SMALL BUSINESS & EDUCATION
Together Making Silicon Valley a Place Where Everyone Can Thrive
I received an award from the Industry Council for Small Business on May 3, 2018 for outstanding community service. What follows is the text of my remarks which focus on opportunities for small businesses to help improve educational outcomes for local youth.
In the mighty Silicon Valley where marquee corporations line the exits of highways 280 and 101, small businesses can go unnoticed, which is deeply unfortunate.
It is small businesses that make up the bulk of our daily lives, help us buy and sell our homes, try new foods, products and services, move through our days more smoothly and efficiently, and give our neighborhoods character and a sense of belonging. Small businesses support our schools and kids’ sports leagues; you sponsor neighborhood parades and serve multiple generations of families. You are the fabric of our community!
So, why exactly am I up here? I have never owned or run a business, large or small. My work, in fact, has involved taking business professionals out of their realms of comfort and expertise and exposing them to issues of social urgency in the hope that they/you will feel inspired to use your resources to help make life better for someone who is struggling.
This, ultimately, is the work of which we all need to be a part. We are all responsible for one another - and whether you want to make that argument from a social justice or a straight economic perspective - when the most vulnerable among us are thriving, the results are better for everyone: we have safer communities, a healthier and better educated workforce and a more stable economy.
Let me share an example with you.
The phrase “opportunity gap” is a frustrating euphemism for the well documented circumstance that brown and black kids as a group tend to be less successful academically than white and Asian kids. Schools have been trying, with various degrees of success, to close this gap for decades. Yet it persists. Why?
Economics. On the supply side, California ranks in the bottom ten states in per pupil funding. So as a baseline, our schools are severely underfunded. On top of that inequity, individual school districts receive funds from local property taxes, meaning that schools in Palo Alto and Los Gatos receive nearly twice the dollars per pupil as do students in San Jose. On the demand side, the needs of California students tend to be among the highest in the nation: a large percentage of our students are English language learners and far too many children are living below the poverty line, which means that their access to early childhood educational opportunities, sufficient nutrition, consistent health care and general family stability are often in short supply. So we have students who are underprepared entering an underfunded system with underpaid professionals and we expect miraculous results. I’m not making excuses for the shortcomings of public education - I’m simply noting the immensity of the challenges. So what does that mean for all of you?
Property values are lower when school quality is perceived as lower (though I would argue that the quality of the schools are generally not lower; their populations tend to be more transient and have higher needs than their “better” counterparts whose children come from well resourced, stable families).
Communities are less safe when students feel disenfranchised from public education and make questionable choices with their time and activities. Our public dollars underwrite the bills when they end up in Valley Medical Center’s emergency room or in the County jail.
We face shortages in our employable workforce if our students are not graduating from high school and constructively pursuing careers, apprenticeships or post secondary education.
Under- and unemployed young adults cannot afford to live stably here, have health insurance or begin to build their own futures, leading to an increase in homelessness and the directly related health issues, the costs of which are ultimately borne by all of us.
So how do you, the small business community, fit in to this picture? What can you do?
Get involved with your neighborhood schools. Mentor, volunteer, donate, underwrite, treat teachers and other staff members to complimentary meals and discounted services - let them know that you value their work!
Advocate at the state level for more funding for schools and for a more equitable model for distributing those funds.
If you are in the real estate field, think about creative partnerships to build teacher and staff housing - teachers generally make more than the upper income limit for tax subsidized housing, but can’t afford to live in many of our County’s exorbitantly expensive cities.
Advocate at the local level for an expansion of services for children born into low income households.
Make sure your own businesses are family friendly - do you provide onsite day care or subsidized access to high quality day care? Do you provide schedules to your employees weeks in advance so they can manage their other responsibilities? Are you paying a living wage? I know - small businesses are trying to survive themselves and some entrepreneurs truly believe they can’t afford to be so generous with their workforce - but all economic indicators point to greater long term growth when you invest meaningfully in your workforce.
Hire students as summer interns or extra weekend help - teach them how to run a business and pay them while they are learning.
In short, if you support public education in a meaningful way, more children will thrive and will grow up to become vital members of our community. They will become your clients and customers and yes, your competitors, and that is good for all of us.
I will continue my work in the public and nonprofit sectors and I look forward to partnering with all of you, the essential small businesses that play a crucial role in expanding our workforce, modeling diversity, providing products and services, contributing your time, talent and treasure to your communities, strengthening our economy and making Silicon Valley a place where everyone can thrive.
Thank you again for this recognition today and let’s all be the leaders our community needs.
