable for all families in Santa Clara County.
Fair Workplace Collaborative
5,000+ workers engaged | 500+ businesses reached | 1,000+ workers trained
The Fair Workplace Collaborative (FWC) is a coalition of dedicated community members, organizations, labor attorneys, and small business leaders committed to combating wage theft and labor violations by connecting with the community, providing free legal aid, hosting worker and business employment/labor trainings, and legal clinics. This year, we protected workers and businesses by providing Know Your Rights training, case management support, and education on navigating workplace protections during a hostile political climate. By ramping up outreach, we brought workers, businesses, and communities together to champion labor rights, provide critical resources, and amplify worker voices in the fight for dignity and equity in the workplace.
Honoring Betsy
This year, we lost one of our own. Our colleague and union-sister Betsy was a force in the labor movement—a fighter who never backed down from hard battles, who made us laugh in tough moments, who taught and inspired everyone around her. Losing her has been devastating but it’s also reminded us what this movement is really about: showing up for each other, fighting for what matters, and carrying forward the love and courage of those who came before us. Betsy was someone who stood up for justice and never backed down from brutal fights. She was our teacher, our inspiration, and someone who could make us laugh during even the most challenging times. She showed us what it looks like to fight for what’s right with bravery, wit, and compassion. Above all, what stays with us most is her capacity for boundless love. In a world that often tells us to guard our hearts, she loved completely and without limits — and we’re grateful beyond words to have been touched by her love and spirit. This has been a time of reflection and gratitude. As we honor Betsy’s memory, we’re reminded of why this work matters and who we’re fighting for.
