March 17, 2023 - The Joint Venture board of directors elected five new members to their body at their quarterly meeting. Unanimously elected were Jon Cowan, Senior Director, Government Relations & Community Partnerships, El Camino Health; Matt Mahan, Mayor, City of San José; Cynthia Teniente-Matson, President, San José State University; DeLinda Mrowka, Chief Revenue Officer, KQED; and Corey Verwey, Executive Project Director, LendLease. “We are so pleased to welcome this panel of accomplished leaders to the Joint Venture board,” said Russell Hancock, CEO of Joint Venture.
March 20, 2023 - Joint Venture’s audiences celebrated the rich and diverse arts of Silicon Valley through performers who shared their considerable talents. MOSAIC America provided a spectrum of music and dance as a symbolic representation of the cultures who enrich our region. Francis Experience ignited the room with its hip hop and jazz ensemble, performing vignettes dramatizing the lived experience of local community members. Led by Jonathan Borca, the ensemble used music and dance as a tool pointed social commentary.
March 19, 2023 - To highlight one living example of community building, Jessica Paz-Cedillos and Vanessa Shieh, Co-Executive Directors of the School of Arts and Culture at Mexican Heritage Plaza, shared details about a $20 million expansion plan. Known as “La Avenida,” The plan will transform a vacant, 30,000-square-foot retail space on Alum Rock Avenue into a 200-seat theater and a community-oriented cafe, along with a wellness center run by Gardner Health Services. It will also include a 6-story parking garage topped with a park, affordable housing for 100 families, and a multistory office and retail building, creating new neighborhoods and cultural hubs.
March 20, 2023 - A panel of leaders considered the data contained in the 2023 Silicon Valley Index. Moderated by Supervisor Susan Ellenberg, the panel included City Councilmember Alicia Aguirre (Redwood City); Veronica Goei, Executive Director of Grail Family Services; Camille Llanes-Fontanilla, Vice President at Sobrato Philanthropies; Raúl Rodríguez, Interim Chancellor of San Jose – Evergreen Community College District; and Juan M. Salazar, Director of State and Local Policy at Meta. The group agreed that affordable housing and childcare were the chief barriers.
March 20, 2023 - The second half of the conference put Silicon Valley’s community issues center stage. Russell Hancock, CEO of Joint Venture, began by showing the region’s jaw-dropping average annual earnings and the stunning value-added and productivity figures. He then showed how median household income hasn’t kept pace with inflation and how Silicon Valley exhibited the nation’s most highly pronounced wealth disparities.
March 20, 2023 - John Markoff, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who wrote for The New York Times’ science and technology beat for 28 years, moderated a bracing conversation with Silicon Valley’s foremost academic interpreter, and one of the Valley’s most active and successful venture capitalists. AnnaLee Saxenian, whose early work explaining the Valley’s dynamism launched waves of Valley scholarship, argued that the tech sector was in the throes of a “correction.” Somesh Dash, a partner at one of the Valley’s first venture capital firms, spoke of the dynamism he observes in the start-up scene. “I have never seen a cohort of more battle-tested entrepreneurs,” he enthused. 
March 20, 2023 - “A cloak of uncertainty has descended on the region,” began Joint Venture CEO Russell Hancock as he referenced a spate of layoffs in the tech sector, a slow recovery for jobs in community infrastructure, empty downtowns, and a substantial exodus out of the region. “But how should we contextualize these trends?” he asked, pointing out that the region is at full employment, that the layoffs represent a recalibration rather than a collapse as the tech sector adjusts to new demand curves, that most of the departing workers were still in Northern California and the Greater Bay Area and still filling Silicon Valley jobs. 
March 13, 2023 - Annette Nellen has been named a Fellow at Joint Venture’s Silicon Valley Institute for Regional Studies. Nellen is a professor in and director of San José State University's graduate tax program (MST), teaching courses in tax research, accounting methods, individual tax, property transactions, employment tax, leadership, ethics, and tax policy. No stranger to Joint Venture, Nellen was involved with the Joint Venture Tax Policy Group and chaired the panel from late 1990s through 2004. 
Top Videos
The 2023 Silicon Valley Index briefing on the economy
Joint Venture CEO Russell Hancock summarized the major findings from the 2023 Silicon Valley Index at the annual State of the Valley conference held at the Computer History Museum February 17. The report, produced by Joint Venture's Institute for Regional Studies, shows that Silicon Valley is perched on solid ground despite growing income and wealth divides, persistent racial inequities, and a dwindling population. This year the Index briefing was divided into two presentations. One focused on the economy (this video), and one on community (a separate video we will post next month).
Joint Venture’s 2023 State of the Valley conference was held on February 17 as a hybrid event. You can view all the available sessions on our YouTube channel.
The 2022 Silicon Valley Poll
The Silicon Valley Poll is an extensive public opinion survey placed in the field annually by Joint Venture and its research arm, the Silicon Valley Institute for Regional Studies. Carried out in partnership with The Mercury News and Bay Area News Group, the Poll tracks recurring questions probing how residents feel about the general direction of the region and their stance on a range of policy and planning questions. Each year the poll also poses timely and topical questions about current events.
The Silicon Valley Poll is released on an annual basis in October.
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2023 Silicon Valley Index
Silicon Valley is perched on solid ground despite growing income and wealth divides, persistent racial inequities, and a dwindling population, according to the 2023 Silicon Valley Index, released by Joint Venture’s Institute for Regional Studies.
Learn more about the Silicon Valley Index online at www.siliconvalleyindicators.org.
2022 Silicon Valley Poll
According to the Silicon Valley Poll, nearly three out of four residents say their quality of life in the Bay Area has declined over the last five years, a concern that holds across all age, income, and education levels.
Unemployment Data Release - January 20, 2023
The unemployment rate in Silicon Valley decreased in December to 2.0%, the largest drop in the unemployment rate since the period from March to April 2022.
Food Needs Terminology: History, Usage, and Limitations - November 2022
The brief tackles the challenge of confusing nomenclature within this critical arena, and offers potential approaches to better define community needs in Silicon Valley and beyond. The objective was to examine a more sustainable way to calculate, discuss, and communicate food needs in Silicon Valley, with applicability in communities elsewhere.
Silicon Valley Commercial Space - Q3 2022
Silicon Valley’s commercial space indicators reveal that companies are adjusting to new expectations around remote work. The latest analysis from Joint Venture’s Institute for Regional Studies shows that, despite increased vacancy rates, the total number of leases still surpassed last year’s totals.
Universal Preschool Study - September 2022
This study models what would happen if publicly-funded preschool and after-school care were available to every child under the age of five in Santa Clara County.
