Sean Sullivan has been an advocate for the LGBTQ community and the Oakland small business community for 15 years. He and his partner Richard Fuentes saw an opportunity to create a gathering place open seven days per week, specifically focused on serving LGBTQ people and Uptown. From that combination of passion and opportunity, The Port…
It’s one of our favorite weeks of the year: Oakland Restaurant Week! From January 19 through January 29, restaurants across town are offering lunch and dinner specials between $20 and $50 per person. We encourage you to take this opportunity to check out some of our clients’ restaurants: Nido Adesso Brotzeit…
We believe in the power of small businesses to uplift neighborhoods because of how community-oriented our small business clients are. If your small business is looking for a nonprofit to partner with to support Oakland, we want to introduce you to Upward Roots: Upward Roots (UR) is on a mission to provide each and…
When Willy Wang and Stacy Tang moved to the Bay Area, Willy had a job in San Francisco, and Stacy was trying to decide what career she wanted to pursue in the U.S. They found a supportive landlord and their current space at 412 22nd Street in Oakland. The space had previously been designed for…
When Dominick Scala was working from home, he could never find that “quite right” place in his neighborhood where he could work, eat, drink, and play. When he opened the doors to Cafe Underwood in August 2014 he realized his vision for a great neighborhood hang-out spot. “Dominick used his loan from Main Street…
CivCom, a new veteran-owned organization that prepares service members and their spouses for civilian jobs after their military service, recently launched a survey to collect veterans’ experiences about their transition from military-to-civilian careers. Click here to read the full analysis of the survey. Nearly everyone reported they wished they had started planning earlier,…
When Kanitha Matoury, Air Force veteran, started Spice Monkey, a restaurant and bar in Oakland, she followed her passion for food and her desire to have a bigger impact in her community. Since it opened doors in 2008, Spice Monkey has grown to be a truly community-focused business, living their mission by operating in an…
Willy Wang and Stacy Tang, the owners of Taiwan Bento, decided to open their small business, they were not able to secure startup capital despite having great credit scores and both graduating from UC Berkeley’s business school with MBAs. We are thrilled to support their business and watch it continue to grow and expand. …
Michelin offers zero to three stars to restaurants based on anonymous reviews. We’re thrilled to see a few of our clients mentioned on the list of Bay Area restaurants recognized by Michelin. Three stars is the highest level of recognition through Michelin, and now San Francisco has as many three star Michelin restaurants…
Walter E. Allen, a Navy veteran, started Acumen Building Enterprise in 1994 to help pay for graduate school. That small one-person consulting firm became a corporation in 2002. Acumen now has 40 employees and works with major transit agencies across the country to provide transit and transportation infrastructure development coupled with strategic technology solutions designed…
