When Yellow Checker cab driver Karan Deep’s phone rings, he has full autonomy to accept or decline a ride. That’s because the nearly 20-year driver is an independent contractor, and always has been. “I do it because I have relationships with customers,” Deep said. “This is my living, and I like it.” He said that...
Silicon Valley company makes strides toward space economy
Humans have been dreaming of the next frontier for decades, imagining what humankind might find among the stars. But in a stout, two-story building in Mountain View, one group is taking it a step further by imagining an entire new space economy. Made In Space, which leases land for its headquarters at Moffett Field from...
A new training program aims to help San Jose mobile food vendors
What sprouted at a community farm in East San Jose as a workforce development program for mobile food vendors has blossomed into something rare — an advocacy group pushing to make it easier for food cart operators to earn a living. It’s a community that needs advocates. The work is hard: profit margins are slim,...
Massive Santa Clara project with tall towers blocked by FAA
One of the largest proposed developments in Santa Clara will get a shakeup this year after the Federal Aviation Administration raised red flags about the tall towers in the project, according to the developer, Kylli Inc. The Chinese developer has been working since early 2018 on a tall, mixed-use proposal called Mission Point that would...
San Jose art studio lands a new location near Google campus
As a temporary creative space, community art studio Local Color, formerly known as the Exhibition District, is used to bouncing around from different spaces in downtown San Jose. But now, the studio has partnered with a top investment firm to secure a new fixture — for free. The partnership between Local Color and the investment...
Google gives out another big grant in San Jose, this time for job training
Google has granted $250,000 to Year Up Bay Area’s San Jose program, which aims to “close the opportunity divide” through technical and professional skills training. Year Up, which has partnered with Google across the country since 2009, focuses its services on people ranging from 18 to 24 years old who do not have college degrees....
South Bay independent contractors share mixed feelings about AB5
Update: California legislators approved Assembly Bill 5 in a 29 to 11 vote in the State Senate Tuesday night. The most recent amendment added manicurists to the list of professions affected, including both Uber and Lyft drivers. Independent contractors across Santa Clara County might soon be classified as employees if a new bill continues to...
Silicon Valley Rising has a plan to improve the lives of ‘Tech’s Invisible Workforce’
Workers on tech campuses across Silicon Valley live with a dichotomy virtually unknown to people employed in other industries — there are two tiers of tech jobs. One is seen as respectable and is highly paid. The other comes with low wages and little dignity. But a group of organizers who have been pushing for...
San Jose: Google grants $1.5M to The Salvation Army for new homes
Google will give The Salvation Army $1.5 million to expand the legacy nonprofit’s footprint and housing in San Jose and support veterans’ programs in San Francisco. The donation, through Google.org, is the first grant the company has distributed after announcing this summer it would open up $50 million in funding to nonprofits focused on homelessness...
Takeaways from top female leaders during Women Equality Day
Monday marked Women Equality Day and in Silicon Valley, more than 20 high-ranking female business and government leaders convened to share their stories and hard-earned lessons. The event, hosted in a modest, single-story building at NASA’s Ames Research Center, was filled with some of the most accomplished women in Silicon Valley and the country, including Speaker of...