Business

Multicultural Business Leaders Call for Immediate Change in City’s Contracting Practices

The group is asking that the city “address delineate grave concerns centered on disparities that plague contracting opportunities for Black, minority and women-owned businesses. Further, request for Reiskin and his administrative team to institute and implement needed changes with immediacy, by year’s end.”

Published

5 years ago

August 27, 2021

Isabelle Price

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Ed Reiskin Oakland City Administrator

Cathy D. Adams

The Oakland African American Chamber of Commerce (OAACC), led by President and CEO Cathy D. Adams, recently held a virtual meeting with Ed Reiskin, City Administrator, Oakland’s top executive.

Following a series of ongoing meetings throughout 2021, the collective is calling for measurable actions to resolve systemic problems in City of Oakland contracting practices.

“We want everyone to be clear and concise,” said Adams. “We know where we’ve been, and we know how we feel. However, for the sake of our businesses, we are focused on remedies to bring equity and parity to all city contracts. We want progress and fairness in 2021 – the time is now.”

The collective maintains that all multicultural businesses are experiencing the same fate.

OAACC is working with other local chamber leaders including Jessica Chen (executive director, Oakland Chinatown Chamber of Commerce), Barbara Leslie (president and CEO, Oakland Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce), Jennifer Tran (executive director, Oakland Vietnamese Chamber of Commerce); along with business executives Rick da Silva (LOH Realty & Investments/Wellington Property Company), Joe Partida (Partida Benefits & Insurance), Michael Baines (BGI Construction, INC) and; Paul Cobb, publisher, Post News Group.

“There are three issues impacting the contracting activity in the City of Oakland,” said Eddie Dillard, former president and CEO of the Oakland Black Board of Trade and Commerce, a meeting participant. “First, the City of Oakland does not collect fines and penalties on non-compliant prime contractors.”

Citing an example, Dillard said, “A prime contractor who built the McArthur BART Transit Village Project was found to be non-compliant with the law and was assessed a $4 million fine. One year since the citation, the City of Oakland has not collected the fine. Monies from this fine could pay the combined budgets of city departments, specifically, Workplace and Employment and Race and Equity departments.”

Dillard continued, “Black contractors are included in city bids for public contracts, yet when the awards are given to prime contractors, Blacks contractors are removed from participation. This pattern and practice is illegal and against State law. We have witnessed this blatant exclusion from contracting awards, time and again among qualified Oakland-based Black businesses.”

“The repeated practice by city departments that issue waivers to non-compliant Small Local Business Enterprise (SLBE) and Local Business Enterprise (LBE) programs must stop,” Dillard said. “The continued practice of these non-compliant waivers, sponsored by department heads, relieves the city from enforcing its legally bound commitment to promote and utilize Oakland-based certificated firms. This pattern and practice must cease if we are to close the inequality gap addressed in the most recent disparity study.”

Participating business leaders and community activists focused on the following:

Minority businesses directly impact the city’s economy, tax base, infrastructure, workforce, community stability and public safety;
Equity, parity, and inclusion is not a trendy tagline rather requirements for all businesses;
Equitable distribution of all contracts for all businesses;
Strengthen city staffing to process corrections to policy deficiencies in a timely manner;
Immediate redress to cure systemic challenges and problems with all city contracts;
Implement and maintain accountability metrics with all city contracts;
Adhere to findings in the disparity study;
Actionable framework and timeline to enforce curative resolution to the City’s contracting practices with all businesses.

The Oakland Post’s coverage of local news in Alameda County is supported by the Ethnic Media Sustainability Initiative, a program created by California Black Media and Ethnic Media Services to support community newspapers across California.

Isabelle Price

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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

1 week 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.