CITY OF OAKLAND Small Business Outreach
Background Results
City of Oakland


Nationally, nearly 80% of minority-owned businesses are struggling financially because of the pandemic1


Hover over the small businesseses to understand what this means.


This is what 80% of struggling businesses looks like.
Imagine it at the national scale.





The City of Oakland responded with small business outreach


In response to the economic damage resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, the federal government passed the $2.2 trillion Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act in March 2020.

The City of Oakland received $36.9 million, and of that the Economic and Workforce Development Department (EWD) allocated $700,000 to contract community-trusted business organizations to provide linguistically and culturally appropriate business outreach and support to small businesses.

These organizations provided intensive outreach and case management to small business owners in their respective communities to bolster awareness and ensure equitable participation in various city, county, and state grant programs.

The following organizations received $100,000 each to provide outreach to small businesses:


  • African American Chamber of Commerce (OAACC)
  • Chinatown Chamber of Commerce (OCCC)
  • East Oakland Community Development Corporation (EOCDC)
  • Latino Chamber of Commerce (OLCC)
  • OCCUR
  • The Unity Council
  • Vietnamese Chamber of Commerce (OVCC)

Together, these organizations provided outreach to more than 1,200 businesses.

How was the outreach distributed among racial groups?


You can sort the bars differently by selecting the options from the dropdown menu.
Note: Individuals that did not disclose their race are excluded from this graph.






The community organizations supported a wide range of industry categories


Hover over each area to see the number of businesses for each category.
Click the categories in the inner ring to zoom in.
Click the center of the circle to return to default.




Percent Restaurants



How many businesses did each organization reach out to?


Hover over each bar to see the precise number of businesses that each organization reached out to.

Community Organizations:
 African American Chamber of Commerce (OAACC) Chinatown Chamber of Commerce (OCCC) Vietnamese Chamber of Commerce (OVCC)
OCCUR The Unity Council Latino Chamber of Commerce (OLCC) East Oakland Community Development Corporation (EOCDC)





Oakland Latino Chamber of Commerce supported
the greatest number of small businesses


Hover over each ribbon to see the number of businesses in each category that each
community organization supported. The counts appears in the bottom left.
Note: Displayed on the chord diagram are the top 5 business categories that received the most outreach.




PPP Loans

Among the businesses that received outreach, at least 1302 received
Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans.


Map of outreach recipients


Hover over the triangle in the toolbar to try different interactions with the map.
Each circle represents a business that received outreach. When you hover over a circle, more details appear.






Do you need business support?


COVID-19 associated shutdowns are ravaging small businesses. Contact your local organization for help understanding resources available for support:


Or find information directly from the City of Oakland here.



Sources and Notes

  1. Source: Federal Reserve Small Business Credit Survey
  2. Source: Small Business Administration
    Note: We confirmed at least 130 businesses received PPP loans by combining outreach data with PPP data. However, the number of businesses that received PPP loans could actually be higher because of inconsistencies associated with joining address data.