Working Partnerships Usa

Working Partnerships USA is a community organization bringing together the power of grassroots organizing and public policy innovation to drive the movement for a just economy.

Based in Silicon Valley, we tackle the root causes of inequality and poverty by leading collaborative campaigns for quality jobs, healthy communities, equitable growth and vibrant democracy.

OUR RECENT ACCOMPLISHMENTS

• Launched Silicon Valley Rising – Coordinated campaign to inspire the tech industry to build an inclusive middle class in Silicon Valley by improving jobs for its low-wage subcontracted workers, raising wages and standards for all workers, and building and preserving affordable housing. Wins with our allies include passing minimum wage increases in four Silicon Valley cities and helping over 1,000 low-wage workers win a voice at work and better wages.
• VTA Expands Access to Affordable Housing – Won passage at the Valley Transportation Authority of the strongest affordable housing policy of any transit agency in the country, partnering with allies to gain commitment that 35% of all housing units jointly developed on VTA land will be affordable.
• Raising Minimum Wage in Mountain View and Sunnyvale – Collaborated to win minimum wage policies that set Mountain View and Sunnyvale to lead the region by reaching $15 minimum wages by 2018.
• Opened the Way the Achieve Universal Health Coverage in Santa Clara County – With powerful health coalition, won approval of program, now being piloted, to provide access to health coverage for all, regardless of documentation status, aiming to reach over 130,000 still uninsured in our county – mostly immigrant and low-income residents.
• Tech's Invisible Workforce: A Closer Look at the "Invisible" Subcontracting Trend in Silicon Valley (Report) – Gained national attention for the growth of occupational segregation in the tech industry, with black and Latino workers dramatically overrepresented in low-wage, subcontracting industry jobs that earn about 1/6 of the average tech employee salary.
• A Hidden Crisis: Underemployment in Silicon Valley's Hourly Workforce (Report) – Released a groundbreaking study that reveals an underemployment crisis and explosion in part-time work behind San Jose’s persistent rates of working poverty.
• Expanding Pathways to Middle Class through Community Workforce Agreements – Passed policy at Santa Clara County to build pipelines into the middle class jobs on public construction projects for women, people of color, veterans, youth and other local communities – 5,000 jobs affected in the near-term, 18,000 if other local agencies follow suit.
• Leveraging $287 Billion in Regional Transportation Funding to Grow Middle Class – Won commitment to leverage $287 billion slated for regional transportation infrastructure to grow middle class jobs and protect communities from displacement.

HISTORICAL ACCOMPLISHMENTS

• Raise the Wage San Jose - Developed the policy and community organizing strategy in 2012, which led to the passage of a city-wide minimum wage increase from $8 to $10 an hour for an estimated 75,000 workers.
• Children's Health Initiative (CHI) - Pioneered a program in 2001, which now provides health coverage to more than 121,000 Santa Clara County children and has been replicated in 17 counties.

• Team San Jose - Launched a public/private partnership in 2004 to manage San Jose's convention and cultural facilities, restore their financial viability and preserve high-quality jobs.

• San Jose Living Wage Ordinance - Led the campaign for a 1998 San Jose ordinance to expand living wage requirements and labor peace to more than 7,600 workers.