San Jose/Silicon Valley branch is successful start-up

San Jose, Calif., is in the middle of one of America's hottest spots for business and technology - Silicon Valley. Some of today's most innovative companies, names like Intel and Hewlett Packard, are located here. The technology-driven economic revolution born here is so tremendous, in January the region's NAACP branch changed its name to the San Jose/Silicon Valley NAACP.

"San Jose is the capital of Silicon Valley," branch President Rick Callender boasts. He has served as president for less than a year, but has been involved with the branch since 1986, when his mother was legal redress chair and Callender himself was a youth member. "I grew up part of the NAACP family," Callender says. Reflecting on his vital new role, he adds, "You want to make sure the family [remains] strong."

The technology boom and subsequent virtual bust has become one of the Northern California branch's greatest concerns. When the Internet economy began to slow after the turn of the century, many Silicon Valley giants announced layoffs. In the wake of cutbacks, Callender knew companies might adopt a "last hired, first-- fired" policy, a phenomenon that would likely affect minority employees disproportionately.

The branch is working to enlist area companies in fair-share agreements to make sure people of color aren't dismissed first and in the greatest numbers. In August, Callender held a press conference to request meetings with representatives of the 10 largest Silicon Valley firms, the first step of a campaign to reach fairshare agreements with at least 50 companies. At press time he didn't have any takers, but hoped the effort would be underway by September.

He also intends to lobby hi-tech firms to diversify their boards of directors to "reflect the diversity of the Valley" within their companies. The city of San Jose is 3.5 percent Black.

In the meantime, the branch plans to host a "pink-slip party," a gathering that has become popular in various technology enclaves around the country, where employers with vacancies mingle with jobseekers.

Silicon Valley's flourishing economy brought with it an unwelcome consequence - the skyrocketing cost of housing as the demands of incoming technology workers outpaced housing supplies. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition's recent "Out of Reach" report, San Francisco and San Jose top its list of metro areas where the majority of workers can't afford housing.

In response, Callender will present a major housing policy initiative in November to the city councils of the 15 cities that compose Silicon Valley and to the Santa Clara County board of supervisors.

Though economic and housing concerns are great in the San Jose/Silicon Valley area, Callender reports that the majority of complaints received by the local NAACP deal with police brutality. Other allegations include police harassment, "driving while Black" traffic stops and "too many incidents of violence." The branch has a surprising ally in its fight against racial profiling - the San Jose police department.

Officer Rubens Dalaison, a spokesperson for the San Jose police department, says cooperation with organizations like the NAACP has paid off. The "joint effort" of police and community produces a "strong department and strong neighborhood initiatives," Dalaison says. San Jose recently became the second police department in the nation to announce a plan to track statistics on the frequency of traffic stops and the demographics of those who are stopped.

The San Jose/Silicon Valley branch isn't likely to stop lobbying civil authorities for change after this victory with the police department. In the coming months the branch will host a public policy luncheon with local elected officials to discuss a variety of issues, including environmental racism and monitoring the distribution of redevelopment dollars in the area. All of these efforts are a part of Callender's pledge to "fight for public policy issues ... we should be at the table where decisions are made."

The branch also maintains a commitment to developing young leaders in its community. It was recently awarded a $45,000 grant from the city of San Jose to sponsor a youth leadership academy for students in grades seven through 12. The program, scheduled for late October, will train students in leadership skills and require attendees to perform 30 hours of community service teaching their peers what they've learned.

Callender has a lot on his plate, but he wouldn't have it any other way. "The San Jose/Silicon Valley branch is back in town," he says, "and it's turning heads wherever it goes."

- Frankie J Petrosino

Copyright Crisis Publishing Company, Incorporated Sep/Oct 2001
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