Leadership Oakland class of 2026 finishes its tour of the city

The Oakland Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce has wrapped up this year's Leadership Oakland program, the cohort-based course that walks a class of local professionals through the institutions that run the city.

The Class of 2026 went behind the scenes at PG&E, The Crucible, La Clinica, St. Vincent de Paul of Alameda County, the Oakland Zoo and the Port of Oakland. The chamber described the year as a mix of site visits and candid conversations, aimed at showing participants how leadership, innovation and collaboration work inside each organization.

That list is a fair map of what Oakland actually runs on: a utility, a port, a nonprofit health provider, a services agency for people in poverty, a zoo and an industrial arts school on the West Oakland waterfront. A cohort that has been inside all six has seen more of the city's working parts in a year than most residents see in a decade.

The chamber said the class built connections across the cohort and came away with a closer understanding of Oakland's challenges and opportunities. Photographs and highlights from each session are posted on the chamber's site.

The chamber has not announced dates for the next cohort.