Bay Area

Bay Area Leaders and Community Are Rallying Behind Vice President Harris’ Recent Presidential Race News

In a wild turn of events that many had been speculating about and asking for over the last several weeks, President Joe Biden decided over the weekend that he would be stepping down from running for reelection and instead endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris to be the Democratic nominee to fight against former President Donald Trump. Shortly after Biden’s announcement, Harris proudly declared that she would indeed be throwing her hat in the ring to run for president. The news immediately created a frenzy of excitement and hope from voters.

Published

2 years ago

August 18, 2024

Oakland Post

Leading up to the announcement, Democrats had been calling for Biden to step down, especially after his debate with Trump, where slip ups in speech and body language had many questioning whether he was in the right physical and mental state to carry on for four more years as president. Democratic political leaders such as former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi reportedly were having conversations with Biden to step down, fearing he would lose in November. Big donors like George Clooney also felt that the president was no longer a viable option, going as far as writing an opinion piece in the New York Times expressing his concerns.

By Magaly Muñoz

Shortly after Biden’s announcement, Harris proudly declared that she would indeed be throwing her hat in the ring to run for president. The news immediately created a frenzy of excitement and hope from voters.

Democratic political leaders such as former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi reportedly were having conversations with Biden to step down, fearing he would lose in November. Big donors like George Clooney also felt that the president was no longer a viable option, going as far as writing an opinion piece in the New York Times expressing his concerns.

But the support for Harris has been overwhelmingly positive over the last several days.

In the first 24 hours since her announcement, her campaign raised over $81 million, the largest donation day in history, Harris’ campaign team said.

Local Bay Area leaders quickly took to social media in the hours and days following the news to endorse Harris for president.

“I am thrilled to give my support to Vice President Kamala Harris in her bid to win the presidency and defeat Donald Trump. VP Harris is an Oakland native, a fighter, and a visionary leader who is THE VOICE we need in the White House. Her dedication to justice, equality, and progress reflects the very spirit of Oakland, and I am confident she will bring the same passion and tenacity to the presidency,” Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao wrote on X (formerly known as Twitter).

Miles away, San Francisco Mayor London Breed expressed her support for the former San Francisco District Attorney and California Attorney General.

“I am confident that my friend, Vice President Harris, has the experience, the strength, the judgment and the integrity to defeat Donald Trump and serve as our next President,” Breed said on Instagram.

Oakland city council members Treva Reid and Nikki Fortunato-Bas also shared their excitement to have Harris as a contender for president.

Residents also have expressed their immense happiness at seeing a Black woman as the first to potentially hold the title as president.

The Sunday of the announcement, a political coalition called Win With Black Women held their weekly Zoom meeting to discuss the news and attracted an estimated 44,000 participants eager to join the conversation.

This meeting, which typically has a few hundred participants on the call, had people waiting up to an hour to get into the online webinar.

Patrice Berry, who’s currently running for an Oakland Unified School Board seat, told the Post that the Zoom meeting was “the conjuring of ancestral wisdom, love and power.”

Berry had not previously attended the Win With Black Women conversation but was feeling uneasy after reading the news about Biden not seeking reelection so she wanted to hear what others had to say about the matter.

She was in awe at the number of people that had shown up to begin organizing and rallying behind Harris. People prayed, spoke words of encouragement, and recognized the Black female leaders in their own communities that were making a difference.

Harris’s potential presidency would create opportunities to hold people accountable and “build the world we want to see” because it would be the first time a Black woman was elected as president, Berry said.

“Even as I talk to my daughter, who is thinking about imagining herself as a president, that’s been wild. I didn’t think I would see that in my lifetime,” Berry shared.

$1.6 million was raised for the Harris campaign during the Zoom call, organizers of the event have reported.

A similar organization called Win With Black Men met Monday night and had an attendance of about 53,000 participants who raised $1.3 million in four hours, attendees said on social media.

“The BLACK COMMUNITY is uniting in ways we have not seen in politics before,” one participant wrote on X.

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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

4 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

2 weeks 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.