Bay Area

Hundreds March for Housing Now in Oakland

Published

6 years ago

November 27, 2019

Hundreds of East Bay residents gathered at Mosswood Park in Oakland around noon on Sat., Nov. 23, 2019, to participate in The March for Housing Now, which called for the City of Oakland to house its unhoused residents.

“We believe that housing is a human right,” said Carol Fife, Director of Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment (ACCE), the organization who hosted the march. “I know you all do, too. And we need to make Oakland the model for what can happen when people say ‘enough is enough’ and are putting their feet down around the carnivorous, brutal, evil, malevolent, capitalist, white supremacist [housing market].”

The march had several dozen speakers and at least nine other organizations, non-profits, and labor unions joined ACCE at the march including East Bay Housing Organizations (EBHO), IFPTE Local 21, East Bay Democratic Socialists of America, Moms 4 Housing, Sunrise Movement Bay Area, Youth Vs The Apocalypse, Youth for Positive Direction, Strike Debt Bay Area, and Tenants and Neighborhood Councils Bay Area (TANC.)

Calls to join the march highlighted the fact that there are far more vacant housing units in Oakland than there are homeless people. The march’s Facebook invite called on the City of Oakland to “move thousands off the streets and vehicles into safe, healthy homes by filling vacant units.” The call comes after formerly homeless Oakland residents Dominque Walker and Sameerah Karim of Moms 4 Housing, moved into a vacant home on Magnolia street in West Oakland with their children, which is owned by Wedgewood, a Southern California real estate investment company.

Speakers at the march spoke at three locations and stood atop the flatbed of a vehicle they used as a stage. Starting at Mosswood Park, next to an unhoused community of several dozen people who lived in tents, Oakland Education Association President Keith Brown spoke of how difficult it is for teachers to find housing they can afford in Oakland and that many Oakland teachers are forced to live elsewhere.

Daphine Lamb-Perrilliat of EBHO, spoke of how Mayor Libby Schaaf had promised in 2016 that market rate developers would pay impact fees to construct affordable housing but that those funds have not been made available. She claimed there were $50 million missing from affordable housing funding.

Amin Robinson, a student at Laney College, spoke of the secondary homelessness many college students experience, where students don’t have stable housing and stay with others who offer them space.

“Students are focusing on: what am I going to eat tonight? Where am I gonna lay my head?” said Robinson. “They can’t even have a full-time student mentally.”

Robinson suggested that Laney College should build affordable housing at an underused parking lot.

Those who attended the event marched from Mosswood Park down MacArthur boulevard holding signs and banners. One read “Housing is a Human Right,” another read “Housing for All, Not for Profit,” and another read “The Working Class Produces Homes, Capitalism Produces Homelessness, Cestroy capitalism.” Two TANC members carried a large red banner that read “No Landlords.”

While stopping outside of homes along MacArthur set to be demolished to make room for market-rate housing, youth activists spoke. Many were from Youth Vs The Apocalypse, and spoke of how housing insecurity is related to climate catastrophe.

“People should not have to live in the street, people should not have to live in tents, people should not have to live in sheds, ” said Youth Vs The Apocalypse member Isha Clarke. “And especially when we’re in this time of severe climate catastrophe, when California is on fire, how dare we allow someone to live in a tent where they’re facing lethal asthma attacks, cancer and lung disease. This is not how we treat our people.”

Marchers then moved to Telegraph Avenue and walked north until they reached MacArthur Commons, a luxury housing development that has 97% market rate units. As they marched they chanted “Housing is a what? Human right,” and “Fight, Fight”.

Zack Haber

Posts by Zack Haber

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

2 days ago

March 1, 2026

Oakland Post

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Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

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.