Bay Area

Working, But Still Homeless, in California

Published

7 years ago

August 17, 2019

When Will More Than $2.7 Billion the State Has Invested in Fighting Homelessness and Building Affordable Housing Reach the People Who Need it?

When Coleen Sykes Ray started an organization with her daughter in 2015 to help homeless women, the Stockton resident had no idea she, too, would be homeless four years later.

Now, she, her husband and their two children live in an Extended Stay America hotel in Stockton. The family pays a costly $610 hotel bill every week as they struggle to find a place to live.

“When you tell landlords you have a Section 8 voucher, its like saying a dirty word,” says Ray who is African American and works as a community outreach specialist for a local public health organization. “It’s heartbreaking because we’re good people. I’m working and I’m college-educated.”

Ray and her family live cramped in a single hotel room, preparing almost every meal in a microwave, with no sign that they will have a new home soon. They became homeless when she was laid off from health plan provider Blue Shield eight months ago. For a few months she and her disabled husband, her autistic son and her daughter scraped up the $1,200 for rent on their house, but when the rent went up to $1,340 they were forced to move.

From 2017 to 2019, the number of homeless people in San Joaquin County, where Stockton is the largest city and the county seat, tripled, increasing from 567 to more than 1,500. During that same period in the city of Stockton, the homeless population skyrocketed from 311 to 921 in just two years, according to a 2018 “point-in-time” census report compiled by San Joaquin County.

Homelessness is not just a problem for San Joaquin County. Across California, the homeless population jumped by 16 percent between 2018 to 2019. With a total of about 130,000 people without a permanent place to live, California has the largest homeless population in the United States.

As the homeless problem started to become more noticeable in Stockton, Ray says she and her daughter would see women, some of them mentally ill, walking around soiling themselves during their menstrual cycles. Disturbed by what they saw, they decided to package bags of women’s sanitary hygiene products – washes, wipes, tampons and napkins, etc. – and hand them out to homeless women.

Soon, what they began as a one-time goodwill gesture grew into a non-profit called Bags of Hope. In their first year, Ray and her daughter handed out 30 bags of the feminine products every month. Between 2017 and 2018, as the homelessness crisis spiraled in their city, they donated about 65 bags every month to homeless women in Stockton. This year, Ray says they have been fortunate to reach about 100 women living in shelters and on the streets every month.

Most of the funding they use to buy the products comes from donations from local businesses and individuals and a gala they hold once a year. The biggest gift their organization has received so far came from the Black Employee Network at Proctor and Gamble.

“Doing the work of Bags of Hope is a kind of ministry,” says Ray. “Helping other homeless people, gives me and my family hope now that we find ourselves in the same situation.”

Fortunately for Ray, she landed her current job on June 24 this year.

Still, Ray says that “almost every dime” of her salary and her husband’s disability payment goes toward their hotel bill.

As Ray balances adjusting to her new day job with the difficulties of being homeless, and helping other homeless women through the work of Bags of Hope, she remains upbeat and optimistic.

“I can’t go out and preach love, light and strength and have a negative spirit,” she says. “No matter what I’m facing.”

Tanu Henry California Black Media

Posts by Tanu Henry California Black Media

Activism

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

1 week ago

March 1, 2026

Oakland Post

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Oakland Post

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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

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.