Activism

BLM Leader Alicia Garza Among Guests at Ella Baker Center’s 25th Anniversary Celebration

“The ability to change the conditions in people’s lives requires power,” Garza said. “The mountains that we’re trying to climb are about, how do we make the rules, change and shape the rules, and shape the agenda. It’s important for us to understand that movements need infrastructure. They need vehicles like the Ella Baker Center that can be fighting and writing new rules and getting those implemented. We can transform the way the world operates.”

Published

4 years ago

November 11, 2021

Oakland Post

Black Lives Matter Co-Founder Alicia Garza speaks at the 25th anniversary of the Ella Baker Center. Photo by Ashley Chambers

By Ashley Chambers

After 25 years of empowering Black and Brown communities and fighting for a world without prisons and policing, the Ella Baker Center held its 25th anniversary celebration on October 27 with powerhouse movement leaders Alicia Garza, co-founder of Black Lives Matter; Michelle Alexander, acclaimed author of “The New Jim Crow” and Xochtil Larios, youth commissioner and Youth Justice Program associate with Communities United Restorative Youth Justice (CURYJ). The celebration included poetry from 2021 Oakland Youth Poet Laureate Myra Estrada and a musical performance from Joyous Dawn with Kele Nitoto.

The event was held at Restore Oakland, a community advocacy and training hub in Oakland’s Fruitvale neighborhood, and also the permanent home of the Ella Baker Center.

A panel conversation between Alexander, Garza, Larios and Marlene Sanchez, deputy director of the Ella Baker Center, reflected on the power of the social justice movement and how we can continue building a collective vision for liberation.

“We are dealing now with the same crises that we have been dealing with for decades in this country,” Alexander said. “We’re seeing the same racial dynamics and fears. We have reason to hope because of the movements that are being built in real time. Movements that are naming white supremacy and capitalism as threats not just to our communities but to our planet, our shared home.”

“These movements are reimagining what justice means and what our democracy and our economy can and should be. And the Ella Baker Center is part of the leadership that’s beginning to show the way here.”

Sharing her own experience as a young organizer, Larios emphasized how important it is to center the voices of young people and those directly impacted by the criminal justice system. “When you let a young person speak up for themselves, we speak truth, we speak from a place of authenticity. The closer to the pain you are, the more strategic you are with the solutions,” Larios said.

The Ella Baker Center started after Aaron Williams, an unarmed African American man, was murdered by San Francisco police officer Marc Andaya. Since then, the Ella Baker Center has worked tirelessly to lift up the voices of people most impacted by police violence and mass incarceration, shift resources away from prisons, policing and punishment, and toward opportunities that build real safety.

“Because of our determination, this organization has grown. We have organized with families to shut youth prisons down. We are building power with thousands of people inside prisons to get us all free,” said Zach Norris, executive director of the Ella Baker Center and author of “Defund Fear.” “Our freedom dreams become real through determination and power building.”

“The Ella Baker Center has always been a space that nurtures radical vision,” said Sanchez. “Twenty-five years later, we have a cadre of currently and formerly incarcerated people leading the way. We are reimagining youth justice, meeting people where they are and building the leadership pipeline. I’m so grateful to keep working alongside our community to realize safety and a vision of a world without prisons.”

The event also awarded three organizations as Partners in Power for working alongside the Ella Baker Center to build community and power – the Urban Peace Movement, California Coalition for Women Prisoners (CCWP), and Trans Queer Pueblo in Phoenix, Arizona.

Centering on community partnership, the celebration included dinner prepared by Reems, a new tenant of Restore Oakland and staple in the Fruitvale neighborhood.

View photos from the anniversary event. Photos by Brooke Anderson, @movementphotographer.

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Activism

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.