Bay Area

Special Stage Events, Activities for Children at Oakland’s Black-Eyed Pea Festival

The 8th Annual Black-Eyed Pea Festival, held on the front lawn of Oakland Technical High School, is offering a change to your routine with main stage acts and activities for children. And it’s free.

Published

2 years ago

October 5, 2023

Oakland Post

A cohort of young performers with the Prescott Circus will perform at the Black-Eyed Pea Festival on Sat. Sept. 30. Courtesy photo.

Special to The Post

Got kids?

So, you know they like to do the same thing over and over.

They want you to read them the same story, watch the same movie, eat the same food. They don’t get tired, but you are a little weary of the routine that you know is actually good for them.

But on Saturday, Sept. 30, you don’t have to go to Fairyland again.

The 8^th Annual Black-Eyed Pea Festival, held on the front lawn of Oakland Technical High School, is offering a change to your routine with main stage acts and activities for children. And it’s free.

The festival begins at 11 a.m. with a welcome by the event’s regular M.C., Carla Service of Oakland’s Dance-A-Vision. After a brief drum invocation by Awon Ohun Omnira, renowned Bay Area vocalist Rhonda Benin begins the first of two 25-minute sets called “What Is a Band?” from noon to 1 p.m.

The set is an interactive musical program designed for children to introduce them to a live band. Through the “call and response style,” children become a part of the band while learning about the piano, the bass, the drum, and the voice. And musical terms like melody, a capella, call and response, syncopation, rhythm, polyrhythms, unison, and improvisation.

Informative and fun, Benin, who is also a music teacher, will invite a few children to join her on stage to take a turn at playing a percussive instrument.

After Benin’s set, the festival welcomes the Prescott Circus, an Oakland youth group that will — literally — bring in the clowns.

But not just clowns. They’ll bring tradition in the form of stilt-walking, a form of entertainment in several African and Caribbean countries incorporated in carnivals and pageants. There’ll be jugglers and kids performing balancing acts as well as hip-hop dancing. They’re on stage from 1:20 p.m. to 2 p.m.

Asé Arts, run by Nichole Talbott, is a community art studio in the Mosswood Park neighborhood. She will provide all-day arts and crafts activities for children. She has separate tables for very young children and sets tasks within their age range and ability. Of course, children will be using black-eyed peas to decorate their artwork, small picture frames and more.

A few feet away, Benjamin ‘Benja’ Mertz, will supervise a touch-and-play booth where children will get a chance to experiment with instruments, mostly percussive. It serves as a follow-up to Benin’s set on bands. Mertz will be at the festival from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. A storyteller as well as a musician, he might be persuaded to regale kids with a tale or two.

Adults, of course, are not left out. On the main stage that day, the festival will have the John Santos Quartet, selections by Dimensions Dance Theatre, second-line style music from New Orleans native Michael Jones of MJ’s Brass Boppers and Alvon Johnson will close out the day with a lively blues set.

Nobody will be hungry with soul food classics and creole dishes for sale by Carolyn’s Creole Kitchen, Arnette Cheri catering and Krazy Kettle desserts.

The 8^th Annual Oakland Black-Eyed Pea Festival, a celebration of African American traditional music, food and art will be held:

When: Saturday, Sept. 30, 2023

Time: 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Where: Oakland Technical High School, 4351 Broadway, Oakland, 94611

Cost: Free

For more information, please call 510-332-5851 or email at oakbepf@gmail.com.

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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

5 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.