Activism
San Jose Spotlight: 15 of the Most Influential Black Leaders in Silicon Valley
Local Black leaders are working to change the odds and boost equality for the community. In celebration of Black History Month, San Jose Spotlight is highlighting 15 of the most influential Black leaders in Silicon Valley.

By Loan-Anh Pham, San Jose Spotlight
Black residents make up about 3% of Santa Clara County’s population, but the impact of Black leaders on the region is undeniable — even while facing adversity.
The Black community in Silicon Valley and across the nation face systemic disparities: The population is overrepresented among the homeless and historical housing segregation has resulted in lower rates of Black homeownership.
Data from the 2022 Silicon Valley Pain Index shows the COVID-19 pandemic disproportionately affected Black residents in terms of income and poverty levels, and Black students face higher levels of suspensions compared to white counterparts.
These trends have resulted in what leaders call a “Black exodus” as residents flee pricey Silicon Valley or face displacement.
But there’s hope. Local Black leaders are working to change the odds and boost equality for the community. In celebration of Black History Month, San Jose Spotlight is highlighting 15 of the most influential Black leaders in Silicon Valley.
While this isn’t an exhaustive list of all the tremendous Black leaders in our region, these individuals have broken barriers, shattered stereotypes and inspired change in Silicon Valley.
Here they are in alphabetical order by first name.
Ahmad Thomas
Ahmad Thomas broke barriers in August 2020 when he became the first Black man to lead the Silicon Valley Leadership Group, a powerful trade association of prominent businesses and tech giants.
Right off the bat, Thomas got to work on improving Silicon Valley’s economic vitality, while also prioritizing diversity and equity in business. He advocated for more racial equity in Silicon Valley by helping member companies hire more minority candidates and funding more Black- and Latinx-owned startups.
Prior to joining SVLG, Thomas worked as an investment banker for Barclays. Thomas also worked as a senior aide to U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein.
Alma Burrell
Eliminating health disparities in underserved communities has been Alma Burrell’s calling. After managing health programs for children for 20 years, Burrell joined Roots Community Health Center as its chief administrative officer. The nonprofit health organization is committed to serving marginalized and underserved communities in San Jose.
She is a leading expert on the need for African-centered medical care and spent 18 years working with the Black Infant Health program in Santa Clara County, which is aimed at improving the wellbeing of pregnant women and their babies.
Black mothers in the U.S. are about three times more likely than white mothers to die from childbirth-related causes, according to the CDC. “I love my people and I want to see healthy babies,” she told LAist.
Andre Chapman
While working in tech in the 1990s, Andre Chapman was disheartened by the lack of minorities in the field. He personally witnessed the unsettling tale of two Silicon Valleys — the haves and have nots. He left his lucrative tech job — a move questioned by some — and decided to do something about it.
Chapman founded The Unity Care Group in 1993 to develop educational and social programs to enrich the lives of disadvantaged underserved youth. Now he works to improve the foster youth system through mental health and criminal justice reform and has helped thousands of families.
Chapman is a national expert on creating culturally proficient services and a recipient of San Jose State University’s Evelyn T. Robinson Outstanding African American Alumnus award.
Forrest Williams
During his 16 years in public office, Forrest Williams prioritized equitable education and access to public services, working to build multiple community centers and libraries. He said education is a priority for Black residents and future generations.
Williams a former San Jose councilmember and Oak Grove School District Board member who spent 35 years as an IBM engineer.
The county’s Black students face higher levels of suspensions, lower test scores and less mental health support. Williams said increasing equity in education requires community involvement from parents, students and leaders.
“You’ve got to take an active role in the educational system… that will make a significant difference,” Williams told San Jose Spotlight. “Kids (are) the objects of the future.”
Iola Williams
The late Iola Williams made history as San Jose’s first Black councilmember in 1979 and went on to serve for 12 years, including two terms as vice mayor. She was a pivotal leader and advocate for civil and LGBTQ rights.
Williams was a major supporter of the shift to district elections in San Jose — which allowed for the election of more diverse policymakers — and an advocate for neighborhoods.
Williams received the African American Community Service Agency’s Lifetime Achievement Award, which was renamed after her, in 2016. She died at age 83 in 2019 after losing a battle with Parkinson’s disease.
Rev. Jeff Moore II
Rev. Jeff Moore II said visibility and meaningful representation for the region’s Black community is the first step.
Moore is former president of the San Jose/Silicon Valley NAACP and is a longtime community activist whose work revolves around education, homelessness and oversight on police departments. A tireless champion for civil rights, Moore said Black representation is vital — from corporate leadership to classrooms.
“Our diversity is so rich and so great, but yet, the Black voice, there’s nobody advocating for it,” Moore told San Jose Spotlight. “That’s one of the biggest things: who is that champion that we can go to?”
LaDoris Cordell
LaDoris Cordell made history as Northern California’s first Black female judge and served in Santa Clara County for 20 years, from 1982-2001.
In addition to devoting her legal career to creating justice for minorities and low-income people, Cordell is an author, artist, vocalist and pianist. She is also a member of the LGBTQ community and a mother to two daughters.
In, 2021, Cordell published “Her Honor,” a book that explored the broken criminal justice system and how to fix it. She also served as a Palo Alto councilmember and San Jose independent police auditor.
“The number of African Americans who reside in Santa Clara County and throughout Silicon Valley continues to drop… My concern is that the contributions of this area’s Black residents will fade from the public memory,” Cordell told San Jose Spotlight. “Even though our population is small, racial profiling of African Americans continues unabated.”
Milan Balinton
Milan Balinton, the executive director of the African American Community Service Agency, confronted more than one barrier growing up. Facing a learning disorder and growing up in poverty, Balinton decided to dedicate himself to public service and education — fighting for those who are voiceless.
He learned advocacy from a young age when his grandmother introduced him to the NAACP and urged him to “give back to the community, for many have sacrificed so that we could be free, and you must do the same.” Those words still guide him today.
Balinton is also a trustee on the Franklin-McKinley School Board and is involved with the Black Leadership Kitchen Cabinet. He was the 2016 winner of Ebony Magazine’s Power 100 People’s Choice Award.
Nicole Taylor
Nicole Taylor is the CEO of Silicon Valley Community Foundation, the largest charitable foundation in the United States.
Taylor joined the foundation at a critical moment: It had just lost its former CEO amid a scandal that involved misconduct by top leadership. Taylor jumped in headfirst to restore trust and rebuild values at the power philanthropic organization. She met with nonprofit partners to learn more how the foundation can open doors for marginalized communities.
Taylor herself is no stranger to hardship. She’s the daughter of an immigrant mother who came to the U.S. without an education and went on to become an educator in Oakland’s public school system. Her previous roles include serving as Stanford University’s dean of community engagement and diversity and CEO of the East Bay Community Foundation.
Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins
Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins is a social justice advocate, businesswoman and community organizer. She started her career as a union organizer in San Jose and became the executive officer of the South Bay AFL-CIO Labor Council in 2003 at the age of 26, which boasts 110 unions and more than 100,000 members.
She left the post in 2009 to lead D.C.-based Green For All, an anti-poverty organization founded by national news personality Van Jones. Currently, she serves as co-founder and CEO of Promise, a company reworking the bail system.
San Jose Magazine named Ellis-Lamkins one of the 100 most powerful people in Silicon Valley. She was recognized as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum and one of the 25 most Powerful Americans by Ebony Magazine.
Regina Celestin Williams
Regina Williams grew up in low-income housing in Richmond. She knows firsthand the importance of affordable, stable and safe housing for all — and now she’s working to ensure others have it. In 2021, Williams became the executive director of Silicon Valley at Home, a nonprofit that advocates for policies to increase the supply of affordable housing.
Williams was inspired by a “transformative” affordable housing class at Stanford, prompting her to pivot from engineering and making it her life’s goal to advance the housing movement. She previously served as the director of housing development for First Community Housing. In 2019, Williams was named one of the area’s 40 Under 40 by the Silicon Valley Business Journal.
Her husband, Jahmal, is also a respected community leader. He is the co-chair of the Black Leadership Kitchen Cabinet and San Jose State University’s director of advocacy for racial justice.
Rick Callender
Three years ago, Rick Callender broke barriers by becoming the first Black man to lead the Santa Clara Valley Water District — the area’s largest water supplier. It was a dream for a man who worked his way up the ranks at the organization since 1996.
Callender, an attorney and longtime community leader, serves as president of the California-Hawaii chapter of the NAACP. In that role, he helps oversee 74 branches and youth units of the association to help ensure racial justice and equality.
“When fighting for justice, it’s important to remember that it’s both a marathon and a sprint at the same time,” he told California Black Media.
Ricks mother, Norma Callender was, also a civil rights leader in the San Jose community.
Rosalyn Hughey
Rosalynn Hughey broke barriers both in a development industry dominated by men — as well as racial barriers by becoming the first Black city department head in San Jose in 2021. Today, she serves as a deputy city manager in America’s 10th largest city.
Hughey, who previously ran the city’s massive planning department, grew up watching her dad — a contractor — build homes from the ground up. While juggling one of the hardest jobs at San Jose City Hall, Hughey worked to address citywide injustices and focus on improving neighborhoods. She’s spent more than three decades as an urban planner in a field often dominated by white men. Hughey is also credited with kickstarting conversations about race and equity within the city.
Tony Alexander
Tony Alexander is no stranger to San Jose politics. He served as a leader in San Jose’s labor movement spanning decades with the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, leading its minority coalition. An East San Jose product, he served on the Alum Rock Union School Board and was appointed and reelected to the San Jose Evergreen Community College Board last year. He also started his own political consulting venture, JW Consulting in 2015.
Alexander is the president of the Silicon Valley African American Democratic Coalition and past president of the San Jose/Silicon Valley NAACP.
His wife, Linda Stuckey-Alexander, has also been a force in local politics and leads Democratic Activists of Women Now (DAWN) and his parents, Charles “Chuck” and Saphrona Alexander, were longtime community activists in San Jose.
Walter Wilson
Walter Wilson, a partner of the Silicon Valley Minority Business Consortium, has for years fought for equal treatment of Black and minority-owned businesses.
He believes stopping displacement of Black residents in San Jose requires creating economic resources for small businesses and communities. Wilson is a project manager for the Silicon Valley African American Cultural Center Project, which provides health services, retail options, housing and cultural representation to the county’s Black community.
“Without economic opportunity and economic growth, you can’t build your household,” Wilson told San Jose Spotlight. “You can’t build your community and you definitely won’t have the opportunities for your kids to do better.”
Copyright © 2023 Bay City News, Inc.
Activism
20 Years Later, Breast Cancer Emergency Fund a Testament to Faith Fancher’s Enduring Legacy
When a woman is undergoing treatment for breast cancer, chemotherapy and radiation often make her too weak to work. If she is working a low-paying job or unemployed, the mounting bills can become overwhelming. For 20 years, the Women’s Cancer Resource Center (WCRC) has provided a lifeline. The Berkeley-based non-profit organization administers the Faith Fancher Breast Cancer Emergency Fund, which gives cash grants of up to $595 to low-income women in Alameda and Contra Costa Counties who are battling breast cancer.

By Tammerlin Drummond
When a woman is undergoing treatment for breast cancer, chemotherapy and radiation often make her too weak to work. If she is working a low-paying job or unemployed, the mounting bills can become overwhelming.
For 20 years, the Women’s Cancer Resource Center (WCRC) has provided a lifeline. The Berkeley-based non-profit organization administers the Faith Fancher Breast Cancer Emergency Fund, which gives cash grants of up to $595 to low-income women in Alameda and Contra Costa Counties who are battling breast cancer.
Grant recipients have used the money to help pay for food, utilities, rent, car insurance, medical co-pays and other necessities. One woman who was diagnosed with Stage 4 breast cancer said she used her $595 grant to buy an oxygen concentrator.
“You could say the air I breathe is because of your generosity,” she said. “I am so incredibly grateful to you and am feeling better every day.
The fund is named in honor of Faith Fancher, a popular television reporter at KTVU who died in 2003 after a valiant battle against breast disease, the web site says. Fancher saw her own cancer as an opportunity to use her public profile to raise awareness and educate others about the importance of early detection.
Fancher founded an organization called Friends of Faith that was dedicated to raising funds for low-income women with breast cancer.
It was 20 years ago this March that Fancher first approached the Women’s Cancer Resource Center about setting up an emergency grant program for women going through breast cancer treatment.
One of the earliest recipients was a 50-year-old homeless woman who used her $595 grant to pay for moving costs into housing she could afford.
“Faith understood the financial burden that low-income individuals faced when diagnosed with breast cancer,” said Dolores Moorehead, who oversees the fund at the WCRC. “This was the first fund dedicated to financial support being offered in the East Bay.”
Over the past two decades, the Faith Fancher Breast Cancer Emergency Fund has given out $992,000 in one-time cash grants. There have been 2,500 beneficiaries, including women and some men with breast cancer.
Ricki Stevenson, a founding member of Friends of Faith, reflected on Fancher’s legacy and the enduring impact of the emergency fund that she created.
“It says that Faith continues to be a presence and it wasn’t just about her,” Stevenson said. “It was so all of the other sisters who come behind us they now have help even though they don’t have the same resources.”
Rosie Allen, another founding member of Friends of Faith, said Fancher left a lasting impact. “Twenty years later Faith is no longer with us, but the breast cancer emergency fund lives on and the need is even greater than ever.”
The Friends of Faith used to host an annual 5K walk/run at Lake Merritt to honor Fancher after she died. It raised funds for the emergency fund and other Bay Area non-profits that provide services to breast cancer survivors.
After Friends of Faith disbanded in 2017, the To Celebrate Life Foundation, former Friends of Faith board members and community members have continued to support the breast cancer emergency fund.
Shyanne Reese used her grant to help pay her rent while she was going through breast cancer treatment.
“I often reflect on how I wish I could share with Faith the impact her life and friends made on me in a non-judgement environment, relieving the financial stress of simply paying the rent so that I could focus on healing,” Reese said.
“With your support, we are able to continue this fund and support our community members when they need us most, said WCRC Executive Director Amy Alanes.
To donate to the Faith Fancher Breast Cancer Emergency fund, visit https://tinyurl.com/FaithFancher.
Activism
Oakland Post: Week of March 29 – April 4, 2023
The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of March 29 – April 4, 2023

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Activism
How the Crack Cocaine Epidemic Led to Mass Sex Exploitation of Black People PART 3: The Case Against SB357: Black, Vulnerable and Trafficked
Although California Senate Bill 357 was intended to alleviate arrests of willing sex workers under anti-loitering laws, it opened up a Pandora’s box loophole that hinders the ability of law enforcement to halt human trafficking, especially of young Black and Brown girls. This segment continues to explore the history that led to this latest form of exploitation in Oakland.

By Tanya Dennis and Vanessa Russell
Although California Senate Bill 357 was intended to alleviate arrests of willing sex workers under anti-loitering laws, it opened up a Pandora’s box loophole that hinders the ability of law enforcement to halt human trafficking, especially of young Black and Brown girls. This segment continues to explore the history that led to this latest form of exploitation in Oakland.
It was 1980: The beginning of the end for the Black family and Black community as we knew it.
Crack cocaine was introduced to the United States that year and it rendered unparalleled devastation on Black folks. Crack is a solid smokable form of cocaine made by boiling baking soda, cocaine, and water into a rock that crackles when smoked.
The tremendous high — especially when first smoked — and the low cost brought temporary relief to the repeatedly and relentlessly traumatized members of the Black community.
What was unknown at the time was how highly addictive this form of cocaine would be and how harmful the ensuing impact on the Black family when the addicted Black mother was no longer a haven of safety for her children.
The form made it easy to mass produce and distribute, opening the market to anyone and everyone, including many Black men who viewed selling crack as their way out of poverty.
These two factors — addicted Black women and drug-dealing Black men — would lead to the street exploitation for sex as we know it today.
Encouraged to try it free initially, most poor, Black women in the 1980s used crack cocaine in a social setting with friends. When the free samples disappeared the drug dealer offered to supply the women crack in exchange for allowing him to sell their bodies to sex buyers.
The increase in the supply of women willing to exchange sex for crack — a.k.a. the “sex for crack barter system” — caused the price of sex to decrease and at the same time increased the demand for sex because more buyers could afford it.
The desperation of the women to get their hit of crack made them willing to endure any form of abuse and treatment from buyers during sex, including unprotected and violent sex.
It also pushed desperate Black women onto the street to pursue sex buyers, flagging down cars and willing to have sex anywhere actively and desperately. Street prostitution grew and buyers were able to buy oral sex for as little as $5.
This sex-for-crack barter system resulted in a dramatic increase in sexually transmitted diseases including HIV and AIDS, both of which are disproportionately represented among Black people.
It also resulted in unplanned pregnancies by unknown fathers, which then resulted in children born addicted to crack who were immediately placed in the foster care system where they were often abused and/or neglected.
For his part, the Black man who engaged in the mass production and distribution of crack was often killed by gun violence while fighting over drug territory or incarcerated for long periods of time as use and sales and distribution of crack carried longer sentences than powdered cocaine.
Crack unleashed an entire chain of new trauma upon the Black family which then all but collapsed under this latest social attack that had started with chattel slavery, followed by Jim Crow, redlining, school segregation, food deserts, et. al.
Exploitation was and is at the root of the crack cocaine epidemic. It is the latest weapon used to prey upon Black people since the beginning of our time in the United States.
The sex industry and legislation like SB357 have only increased harm to Black people who have been historically oppressed with racist laws and epidemics including crack. More must be done to restore the Black community.
Tanya Dennis serves on the Board of Oakland Frontline Healers (OFH) and series co-author Vanessa Russell of “Love Never Fails Us” and member of OFH.
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