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COMMENTARY: Refuse to be Silent

As we listen to Oaklanders, our team is crafting a compassion-led, comprehensive approach that reimagines public safety and bolsters the mental health, social, and economic opportunities in partnership with the county government to drive meaningful community safety.

Published

4 years ago

August 21, 2022

Oakland Post

Greg Hodge is a parent, long-time Oakland resident and mayoral candidate.

By Greg Hodge

It is time to activate the voices of Oaklanders who want to see Oakland become the city that we know it can be.

This commentary is a challenge to the 12,000 of you who weighed in on the petition that you signed demanding that the Oakland City Council give voice to voters on issues that matter to us.

Let’s each identify and recruit one other person who believes that their voice matters.

Let’s build a movement that galvanizes and amplifies our voices in a way that cannot be ignored. Let’s show up with our votes and force the changes that we know are necessary to make us safer, more prosperous and well housed.

A few weeks ago, the Oakland City Council voted against a proposal to allow voters to weigh in on how the proposed Howard Terminal ballpark and related development should be financed. After some debate, the Council’s majority ultimately did not grant the wishes of over 12,000 members of the public to place this measure on the November 2022 ballot.

Those petitioners represent an even larger number of Oaklanders who want to have their views heard. The Council also declined to place a measure on the November ballot offered by organizers of the Emerald New Deal to ask voters how cannabis revenues should be best spent.

These are not hypothetical issues, but ones that will directly impact our livelihoods and families. This group of Oaklanders deserves to be heard by our leaders!

As the Fall election season gets underway, it is clear to some of us that decisions by our elected Council continue to represent a pattern of significant missed opportunities. It was a missed opportunity to educate the public on the pros and cons of the proposed development; to engage members of the public who will likely be asked to foot the bill to pay for the physical infrastructure – roadways, railroad crossings, and other improvements; to host public conversations about which priorities deserve to be funded as the “bread and butter” issues our City is facing.

One of the most salient examples is our concern for how we keep us safe. Every day, Oaklanders either experience or hear about assaults, armed robberies, car break ins, and a range of traumas that grind on our peace of mind.

We should fully fund the city’s Department of Violence Prevention, rather than prioritizing resources for action after violence has already taken place. Specifically, we should bolster our capacity to deploy violence interrupters, create a behavioral health unit, fully implement the Mobile Assistance Community Responders of Oakland (MACRO), and create Community Ambassador teams to respond to nonviolent, non-mental health incidents in our streets.

As we transition to re-deploying OPD resources to focus on serious crimes, improving response times and homicide clearance rates, we should budget for 700 full-time police officers, and transfer special event duties and the 911 call center out of OPD towards non-sworn, civilian personnel. We should reinvest the police department’s Homeless Outreach Unit funding into mobile street outreach.

City leadership should re-establish an Office of Community Beautification in the Public Works Department, design and implement neighborhood clean-ups at scale to improve school campuses, parks, neighborhoods, and business districts. City resources should finance Black arts districts, public art installations, neighborhood-based arts festivals, and small business facade improvements.

The time for political transactions that fail to solve deep persistent problems is over. Let’s seize this moment for transformation. Join us.

Let us know what you think at www.hodgeforoakland.com or on our IG page at @hodgeforoakland

Greg Hodge is a parent, long-time Oakland resident and mayoral candidate.

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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

2 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.