Despite booming economy, Oakland finances deteriorate
Original Editorial Article by Daniel Borenstein – The Mercury News Without new income streams or budget cuts, the city now faces a projected $100 million annual shortfall by the 2019-20 fiscal year, a forecast 74 percent worse than just two years ago. Some of that difference is due to using more realistic assumptions. But the city’s […]
Oakland Economy, Tech in Oakland
How Uber could end up as Silicon Valley’s most spectacular crash
Original article by Kevin Maney – Newsweek Just a year ago, Uber reigned as the tech industry’s awe-inspiring, all-powerful Wizard of Oz. But lately, the curtain is being pulled back to reveal a guy who’s more like an angry drunk frantically yanking levers while taking roundhouse swings at the Tin Man and propositioning Dorothy. Uber […]
As nonprofits struggle to find affordable space, new Oakland center provides relief
Original article by Annie Sciacca in East Bay Times As Bay Area nonprofits struggle to operate in the region amid rising rents and competition for office space, one East Bay organization is offering a solution for some. The Greenlining Institute, a public policy organization that advocates for racial and economic justice, has opened a new center […]
Oakland Economy, Tech in Oakland
Bay Area tech job growth is decelerating
Original article by George Avalos – East Bay Times SAN JOSE — Job growth in the tech industry used to zoom like a race car, but these days, hiring by this principal driver of the Bay Area’s economy chugs along more like a family SUV. The technology industry’s job growth in the nine-county region has […]
Diversity in tech: Lots of attention, little progress
by Barbara Ortutay – AP Technology Writer The tech industry has brought us self-driving cars, artificial intelligence, disappearing photos and 3-D printers. But when it comes to racial and gender diversity, its companies are no trailblazers. Despite loudly touted efforts to hire more black, Latino and female workers, especially in technical and leadership positions, diversity […]
Jesse Jackson Tells Uber to Release Diversity Data, Invest in Oakland
Original article by Sheryl Estrada on DiversityInc.com In a letter to Uber’s CEO Travis Kalanick, civil rights leader Rev. Jesse L. Jackson Sr., president and founder of The Rainbow PUSH Coalition, urged Uber to report its diversity data by February 15. Unlike many big-name tech companies, Uber has not released data on the racial and gender […]
‘Hidden Figures’: Can film inspire more young black women to embrace science, tech?
Original article by Joyce Tsai in The Mercury News OAKLAND — Kimberly Bryant still recalls how lonely and unwelcome it felt at times to be the only black female face in her college electrical engineering classes at Vanderbilt University in the mid-1980s. One of her first memories as a freshman was having the head of the engineering department […]