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Mayor Lee Celebrates Pastor Ken Chambers’ 60th Birthday at Westside Missionary Baptist Church

The celebration also featured live music by the Black Love Group, including an inspirational performance by Chambers’ granddaughter, Genesis Chambers. Reverend Lemelle Smith of Helping Others Win offered words of encouragement and provided food and cake. Smith’s program, in partnership with ICAC, feeds about 2,000 people a month.

Published

6 months ago

August 25, 2025

Oakland Post

Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee.

By Nicole Hoskins

OAKLAND – Westside Missionary Baptist Church hosted a community celebration on Aug. 17 in honor of Pastor Ken Chambers’ 60th birthday, highlighting his decades of service and advocacy for Oakland’s most vulnerable residents.

Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee served as the keynote speaker, presenting Pastor Chambers with a proclamation recognizing his ongoing contributions to the community.

The event featured moving testimonies from individuals whose lives were changed through the Interfaith Council of Alameda County (ICAC), where Chambers has played a leading role.

Yasmin, a Norwegian immigrant who once lived homeless across eight states, described how she was referred to Chambers through 211. At ICAC’s Westside hub, she was placed in a safe car parking lot, then moved into a tiny home within a week. She now drives for Uber, volunteers, and is working toward her driver’s license while her son progresses in school.

Val, a millennial from Ethiopia, also shared her story of hardship and homelessness. After contacting 211, she entered ICAC’s program, first parking safely at the hub and assisting with client monitoring before moving into a tiny home.

Recently, the program helped a family of five who had been sleeping in a damaged truck after an accident, providing them daily lodging and access to showers via a community trailer.

Mayor Lee toured the site and heard directly from clients about the impact of ICAC’s homeless solutions.

The church also honored the late Sister Mary Vance with a resolution recognizing her years of service. Her son Darren Vance and family accepted the presentation.

Pastor Chambers used the occasion to reaffirm his push for county resources to purchase hotels once linked to human trafficking and convert them into workforce housing with wraparound services such as counseling, substance abuse treatment, and mental health care. Plans are also underway to open a second safe car park at William Chapel Baptist Church in September 2025, pending approval of a $450,000 city grant.

The birthday celebration doubled as a demonstration of Westside Missionary Baptist Church’s and Mayor Lee’s shared commitment to addressing homelessness and providing tangible hope to struggling families.

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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

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.