Activism

PRESS ROOM: Andre Thierry and Zydeco Magic Will Be Featured at the 7th Annual Black-Eyed Pea Festival

“This festival brings our mission to life,” says Ravernell. “We want to highlight and preserve the cultural and spiritual traditions of African Americans and demonstrate how these traditions are connected to Africa and the African Diaspora.”

Published

3 years ago

September 4, 2022

Oakland Post

Andre Thierry and Zydeco Magic will be featured at the 7th Annual Black-Eyed Pea Festival on Saturday, Sept. 24, 2022 at Oakland Technical High School’s Front Lawn, 4351 Broadway, from 11 a.m. - 6 p.m. This is a FREE community event for all ages.

If eating black-eyed peas on New Year’s Day is supposed to bring good luck, then Oakland will be having a tremendous lucky day on Sept. 24, 2022, when it will host the 7th annual Oakland Black-Eyed Pea Festival.

Appealing to all ages, the free festival at Oakland Technical High School will feature African American traditional music from several genres including zydeco, blues, gospel, funk and avant garde jazz and poetry. Hand-made items by people of African descent and Afrocentric food — with black-eyed peas as part of the menu — will be sold as well.

This year, the festival’s sponsoring organization, Omnira Institute, is partnering with the Akoma Liberation Park’ s traveling group of artists and crafters and the Museum of Children’s Art (MOCHA) for a small arts and crafts tent for children.

Why a Black-Eyed Pea Festival?

“The black-eyed pea is a metaphor for what is resilient, creative, and collaborative about African-American culture,” said Wanda Ravernell, director of the Black-Eyed Pea Festival and founder of Omnira Institute.

“We are especially pleased to have a range of genres in this year’s line-up because it brings to mind the time when Oakland’s Seventh Street was the ‘Harlem of the West,’” Ravernell said. Gentrification has almost finished the job that the construction of the Grove Shafter Freeway, BART tracks and the Post Office did in dividing what had once been a thriving Black community.

The sound of the music, the scent of the food and the creativity of the artists invokes that time of prosperity. “Their work is entertaining, but it’s also a history lesson and a healing.”

This festival is unique because it focuses on the specific relationship between black-eyed peas and African American culture and history.

It is common knowledge that black-eyed peas have been a staple New Year’s Day dish for generations of African Americans. But to festival organizers, it’s important to know that the first domestication of the black-eyed pea was in West Africa and that George Washington Carver (African American biologist and inventor) promoted the planting of black-eyed peas because the crop enriched the soil and had high nutritional value.

For more information, please email us at oakbepfestival@gmail.com or call (510) 332-5851.

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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

7 days 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.