Bay Area

OP-ED: Open Letter to Candidates on Endorsements and Solutions

We expect you to use your campaign funds to introduce yourselves and educate the voters about your views and history of experiences and service. We also expect you to support, patronize and utilize minority media and other minority businesses and services as you conduct your campaigns. Space will be provided based upon proposed solutions, not on ads purchased. There will be no connection with endorsements by the Post and any amounts expended for advertisements.

Published

4 years ago

August 29, 2022

Oakland Post

Paul Cobb, publisher, Post News Group

From Paul L. Cobb, Publisher

The Post will make free editorial space available for any candidate running for Mayor, City Council, School Board and the Alameda County Board of Supervisors if you have a plan, a solution or some answers to the problems facing Oakland and the county.

We are especially seeking your solution strategies for homelessness, crime and hate violence, affordable housing, economic and business opportunities for women and minorities and environmental conditions.

Please do not send us negative remarks about your opponents to be published in the Post. If you want to engage in negative campaigning and/or diatribes against the incumbent or any out-going official, you should pay for that kind of messaging and clearly indicate your identity with those charges.

Since you have announced your intention to seek our approvals, then honor and respect us and the voters with your solutions.

In these troublous times with our streets teeming with thousands of homeless people and with fear gripping all of us from home invasions, drive-by shootings, smash-and-grab robberies and a short-handed police force, we need leaders who are unafraid to support increased public safety staffing. In short, we need to defend the police plan led by Chief Armstrong while calling for more community-oriented services such as those in the MACRO plan. But that is not enough, because unless we as citizens become more involved in anti-crime voluntary activity, matters will get worse. Activism matters.

While you might think your list of endorsements is the end-all and the be-all for your success, Y’all should be wary, because the Post/El Mundo News Group will be looking at your list of endorsed solutions for the residents.

We are big on solutions, answers and action plans.

Therefore, come big, or stay at home.

Thank you,

Paul Cobb

Oakland Post

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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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Oakland Post

Posts by 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.