South Bay and Peninsula High Road Roundtable

The South Bay and Peninsula High Road Roundtable is a space for labor, community, business, educational, environmental, and local government organizations in Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties to come together to advance economic and racial justice, and rebalance our regional economies as we move towards a climate-resilient future where all work is valued and empowering, all jobs pay a family-supporting wage, and all people across our diverse region can collectively build pathways to sustainable, resilient communities.

High Road Roundtable convenes South Bay and Peninsula stakeholders committed to economic and racial justice, to collectively re-envision regional economic development planning, centered around the values of equity, high-road employment, sustainability and climate resilience, and shaped by workers and impacted community members themselves.

From June 2023 through December 2024, the High Road Roundtable convened more than 400 stakeholders committed to economic and racial justice, to collectively re-envision regional economic development planning through ‘high road’ approaches, which overlay equity, job quality, climate resilience, and worker and community voice.

This broad multi-stakeholder collaboration helped seed and resource collaborative efforts in strategic economic sectors, which developed bold proposals related to healthcare, childcare/early childhood education, manufacturing, arts/culture, small business, worker-owned cooperative, and green infrastructure.

Check out our REPORT: Building Resilient Futures – New Pathways for Inclusive Economic Development

Next Steps: Fostering Engagement with New High Road Initiatives

Moving forward, the High Road Roundtable will facilitate ongoing cross-collaboration between diverse stakeholders to support the efforts of the coalitions built through this process, and continue to provide infrastructure for long-term, responsible economic development planning.

The Bay Area High Road Manufacturing Initiative is a newly formed partnership that seeks to intentionally advance a high-road manufacturing ecosystem in the Bay Area by improving outcomes in existing industries, and by supporting the growth of new employers in strategic clean manufacturing sectors. Labor and community advocates will drive the development of high-road strategies, in close partnership and collaboration with employers, workforce development, and educational stakeholders who share this vision. Our initiative brings together partnerships that can successfully leverage this historic investment opportunity, and do so in alignment with our values: job quality, equity, sustainability and environmental justice.

The High Road to Childcare and Early Childhood Education Consortium is an ambitious, new, cross-regional, collaborative that will develop high-road approaches to increase the availability and affordability of childcare and early childhood education, that also improve job quality, responses to climate-related challenges, and opportunities for workforce mobility in this complex ecosystem.

Anchoring Worker Cooperative Hubs, led by Somos Mayfair, will develop a collaborative plan to incubate and sustain worker-owned cooperatives throughout the Bay Area. It will offer technical assistance, capital access, leadership development, and climate and labor rights education, and foster a just transition to a regenerative economy. Place based incubation hubs will promote a democratic governance model that prioritizes dignified jobs, equitable ownership, and living wages.

Multi-stakeholders coalitions were also built to forward on emergency and disaster readiness training for in-home support service (IHSS) providers, high-road supports for small businesses, and the green infrastructure workforce. 

More information on all of these exciting initiatives is available in a new report: Building Resilient Futures – New Pathways for Inclusive Economic Development. 

To get involved with any of these coalitions, please contact highroad@wpusa.org.

Check out our VIDEO: Why co-convene the South Bay/Peninsula High Road Roundtable?

Our Approach

We believe that a ‘high road’ approach can foster inclusive economic growth and create a more just economy. At its core, the high road model prioritizes investment in a diverse workforce to establish high-quality jobs.

High road employers prioritize creating quality jobs that sustain families and provide a decent livelihood. These employers competeon the quality of their products and services which they achieve through investing in their workforce, promoting innovation, and ensuring workers have a say in decision-making processes. But the high road approach goes beyond individual companies. It requires a collaborative effort that brings together employers, unions, workers, community organizations, and the public workforce systems to tackle important issues like equity, job quality, worker empowerment, industry efficiency, and sustainability.

By embracing this approach, we can build resilient economies rootedin economic and racial justice — where industries are not built at theexpense of workers, communities or the climate, but are grounded increating futures where everyone can thrive.

Co-convenors

The South Bay / Peninsula High Road Roundtable is co-convened by San Mateo County Economic Development Association, San Mateo Labor Council, Somos Mayfair, South Bay Labor Council, and Working Partnerships USA. We believe that a ‘high road’ approach can foster inclusive economic growth and create a more environmentally sustainable and just economy.

High road employers prioritize creating quality jobs for a diverse workforce that sustain families and provide a decent livelihood. These employers compete on the quality of their products and services which they achieve through investing in their workforce, promoting innovation, and ensuring workers have a say in decision-making processes. But the high road approach goes beyond individual companies. It requires deep collaboration that brings together employers, unions, workers, community organizations, and the public workforce systems to tackle important issues like equity, job quality, worker empowerment, industry efficiency, and sustainability.

The South Bay and Peninsula High Road Roundtable also served as a subregional table of the Bay Area Jobs First Collaborative, formerly known as the Bay Area High Road Transition Collaborative, a group of over 50 organizations facilitated by All Home and the Bay Area Good Jobs Partnership for Equity. The Collaborative was awarded a $5 million Community Economic Resilience Fund planning grant and a $14 million Catalyst grant by the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research, under the banner of CA Jobs First, to develop and implement inclusive, sustainable economic strategies in the Bay Area through September 2026.