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Women's Initiative Silicon Valley

In June 2007, fifty women entrepreneurs graduated Women’s Initiative Silicon Valley for the first time: 34 from entrepreneurial classes designed for Latinas, and 16 from the business training classes. Chuck Reed, Mayor of San Jose, was there to personally deliver the diplomas to the graduates.

Silicon Valley leads the high tech industry and has significant financial and intellectual resources. This rapidly growing region also has:

• 120,000 households living below the self-sufficiency standard, many of which are headed by women of color.
• Women with lower levels of education than men, creating less access many jobs. (15% do not have high school degrees, and 56% do not have college degrees.)

Women’s Initiative Silicon Valley is working to end this substantial divide by:

• Offering business tools and entrepreneurial classes to low-income women to help them achieve successful and sustainable lives. Through entrepreneurial training, loans, and ongoing support, Women’s Initiative enables women to join the economic mainstream and change their lives for the better.
• Creating a community of business women
• Fostering an environment where residents think about shopping local and women-owned first

Highlights of Women's Initiative Silicon Valley
2007
May - Women's Initiative for Self Employment awarded as the beneficiary of the Cadence® Stars & Strikes® fundraiser to help establish a full-site in Silicon Valley.

June - First Women's Initiative classes graduate 34 women through a partnership with the National Hispanic University. Mayor Chuck Reed attends.

Graduates pose with their instructor Gonzalo Martinez-Metzler at a recent graduation.

2008
July - Managing Director Almaz Negash appears with recent graduate Teresa Olivas on NBC11's Bay Area Vista to share how the agency is making a difference in the lives women.

Help us change the face of the economic landscape in Silicon Valley by creating a more equitable and sustainable economy for all families. Get involved in Women's Initiative today by making an investment, becoming a volunteer, or telling a woman about our classes!

Please contact any members of the Women's Initiative's team in Silicon Valley.

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