Kaiser Permanente Outreach Scholarships
Small business grants provide access to low-interest loans, technical assistance, training and networking opportunities.
In partnership with Kaiser Permanente, OLCC hosted its first sponsorship event for Latino small businesses in November 2025. As part of the scholarship program, participating businesses received a One-Year OLCC Membership and a stipend to support Latino small businesses through ongoing outreach efforts.
The grants, made through a Kaiser Permanente fund at the East Bay Community Foundation, support Kaiser Permanente’s long-term commitment to improve health and vitality in the city of Oakland, home to our national headquarters.
Many of Oakland’s small businesses are struggling with significant challenges including crime, a slow post-pandemic economic recovery, and lack of access to low-cost capital. Entrepreneurs of color, women, and LGBTQ-owned businesses face additional barriers including inequitable access to mentors and networking opportunities, technical assistance, and resources in their primary language.
2025 Scholarship Awardees
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La Bendicion de Dios
Kaiser Permanente Helps Small, Diverse Oakland Businesses Grow
On July 31, 2024, Kaiser Permanente invested $15 million in grants over three years that support small and diverse businesses through access to low-interest loans, grants, technical assistance, training, and networking opportunities. A total of $1.6 million ($400,000 each) was awarded to ethnic chambers of commerce, the African American, Vietnamese, Chinatown, and Latino chambers of commerce, to enhance operations so they can further support small businesses through trainings, convenings, and networking activities.
“We learned about the numerous needs that small businesses have in order to survive and thrive including low-cost capital, technical assistance and training, networking opportunities, and much more,” said Yvette Radford, vice president, External and Community Affairs, Kaiser Permanente Northern California. “We’re proud to fund the organizations that will provide these resources and supports that Oakland’s resilient, diverse small businesses need to succeed.”
Kaiser Permanente recognizes that economic opportunity and health outcomes are closely linked, and the success of small businesses is key to a thriving local economy. Kaiser Permanente held listening sessions with community partners including chambers of commerce before developing the package of grants that address Oakland’s most pressing small business needs.