San Jose takes to the streets
Over 300 people took to the streets of downtown San Jose yesterday afternoon with a clear message: “We are San Jose, we are here to stay!” Hotel and tech cafeteria workers, janitors, affordable housing activists, longtime San Jose residents, and other…
Tell Google what San Jose needs
Over 200 community members came out last night to the Washington United Youth Center gym downtown, asking when Google and City officials will sit at the table with us to define the vision for the company’s proposed mega-campus. The report back…
San Jose Council expands Opportunity to Work
Today, the San Jose City Council voted to develop a plan to cover City employees under the landmark Opportunity to Work measure. The first-of-its-kind initiative, which passed with overwhelming support from San Jose voters in November of 2016, provides part-time workers…
Report back from the first San Jose Google town hall
It was an overflow crowd at last night’s town hall. 300 community members — from residents to low-wage tech workers to programmers — came together in East San Jose, calling for Google and City officials to sit at the table with…
The Bay Area takes action on housing and good jobs
Last night, the Bay Area took a major step towards addressing three of the region’s most urgent challenges: housing, displacement, and growing income inequality. Following a multi-year grassroots campaign that brought together communities from all nine Bay Area counties, the regional…
Building Opportunity
Over the next five years, the city of San Jose plans to spend $1.42 billion on public construction projects. These taxpayer-funded projects will provide critical infrastructure for San Jose’s neighborhoods. But will they create good jobs for our local communities? Our…
Cafeteria workers at Facebook organize
Our Silicon Valley Rising campaign is about inspiring the tech industry to build an inclusive middle class. Yesterday we saw what that looks like as over 500 cafeteria workers at Facebook’s Menlo Park headquarters announced they’ve won union recognition with UNITE…
San Jose Google negotiations begin
Last night, the San Jose City Council voted to start negotiations with Google for the tech giant’s Diridon Station mega-campus. With hours of testimony from diverse members of our community, we made clear we expect to be a part of developing…
450,000 renters are now protected from unjust eviction
Last night, the San Jose City Council voted 9-2 for the Just Cause urgency ordinance, putting crucial new protections for renters into effect immediately. Now 450,000 tenants in San Jose can no longer be evicted without a valid reason. Since the…
Just Cause wins in San Jose
Sixteen years ago, I came to San Jose as a young community organizer. Then as now, the housing crisis was out of control, and longtime residents were being thrown out of rent-controlled units. We fought hard for Just Cause protections against…
Cashing In on Renters
As working families in San Jose struggle with sky-high rents and unjust evictions, the out-of-town corporate landlords who own most of the city’s apartments make millions in profits. That’s the takeaway from a new research report, Cashing In on Renters, that…
Job security wins in Santa Clara
The Santa Clara City Council has unanimously passed the first worker retention ordinance in Silicon Valley! This new ordinance will provide much-needed job security to some of our most vulnerable workers. This law will protect food and building service workers from…
