Bay Area

PRESS ROOM: San Leandro Launches Digital Gift Cards for Local Residents, Businesses

By supporting local businesses, more money continues circulating through the local community—this is achieved through a combination of profits paid to local business owners, wages paid to local workers, goods and services procured locally for internal use or resale, and charitable giving within the community.

Published

4 years ago

November 26, 2021

Oakland Post

Recipients pick up their Yiftee gifts using their smartphone at their favorite local restaurants and shops, driving profitable business to those merchants. For more info, see Yiftee.com or email info@yiftee.com.

New mobile gift card serves as a simple way to support San Leandro business community

By Paul Sanftner

The City of San Leandro is proud to announce the new Keeping it Local San Leandro gift card, a community-based digital gift card that makes it fun and easy to keep local spending local.

Purchase a Keeping it Local San Leandro gift card to use at any of the participating shops in the neighborhood.

With this card, you can write a personal message and send it to family, friends and colleagues via email, text, or physical copy. Recipients can redeem gift cards at one or more of many participating merchants in San Leandro.

All-digital and always available on your phone, the Keeping it Local San Leandro gift card is great for birthdays, holidays, teacher appreciation, coach gifts, or just to show your appreciation to a friend. Now you can give back to the community while you celebrate the upcoming holidays.

As an added bonus, for a limited time, when you purchase a $25 (or more) gift card you will receive a $10 bonus gift card. If you purchase a $50 (or more) gift card, you will receive a $20 bonus gift card. If you purchase a $100 (or more) gift card you will receive a $40 bonus gift card. (Limit 2 per customer, while supplies last or until December 30, 2021).

The program is a part of San Leandro’s recovery efforts to support businesses and foster community. Support for the bonus gifts is being provided by American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) federal recovery funds.

So far, a good variety of businesses have signed up to participate in the program, including Anytime Fitness, 21st-Amendment Brewery, As Kneaded Bakery, Sabino’s Cafe, Estudillo Produce, codeAtorium, It’s a Grind Coffee House, Inner Athlete, the Cooler, Pallen’s Martial Arts, B*Dazzled Dancers, Zocalo Coffeehouse, and Hanoi Chicken Noodle. Businesses can sign up anytime by reaching out to the City.

Why supporting local businesses is so important

Participating in this program means supporting the heart of what makes San Leandro unique. The purchase of a Keeping It Local San Leandro gift card creates a pool of cash that local businesses in San Leandro can rely on.

Studies^[1] have shown that local, independent retailers recirculate 47% of their revenue back into the community, while only 14% of national chains’ revenue stays in the community. More dramatically, restaurants recirculate 73% of their revenue back into the community, versus only 30% for national chains.

If you’re looking for a way to do some good or want to know how you can help the community you love, send a Keeping it Local San Leandro gift card today! For more information or to participate as a merchant in the program, please contact the City of San Leandro: slnext@sanleandro.org.

About Yiftee

Yiftee (Yiftee.com) is the award-winning, no hassle eGift card and promotions solution for local businesses and communities. With no special technology or POS integration, no revenue-share and no special accounting, it’s easy for merchants to offer eGift Cards on their website and Facebook pages.

Merchants gain additional sales, foot traffic, and an eGifting capability like big retailers. Consumers, corporations, and merchants use the Yiftee mobile and online website to send thoughtful, unexpected gifts via email, text or print.

Paul Sanftner is the communications and community relations manager in San Leandro’s City Manager’s Office.

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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

To enlarge your view of this issue, use the slider, magnifying glass icon or full page icon in the lower right corner of the browser window.

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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.