Today everyone is more conscious of what environmental impact our actions have on our world and knows what goals we should keep in mind when thinking about the environment.  For example, in April 2008 the California Air Resource Board (ARB) passed a resolution for the Emission Reduction Plan for Ports and Good Movement.  This resolution requires that California return to 2001 emission levels or below by 2010.  In Oakland, this affects all truck drivers going in and out of the Port of Oakland and West Oakland residents. 

Achieving these environmental goals, however, require innovative approaches which have not been utilized before.  While this resolution has numerous health and environmental benefits for the residents of West Oakland-a part of Oakland often overlooked by many-this also places financial burdens on truck drivers.  For 2,000 independent truck drivers, this means they will have to buy new, cleaner big rigs or install modified “scrubbers” into their older truck models to produce fewer emissions and comply with the California ARB.  Currently, 500 to 1,000 truck drivers will need grants or loans to purchase these new trucks or scrubbers.

But the new approaches-the nuts and bolts of meeting these emission goals-are out there.  Recently, the Port of Oakland selected OneCalifornia Bank to be the bank to provide loans to these truck drivers.  This SBA Clean Truck Loan Program come with free checking and savings accounts, online banking, and financial education provided by OneCalifornia Foundation.  The OneCal Family, therefore, is positively impacting both the environment in which it operates as well as furthering its mission of providing economic opportunities and increasing financial literacy awareness of its clients.

OneCalifornia Bank is honored to be the bank backing the Port of Oakland Loan Program and to continue to play a role in improving the Oakland community.

The Alameda County Board of Women’s Initiative for Self Employment is partnering with The San Francisco Business Times to recognize 15 female entrepreneurs throughout Alameda County for their success in sustainable small business enterprise. The time to recognize these women is now, because they are vital components of America’s economic recovery. According to Carla Foster, Alameda County Women’s Initiative Board Member, “Research has shown that it is entrepreneurs who will pull us out of this recession and women in particular will do what it takes to support their families.”

Nominations are being accepted now until August 28^th. One woman from Oakland will be recognized as Oakland Woman Business Owner of the Year 2009. In order to be considered for the award, the female entrepreneur must: “1) Have been successful despite the barriers that exist for woman business owners, 2) Exemplify how business ownership and leadership is beneficial for women, 3) Have a positive impact on local community or the community at large, and/or 4) Advance their field through innovation.” The winner will be recognized in The San Francisco Business Times, The San Jose Business Journal, on the Women’s Initiative website, and through various other media and events in the Bay Area.

If you want to show a female entrepreneur in Oakland how much you appreciate what she does every day, click here to nominate her for Oakland Woman Business Owner of the Year 2009. To learn more about the Women’s Initiative, visit their website at www.womensinitiative.org.

Oakland Unwrapped! would like to introduce you to some of our newest members of our website:

One Small Step provides everything you need to pack a waste-free, “green” lunch-from reusable lunchboxes to food containers, bottles and utensils.  Also available are environmentally-friendly school supplies as well as books with ideas and recipes for healthy lunches.  Visit oaklandunwrapped.org/onesmallstep for more.

O’Lover Hats are one-of-a kind hats, designed and handmade right here in Oakland!  Visit oaklandunwrapped.org/oloverhats for more.

Skincare by Feleciai is all natural, handmade body soaps and creams, shampoo bars and shaving bars.  Visit oaklandunwrapped.org/skincarebyfeleciai for more.

These three are just a few examples of the diverse stores listed on Oakland Unwrapped!  We now have over 130 stores on our e-commerce website and are always adding more.  Keep checking Oakland Unwrapped! to see the newest vendors and see how easy it is to support Oakland’s local economy while shopping online!

This year we held the first Summer Internship Program at OneCalifornia Foundation, of which I was lucky enough to be a part. I came to the Foundation last March as an intern to assist with the marketing of our Oakland Unwrapped! Online Marketplace. I graduated from UC Berkeley in May and decided to stick around for the summer to assist with the internship program, and participate as an intern as well.

I haven’t got enough space here to go address everything that I’ve taken away from the program. The most unique part of this internship was the focus on the enrichment of the interns, specifically the inclusion of a curriculum on banking and socially responsible business. Over the course of six weeks we heard lectures on everything from retail banking to investing to B corporations. We pulled presenters from OneCalifornia Bank and other socially responsible organizations like RSF Social Finance, Give Something Back, Renewable Funding, Green Retirement Plans, and more. With each of the interns in the program working on separate projects, the courses on banking were a great way to acquaint everyone with how a bank is run and the different jobs that need to be done. The socially responsible business component was what really struck me, as there was no class I took as an undergrad to show me that I could, and more importantly, that I should look for a career where I can do good just by showing up to work every day. The bottom line—the business world is changing; there will be more and more companies with socially responsible missions that give more back to the environment and the community. You don’t need to volunteer or work at a non-profit to make a difference, and you can still make a living doing it.

We were lucky enough to have six awesome interns, all Economics majors, from UC Berkeley, Stanford, and Northwestern, and while I could wax on about what made this internship so great, I think I will leave some room for you to hear from everyone else… (more…)

The East Bay Express holds an annual reader poll to find out who is the Best of the East Bay.  Readers vote for the best in various categories, ranging from the Best Band to the Best Brunch Place for Vegans and Carnivores to Coexist, and everything in between.  To celebrate the winners, the East Bay Express holds the Best of the East Bay Party at the end of the summer!  Featured at this party are all types of East Bay food, drink, and retail vendors displaying their wares; East Bay non-profits educating the public about the amazing work that they do; a multitude of East Bay bands jamming on eight different stages as well as dancers, comedians, and other artists showing off their talents; sports demonstrations and car shows; and a kids’ zone with magic shows, art projects, and other hands-on activities; and more!

This year’s Best of the East Bay Party takes place on Friday, August 7^th from 5 PM to midnight at the Oakland Museum of California.  The Oakland Museum of California is located just one block away from Lake Merritt BART Station, so you can take BART to the event.  There will also be Bike Valet parking available onsite.

Each year the East Bay Express chooses an East Bay non-profit to highlight and support through the event; for the Best of 2009 Party, OneCalifornia Foundation is honored to be that chosen non-profit!  This means that, while the event is free, all bar proceeds will go to the Foundation.  See the article on the event’s blog about the party supporting local non-profits.  For more information about the event, check out the East Bay Express event blog.

OneCalifornia Foundation has partnered with the City of Oakland to launch of a set of exciting new resources for Oakland businesses. The new Business Assistance Center (BAC) location and website offer a place where businesses can go to find information they need to start, sustain, or grow in Oakland. The Oakland BAC website is a project of OneCalifornia Foundation, and is provided to the city as an in-kind donation to help small businesses. The site includes information on finding locations, taking classes, finding financing, getting consultants, taking advantage of tax breaks, and much more. The website also allows businesses to make a request for assistance from BAC staff.

The BAC physical location is next to City Hall at 270 Frank H. Ogawa Plaza and is open from 8:30 am to 5 pm weekdays. The center offers helpful staff members that will answer questions and make referrals on all business-related topics to both internal City government departments and to outside agencies. The new center staff members track each request and follows up on these referrals to ensure that questions are getting answered and problems are being resolved.

OneCalifornia Foundation is proud to help offer these exciting new resources to build Oakland’s businesses!

“Please feel free to jump on the Fatboy,” says Marie Deleris, owner of Entrez! Open House, a gifts, housewares and furniture boutique in uptown Oakland. I try to suppress my revulsion at the thought of crushing an overweight toddler, but my face betrays me. She notices and quickly adds, “it’s a beanbag chair!” Relieved, I go inside under the pretense of perusing the store’s offerings with every intention of double-checking the oven behind the front counter to make sure Hansel isn’t peeking out at me. Now, fully pacified, I am able to relax and take in my surroundings. Upon taking my first glance around Entrez!, I was afraid I had just been poked in the eyes with a kaleidoscope—in a good way. The store erupts with color and wild designs, shelves are stocked with neat gadgets, and there is a kitchen in the showroom, the island of which serves as the checkout counter.

You’re probably thinking, “Man, that store sounds nuttier than squirrel poop.”

Maybe you’re right, but the pervading thing on my mind while there was, “This place is so cool! Why don’t I have more colorful stuff decorating my place! Why haven’t I been shopping here!?” It sounds like my sentiment is in line with Marie’s customers’, from whom she hears at least once a day that her store is a “getaway” or a “sanctuary”. Entrez! has become the place for many toiling in downtown Oakland to escape from the workplace and let off some steam. This is a result of many things, all of which add up to one very cool, very unorthodox, design store.

Marie Deleris came to America from Paris six years ago to improve her English, and she never went back. While looking for opportunities that would allow her to extend her visa, Marie’s friends would keep commenting on her knack for design. She took their compliments to heart and ran with them, the result being Entrez! Open House. Marie comes from a family that was always interested in interiors, and she says it’s very important to have a good home, a relaxing place to return to at the end of the day. Her store is a microcosm of the environment Marie envisions for her customers. At Entrez! you are allowed to pick up and touch everything, and sit on the furniture. Besides being important to test drive a chair before you buy, this really makes the store much more homey and friendly, a stark contrast to other design galleries where the pieces are reserved strictly for visual enjoyment.

Marie wants her customers to feel at home in Entrez!, the kitchen on the showroom floor helps, and her trust in her customers has been rewarded—in three years only one piece has been broken. This is a testament to the durability of the products that Entrez! carries. Marie likes the idea of things that will last forever, as the most sustainable products are the ones that never need be replaced. One of the most popular lines at the store is Elbow Grease Designs, currently a selection of bags made from recycled convention banners and other recycled materials, made by Oakland’s own Jenny Hurth.

Along with the home and the environment, community is also important. When Entrez! first opened, Marie would see the same people walking past her doors every day on their way from their lattes to work and back. Three years later, the neighborhood is a host to joggers and families pushing strollers on the weekends, and there are new faces coming through to check out all of the cool new stores that have opened on the block. And now those people who trudged past Entrez! every morning are the regulars who stop by to relax and have a coffee or eat their lunch on the tables out in front. This trend in revitalization has not gone unnoticed, as Entrez! was named the Neighborhood Dynamo Oakland Indie Award winner for the Uptown district in 2007.

To help lure people downtown, and probably more just for fun, Tammy at Entrez! hosts Neighbor Knit Meetings twice a month, and Marie holds a French conversation night monthly; every October Entrez! invites people to its pumpkin carving extravaganza, with the one rule that pumpkins must be cleaned out on the sidewalk and the innards disposed of before moving the pumpkins inside to carve.

This summer, Entrez! is also holding a summer design series so that anyone interested can learn more about design and design companies. The first of three lectures, given by a representative from Alessi, has already past, but you can still make it out for the last two: Entrez! will be hosting Kartell on August 13^th, and Iittala on September 4^th. Click here for more information on the summer design series.

With so much going on at Entrez! Open House you should definitely stop by and check it out for yourself. Marie and her staff are a lot of fun to hang out with, so drop by and share your lunch hour with them, and please, feel free to jump on the Fatboy.

To learn more about Entrez! Open House, visit their website. And to see more independent Oakland businesses online, check out the Oakland Unwrapped website.

Barack Obama’s Presidential campaign made many promises about change. Now, he is attempting to deliver on some of these campaign promises by proposing legislation that will create a Consumer Financial Protection Agency (CFPA). In early July, Obama introduced legislation to create the CFPA in the hopes of regulating the financial services industry to protect consumers from predatory and sneaky practices. The CFPA would be in charge of “writing and enforcing consumer protection rules, continuously monitoring the market for risks to consumers and publishing significant findings at least once a year, and streamlining regulatory requirements and making sure financial product disclosures are understandable and helpful.” This organization is being created not only to increase consumer protection in the financial industry, but also to centralize the responsibility in the wake of many regulatory lapses. Obama hopes that the CFPA “will have the power to set standards so that companies compete by offering innovative products that consumers actually want — and actually understand. Those ridiculous contracts with pages of fine print that no one can figure out — those things will be a thing of the past. And enforcement will be the rule, not the exception.” To read more about Obama’s CFPA proposal, click here.

Despite the good intentions of Obama’s CFPA, many claim that it would only make the regulatory process more difficult and thus hurt consumers in the long run. The CFPA could end up harming consumers by suppressing innovation, increasing operating costs, and damaging the integrity of various institutions. In order to ease the concerns of critics, House Financial Services Representative Barney Frank has delayed action on the agency until September to give consumer advocates and the financial industry more time to offer input and respond. To read more about opposition to the CFPA, click here.

Jack London Square is hosting a ton of fun weekly events this summer, including:

Musical Mondays
Live music, board games, and cocktails outside Heinolds’ Last Chance Saloon.  Family friendly, of course!  Mondays through July 27. 5:30 - 8pm

Waterfront Flicks - Every Other Thursday
Fun movies and Oakland trivia games 7:30pm

Dancing Under the Stars - Every Friday
Free outdoor dance lessons Fridays through September 25th. Prix fixe menus at JLS restaurants and a different dance every night! 8:30pm

See details and more events at the Jack London Square website.