The City of Oakland offers several educational and technical assistance resources to its Social Equity Entrepreneurs including:

  1. Grass Coaching– To help Oakland’s Equity Loan and Grant recipients build long-term sustainable and successful businesses, the City of Oakland has established the Gaining Resources to Achieve Sustainable Success (“GRASS”) program.  Click here to learn more.
  2. Education Course Requirement:  Each City of Oakland Equity Loan or Grant disbursement now requires all Verified Equity Applicants to take an elective course or webinar offered by Oaksterdam University called the “Gaining Resources to Achieve Sustainable Success (“GRASS”) Elective. Click here to learn more.
  3. Education Grant:  To provide additional funding to Oakland Verified Equity Applicants, the City of Oakland offers an “Education Grant” in collaboration with Oaksterdam University and Elevate Impact Oakland. Grant funds will be provided to Oakland Verified Equity Applicants who received a certificate of completion from one of Oaksterdam’s Certification Programs, either self-paced or in the live cohort model. Click here to learn more.