OAKLAND, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sep 24, 2025--
Oakland Roots and Soul Sports Club is proud to announce its inaugural partnership kickoff with Oakland-based OPTERRA Energy Services, a collaboration rooted in shared values and a bold vision for sustainable, long-term community impact across the Bay Area. More than a partnership, this initiative is a celebration of a shared commitment to student engagement, joining forces as Oakland-based organizations, and a belief in the transformative power of sports to uplift, connect, and strengthen community.
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“As a fellow Oakland-based organization, OPTERRA is incredibly proud to work with Oakland Roots and Soul SC to expand our impact as two partners truly rooted in the Bay Area. Building off of our Back to School event launch last month, we’re thrilled to deepen our partnership to shape more events that honor educators and inspire the next generation of students across the Bay Area,” shared Courtney Jenkins, CEO of OPTERRA.
“As a clean energy team proudly headquartered here in Oakland, we’ve engaged more than 250,000 students and community members through education and outreach programs over the past 50 years. The opportunity to expand Oakland Roots and Soul SC’s reach reinforces our belief that energy and sports are both powerful forces for connection and transformation. Energy powers the places where learning happens – schools, stadiums, neighborhoods – and sports ignite pride, purpose, and possibility.”
The partnership kicked off with a special Back to School Night celebration on August 30th at the Coliseum in collaboration with Oakland Unified School District. With over 9,871 sports fans in attendance, the inaugural partnership event set the precedent for future customized experiences that will be rolled out through the overlapping athletic season and academic year.
In addition to free tickets to future Roots and Soul SC games, educators at the Back to School event were gifted school supply bags to offset the personal costs of re-stocking the classroom that most educators shoulder every year. Upcoming events that will be customized in the year ahead will be similarly tailored to celebrate and directly support educators as part of the OPTERRA partnership.
“Oakland Roots and Soul SC was founded on the belief that sports can be a powerful force for social good,” said Lindsay Barenz, President of Oakland Roots and Soul SC. “This partnership with OPTERRA Energy Services embodies that belief by directly honoring the educators who shape the Bay Area community’s future – expanding access to the joy and connection that matchday brings. Our amazing SC and our fans are excited to shape future events with OPTERRA that highlight our two organizations’ shared commitment to building stronger communities by investing in the people who enrich the Bay Area every day – in the classroom and on the field.”
About OPTERRA Energy Services:
OPTERRA is headquartered in Oakland, California, and employs nearly 300 energy professionals. OPTERRA's services and solutions have helped customers ranging from municipalities, K-16 education, special districts and state and federal agency partners achieve over $3 billion in guaranteed energy cost savings to date.
OPTERRA partners with public sector stakeholders to meet the unique goals of communities nationwide. Our team customizes projects with top-tier technology to deliver lasting impact, enhancing fiscal savings and community engagement. With over 50 years of experience, we ensure our customers' long-term success through tailored solutions that support their vision. By deeply engaging and understanding specific goals, we deliver on the mission our customers envision. For more information please visit: www.opterraenergy.com.
About Oakland Roots and Soul SC:
Oakland Roots Sports Club seeks to harness the magic of Oakland and the power of sport as a force for social good. Oakland Soul women’s soccer team serves as an elite pathway to pro soccer, providing a high-quality training environment while empowering players. One day at a time…one game at a time.
Oakland Roots and Soul Sports Club is proud to announce its inaugural partnership kickoff with Oakland-based OPTERRA Energy Services, a collaboration rooted in shared values and a bold vision for sustainable, long-term community impact across the Bay Area.
Oakland Roots and Oakland Soul Sports Club announce official partnership with Oakland-based OPTERRA Energy Services.
MADRID (AP) — Venezuelans living in Spain are watching the events unfold back home with a mix of awe, joy and fear.
Some 600,000 Venezuelans live in Spain, home to the largest population anywhere outside the Americas. Many fled political persecution and violence but also the country’s collapsing economy.
A majority live in the capital, Madrid, working in hospitals, restaurants, cafes, nursing homes and elsewhere. While some Venezuelan migrants have established deep roots and lives in the Iberian nation, others have just arrived.
Here is what three of them had to say about the future of Venezuela since U.S. forces deposed Nicolás Maduro.
David Vallenilla woke up to text messages from a cousin on Jan. 3 informing him “that they invaded Venezuela.” The 65-year-old from Caracas lives alone in a tidy apartment in the south of Madrid with two Daschunds and a handful of birds. He was in disbelief.
“In that moment, I wanted certainty,” Vallenilla said, “certainty about what they were telling me.”
In June 2017, Vallenilla’s son, a 22-year-old nursing student in Caracas named David José, was shot point-blank by a Venezuelan soldier after taking part in a protest near a military air base in the capital. He later died from his injuries. Video footage of the incident was widely publicized, turning his son’s death into an emblematic case of the Maduro government’s repression against protesters that year.
After demanding answers for his son’s death, Vallenilla, too, started receiving threats and decided two years later to move to Spain with the help of a nongovernmental organization.
On the day of Maduro’s capture, Vallenilla said his phone was flooded with messages about his son.
“Many told me, ‘Now David will be resting in peace. David must be happy in heaven,’” he said. “But don't think it was easy: I spent the whole day crying.”
Vallenilla is watching the events in Venezuela unfold with skepticism but also hope. He fears more violence, but says he has hope the Trump administration can effect the change that Venezuelans like his son tried to obtain through elections, popular protests and international institutions.
“Nothing will bring back my son. But the fact that some justice has begun to be served for those responsible helps me see a light at the end of the tunnel. Besides, I also hope for a free Venezuela.”
Journalist Carleth Morales first came to Madrid a quarter-century ago when Hugo Chávez was reelected as Venezuela's president in 2000 under a new constitution.
The 54-year-old wanted to study and return home, taking a break of sorts in Madrid as she sensed a political and economic environment that was growing more and more challenging.
“I left with the intention of getting more qualified, of studying, and of returning because I understood that the country was going through a process of adaptation between what we had known before and, well, Chávez and his new policies," Morales said. "But I had no idea that we were going to reach the point we did.”
In 2015, Morales founded an organization of Venezuelan journalists in Spain, which today has hundreds of members.
The morning U.S. forces captured Maduro, Morales said she woke up to a barrage of missed calls from friends and family in Venezuela.
“Of course, we hope to recover a democratic country, a free country, a country where human rights are respected,” Morales said. “But it’s difficult to think that as a Venezuelan when we’ve lived through so many things and suffered so much.”
Morales sees it as unlikely that she would return home, having spent more than two decades in Spain, but she said she hopes her daughters can one day view Venezuela as a viable option.
“I once heard a colleague say, ‘I work for Venezuela so that my children will see it as a life opportunity.’ And I adopted that phrase as my own. So perhaps in a few years it won’t be me who enjoys a democratic Venezuela, but my daughters.”
For two weeks, Verónica Noya has waited for her phone to ring with the news that her husband and brother have been freed.
Noya’s husband, Venezuelan army Capt. Antonio Sequea, was imprisoned in 2020 after having taken part in a military incursion to oust Maduro. She said he remains in solitary confinement in the El Rodeo prison in Caracas. For 20 months, Noya has been unable to communicate with him or her brother, who was also arrested for taking part in the same plot.
“That’s when my nightmare began,” Noya said.
Venezuelan authorities have said hundreds of political prisoners have been released since Maduro's capture, while rights groups have said the real number is a fraction of that. Noya has waited in agony to hear anything about her four relatives, including her husband's mother, who remain imprisoned.
Meanwhile, she has struggled with what to tell her children when they ask about their father's whereabouts. They left Venezuela scrambling and decided to come to Spain because family roots in the country meant that Noya already had a Spanish passport.
Still, she hopes to return to her country.
“I’m Venezuelan above all else,” Noya said. “And I dream of seeing a newly democratic country."
Venezuelan journalist Caleth Morales works in her apartment's kitchen in Madrid, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
David Vallenilla, father of the late David José Vallenilla Luis, sits in his apartment's kitchen in Madrid, Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
Veronica Noya holds a picture of her husband Antonio Sequea in Madrid, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
David Vallenilla holds a picture of deposed President Nicolas Maduro, blindfolded and handcuffed, during an interview with The Associated Press at his home in Madrid, Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
Pictures of the late David José Vallenilla Luis are placed in the living room of his father, David José Vallenilla, in Madrid, Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
