Bay Area

11 Local Restaurants Host a Caribbean Heritage Month Celebration at Oakland’s Brookdale Park on June 29

This year, Goodridge and Merissa Lyons, is expanding the event to include 11 more Caribbean restaurants in Oakland. The restaurants included are: AlaMar Dominican Kitchen, Calabash Oakland, Cocobreeze Caribbean Restaurant, Jamaica Sweet Spices, La Perla (Puerto Rican cuisine), Level 13 Oakland, Minto’s Jamaican Restaurant, Mystical Mixes Oakland, Sobre Mesa, Sweet Fingers Jamaican Restaurant, and T’chaka Haitian Cuisine.

Published

2 years ago

June 28, 2024

Oakland Post

A celebration of Caribbean Heritage Month last year in front of Cocobreeze Restaurant at 2370 High St. Photo courtesy Annabelle Goodridge.

By Daisha Williams

June is known for a lot of things: weddings, graduations, LGBTQ Pride Month, Black Music Month, and, of course, Juneteenth.

But since 2006, June is also Caribbean History Month. It was nationally recognized in the United States after the House of Representatives adopted H. Con. Res. 71, sponsored by Congresswoman Barbara Lee.

It is a time of celebration, culture, and family for Caribbean people and their descendants. The recognition honors the significance of Caribbean people and their descendants in the history and culture of the United States.

On June 29, several restaurants will hold a free Caribbean Heritage Month event at Brookdale Park at Brookdale Avenue and High Streets in East Oakland from 12 -8 p.m.

As characterized by Annabelle Goodridge, owner of Cocobreeze, a Caribbean restaurant a few blocks away at 2370 High Street, the annual event is a way of giving back to the community that has allowed them to prosper.

This year, however, Goodridge and Merissa Lyons, is expanding the event to include 11 more Caribbean restaurants in Oakland. The restaurants included are: AlaMar Dominican Kitchen, Calabash Oakland, Cocobreeze Caribbean Restaurant, Jamaica Sweet Spices, La Perla (Puerto Rican cuisine), Level 13 Oakland, Minto’s Jamaican Restaurant, Mystical Mixes Oakland, Sobre Mesa, Sweet Fingers Jamaican Restaurant, and T’chaka Haitian Cuisine.

Along with food there will be live performances, and an award ceremony. Everything at the event is free, including all the delicious food being offered.

From the Visit Oakland website: “Bring a flag to represent your country! DJ’s representing the Caribbean diaspora will be spinning all your favorite Soca, Dancehall, Reggae, Latin and Afrobeat hits. Games and fun for the entire family! Bring blankets and chairs for the park.”

When talking about goals for this event Lyons, Goodridge’s daughter, said that they’re hoping to “shine a light on the beautiful diversity of the Bay Area, to create awareness of a variety of cultural dishes, highlight the fun of trying new things, bring family-friendly fun to Oakland and educate the community about Caribbean culture and offer support to local restaurants.”

Ahead of the event, Cocobreeze and the other restaurants created a ‘bucket list’ contest including foods from all the participating restaurants. Attendees have the option of completing the ‘bucket list’ by visiting each of the restaurants before the event. Winners for the bucket list activity will be announced on Saturday. The prize is a $20 gift card for each of the restaurants included in the event.

Cocobreeze also cultivates community in ways outside of this event. One is through their youth apprentice program which shows high schoolers the ways of the industry and the foods of their culture. They are currently working on expanding this program so that it is available for young adults as well as teenagers.

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Oakland Post: Week of February 25 – March 3, 2026

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of – February 25 – March 3, 2026

Published

3 days ago

March 1, 2026

Oakland Post

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Chase Oakland Community Center Hosts Alley-Oop Accelerator Building Community and Opportunity for Bay Area Entrepreneurs

Over the past three years, the Alley-Oop Accelerator has helped more than 20 Bay Area businesses grow, connect, and gain meaningful exposure. The program combines hands-on training, mentorship, and community-building to help participants navigate the legal, financial, and marketing challenges of small business ownership.

Published

1 week ago

February 21, 2026

Oakland Post

Bay Area entrepreneurs attend the Alley-Oop Accelerator, a small business incubation program at Chase Oakland Community Center. Photo by Carla Thomas.

By Carla Thomas

The Golden State Warriors and Chase bank hosted the third annual Alley-Oop Accelerator this month, an empowering eight-week program designed to help Bay Area entrepreneurs bring their visions for business to life.

The initiative kicked off on Feb. 12 at Chase’s Oakland Community Center on Broadway Street, welcoming 15 small business owners who joined a growing network of local innovators working to strengthen the region’s entrepreneurial ecosystem.

At its core, the accelerator is designed to create an ecosystem of collaboration, where local entrepreneurs can learn from one another while accessing the resources of a global financial institution.

“This is our third year in a row working with the Golden State Warriors on the Alley-Oop Accelerator,” said Jaime Garcia, executive director of Chase’s Coaching for Impact team for the West Division. “We’ve already had 20-plus businesses graduate from the program, and we have 15 enrolled this year. The biggest thing about the program is really the community that’s built amongst the business owners — plus the exposure they’re able to get through Chase and the Golden State Warriors.”

According to Garcia, several graduates have gone on to receive vendor contracts with the Warriors and have gained broader recognition through collaborations with JPMorgan Chase.

“A lot of what Chase is trying to do,” Garcia added, “is bring businesses together because what they’ve asked for is an ecosystem, a network where they can connect, grow, and thrive organically.”

This year’s Alley-Oop Accelerator reflects that vision through its comprehensive curriculum and emphasis on practical learning. Participants explore the full spectrum of business essentials including financial management, marketing strategy, and legal compliance, while also preparing for real-world experiences such as pop-up market events.

Each entrepreneur benefits from one-on-one mentoring sessions through Chase’s Coaching for Impact program, which provides complimentary, personalized business consulting.

Garcia described the impact this hands-on approach has had on local small business owners. He recalled one candlemaker, who, after participating in the program, was invited to provide candles as gifts at Chase events.

“We were able to help give that business exposure,” he explained. “But then our team also worked with them on how to access capital to buy inventory and manage operations once those orders started coming in. It’s about preparation. When a hiccup happens, are you ready to handle it?”

The Coaching for Impact initiative, which launched in 2020 in just four cities, has since expanded to 46 nationwide.

“Every business is different,” Garcia said. “That’s why personal coaching matters so much. It’s life-changing.”

Participants in the 2026 program will each receive a $2,500 stipend, funding that Garcia said can make an outsized difference. “It’s amazing what some people can do with just $2,500,” he noted. “It sounds small, but it goes a long way when you have a plan for how to use it.”

For Chase and the Warriors, the Alley-Oop Accelerator represents more than an educational initiative, it’s a pathway to empowerment and economic inclusion. The program continues to foster lasting relationships among the entrepreneurs who, as Garcia put it, “build each other up” through shared growth and opportunity.

“Starting a business is never easy, but with the right support, it becomes possible, and even exhilarating,” said Oscar Lopez, the senior business consultant for Chase in Oakland.