Economics

Jesse Jackson keeps pressure on Silicon Valley to diversify

Published

11 years ago

May 26, 2015

By Michael Liedtke, AP Technology Writer

Jesse Jackson renewed his call earlier this month for the technology industry to make workforce diversity as high a priority as product innovation.

The civil rights leader spoke at a gathering of corporate executives and activists called to address Silicon Valley’s shortage of women, blacks and Hispanics in high-paying jobs.

The San Francisco event underscored Jackson’s intention to use his historic ties to Martin Luther King Jr. and the civil rights movement of the 1960s to prod major technology companies change the face of their payrolls.

Harking back to the famous Alabama march led by King in 1965, Jackson told an audience of about 400 people that his crusade for a more inclusive society follows “an unbroken line from Selma to Silicon Valley.”

Jackson also cited recent protests over the deaths and abuses of black men arrested by police officers as a sign of the “despair and disenfranchisement” in communities being torn apart by a widening chasm between affluent and financially strapped households.

It’s a problem that Jackson believes Silicon Valley can help solve by summoning its brainpower and financial muscle to put more minorities and women to work in the technology industry, one of the fastest growing and best-paying parts of the economy. He describes his mission in Silicon Valley as another stage in a “civil rights symphony.”

Jackson’s plea has stuck a chord with Intel Corp., which is spending $300 million to diversify its workforce during the next five years. Intel CEO Brian Krzanich appeared at Wednesday’s summit to announce that $5 million of that money will finance computer science programs in an Oakland, California, school district where roughly two-thirds of the students are black or Hispanic.

A campaign launched last year by Jackson and his Rainbow Push coalition pressured Google, Facebook, Apple and other major Silicon Valley employers into releasing data that showed an abnormally high percentage of white and Asian men in engineering and executive jobs. The disclosures mortified an industry that thinks of itself as a meritocracy, prompting Intel and several companies to pledge to do more to diversify.

Intel already is doing better in the first four months since setting its goal to have a workforce that mirrors the racial and sexual makeup of the overall population by 2020. Krzanich said 41 percent of the employees that Intel has hired so far this year fell into diversity categories that Intel is trying to increase, up from 30 percent last year.

The Santa Clara, California, company also is studying changes in its workforce each week in an effort to get a better grasp on its diversity problem.

“I am not going to fool you. This is hard work,” Krzanich said. “This isn’t rocket science. It’s harder.”

Apple sent one of its African-American executives, Lisa Jackson, to re-iterate its intention to hire more women and minorities because the iPhone maker believes greater diversity will hatch better ideas and products.

“This is about something that is good for business,” she said. “This isn’t work we do for any other reason.”

Jesse Jackson left little doubt that he intends to hold Silicon Valley to its diversity promise.

“Recycled white supremacy is not meritocracy,” he said.

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Activism

At the event, 16 entities signed the EIP pledge, vowing to take steps to increase public contracting opportunities in their spheres for small and historically underutilized businesses. The pledge signees included Hub International, the Port of San Francisco, the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, California High-Speed Rail Authority, the Port of Oakland, Robert Graham of Webcor Builders, Holder Construction, the Weitz Company, Sky Blue Builders, Hornblower, Swinerton, Luster National, Talson Solutions, Center for Community Wealth Building, and the Construction Contractors Alliance.

Published

1 week ago

June 24, 2026

Oakland Post

Toks Omishakin, secretary of the California State Transportation Agency, was one of the speakers at the event. Photo by Shellee Fisher Photography and Design.

By Calvin Naito, Special to The Post

On June 4, a national nonprofit named the Equity in Infrastructure Project (EIP) – which aims to increase public construction contracting opportunities for small and historically underutilized businesses – held a day-long event in downtown San Francisco to rally supporters and build momentum to its cause.

It was attended by more than 100 individuals from public agencies, private firms, and other organizations committed to increasing contracting opportunities with governmental agencies, thereby creating more competition and lowering public costs.

The EIP event was held the Hyatt Regency San Francisco in conjunction with BuildIT, which aims to increase contracting opportunities for LGBT-owned businesses.

At the event, 16 entities signed the EIP pledge, vowing to take steps to increase public contracting opportunities in their spheres for small and historically underutilized businesses.

The pledge signees included Hub International, the Port of San Francisco, the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, California High-Speed Rail Authority, the Port of Oakland, Robert Graham of Webcor Builders, Holder Construction, the Weitz Company, Sky Blue Builders, Hornblower, Swinerton, Luster National, Talson Solutions, Center for Community Wealth Building, and the Construction Contractors Alliance.

Following the workshop, BuildIT hosted a VIP evening reception honoring EIP, whose principals – Phil Washington, John Procari, and Rick Jacobs – accepted the award.

The event also set in motion the coalition’s efforts to implement recommendations from EIP’s “Procurement for Prosperity: A Playbook.”

The Playbook is a practical guide for public agency leaders and procurement and contracting practitioners to grow the capacity of small and first-time contractors, strengthen competition, and deliver better value for taxpayers.

Toks Omishakin, Secretary of the California State Transportation Agency (CalSTA), a long-time EIP supporter, also told attendees, “This is about commitment. This has been a life’s work. This is a tailwind moment.”

The event’s presenting sponsor was Hub International, one of the largest insurance brokerages in the nation, which was joined by partners Travelers Insurance and the State Compensation Insurance Fund.

After the pledge-signing ceremony, attendees participated in a workshop in which they examined the policies, practices, and programs needed to meet EIP goals, learned from practitioners, and identified next steps toward utilizing the Playbook.

Ingrid Meriwether, formerly of Merriwether & Williams Insurance Services (MWIS) and current president of Hub International’s Aligned Risk Management, MWIS, described the hard-fought lessons she and her MWIS team have learned over the last three decades administering contractor development programs (CDPs) for the City and County of San Francisco, Alameda County, City of Los Angeles, LA Metro, and other municipalities.

The CDPs help small and local construction firms win public infrastructure contracts with these government agencies. The program provides bonding assistance, contract financing, technical support, training, and other services to underrepresented businesses funded by public agencies who seek greater contracting participation with these firms.

Merriwether said programs like these “break down systemic barriers, create greater fairness, and save taxpayers money by enabling more competition. The contractor development programs have, cumulatively, over two decades, helped contractors access over $1 billion in bonding, supporting over $380 million in awarded contracts, and maintaining a loss ratio 250 times lower than the industry average – while saving participating municipalities more than $27 million in contracting costs as a result of enabling more competition.”

Rick Jacobs, EIP co-founder and co-chair urged attendees make plans to meet again in the near future “to continue building on this work, share progress on organizational commitments, and discuss how we can collectively advance the goals of the EIP pledge.”

For more information on the EIP and to access a copy of the Playbook, go online to https://equityininfrastructure.org/

Calvin Naito is communications manager for Equity in Infrastructure Project.