Events

The Fight Against Gentrification: Qilombo’s Upcoming Art Gallery

Published

10 years ago

January 21, 2016

Qilombo Community Center of the Afrikatown and McClymonds district has teamed up with local Oakland artist and photographer Danté-Alexander to launch a monthly Art Showcase & Gallery on First Fridays.

Join the community center for its groundbreaking event on Friday, Feb. 5 at Qilombo, located at 2313 San Pablo Ave in Oakland, starting at 7 p.m.

The community center encourages people to submit art of any expression (from paintings and sculpture to spoken word and performances). The first place winner will win cash prizes.

Last November, Qilombo hosted its first Anti-Gentrification Block Party. The event celebrated the importance of communities standing together in solidarity against gentrification and announced that the community center won its fight against its own eviction.

According to Qilombo’s volunteers, in the subsequent months the center was paid a visit from a representative from the Planning and Building Department of Oakland. The representative laid out a pamphlet of what Oakland will look like over the course of five to ten years, which included a Black Arts District.

Volunteer Chaga Kwa Nia, an Oakland native and community organizer, said he agreed that Oakland needed development, but the kind of economic development that would not displace low-income residents in the process.

Another volunteer, Van Dell, said the Black Arts District that the city is designating would be more of a museum to the past.

“How can you have a Black Arts District without Black people,” said Dell. “These plans are designed around investors and developers and are trying to plug in social justice out of the concerns of Oakland residents rather being designed around human lives.”

“It’s time to make our own Black Renaissance and Black Arts District, one that Afrikans can be able to fight to stay in Oakland to enjoy what we have created,” said Dell.

Guidelines for submitting art can be found on the Qilombo Art & Gallery Showcase Facebook page. Submission deadline is Wednesday, Feb. 3 at midnight.

Contest themes include gentrification, ceremony, Black & Indigenous solidarity, Afrofuturism and resistance.

For more information, contact info@qilombo.org

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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.