Valkyries unveils new basketball court for Oakland youth program

August 6, 2026 · Yahoo Sports

Kenzo Fukuda

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OAKLAND – The Golden State Valkyries are the Bay Area’s team, both on the court and off the court.

On Wednesday afternoon, the Golden State Community Foundation (GSCF), in partnership with Sherwin-Williams, and in collaboration with the Bay Area Mural Program (BAMP) and Creative Sports Concepts (CSC), unveiled a newly refurbished basketball court and mural at the OK Program of Oakland, with players Kayla Thornton, Kiah Stokes, Janelle Salaun, and Nadia Fingall representing the Valkyries alongside Warriors alum and 2022 NBA Champion Juan Toscano-Anderson.

“This is great to be able to take the time to come with the team and be here at the OK Program is a blessing,” Thornton told ClutchPoints. “To see what they do for these kids, it means a lot. And to be out here and representing the Golden State Valkyries is a blessing. These kids are blessed to have these mentors and people who put in the time in this [program], so I’m just happy to be out here.”

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Founded in 1990, the OK Program of Oakland is a mentoring and leadership model that focuses on guiding black males aged 12-to-18, with an emphasis on reducing the high incarceration and homicide rates among the black male youth by developing leadership skills and long-term career goals, while also providing academic support and a support system to help students in the program succeed.

The project marked the OK Program non-profit’s first-ever basketball court, transforming OK Program’s former parking lot into a dedicated space for youth recreation. After the unveiling of the court, students in the OK Program took pictures with the players, played basketball with them on the new court, and got the opportunity to ask them about their lives and their careers.

The two new murals were designed by artist André Jahmora, executive director of BAMP, with students helping Jahmora paint over the one looming right next to the basketball court. Jahmora, who has been painting murals across the country for over 20 years and started the BAMP non-profit eight years ago, has collaborated with the Valkyries often, which he said speaks to how they continue to embrace the Oakland community.

“It means everything,” Jahmora said regarding the Valkyries players showing up for the community. “The first [mural] we did is over on 13th and Webster. And we had over 500 community members who came out for a community paint day, and also met some of the Valkyries. That day really solidified it to me… how the Bay really embraces and loves the Valkyries, being that they came out and painted with the community and made everyone’s day.”

The OK Program and how the Valkyries are making an impact

36 years in the making, the OK Program has strived to improve the relationships between law enforcement and the black community, starting with the youth. For founder and CEO Donald Northcross, the OK Program was his way of addressing the tragedies he bore witness to every day as a former sheriff’s deputy in Sacramento County.

“I was tired of seeing black men and boys killing each other and going to jail,” founder and CEO Donald Northcross said as to why he founded the non-profit.

“Looked around for a solution to the problem [and] I didn’t see one other than building more prisons and more jailhouses and locking them up. I knew that wasn’t a solution to the problem. You don’t exacerbate the problems for our concerns. So I started the OK Program to reduce the homicide rate of black men and boys.”

Northcross is one of many former police officers who serve as mentors to students in the OK Program, which has seven other chapters across the country, intending to mentor black youth through their “Life Support System,” which provides students with resources in school, after school, late at night, and on the weekends.

It’s that precise mentorship, Northcross noted, from people who’ve been through similar experiences, that is the most important resource the OK Program provides.

“It’s not gonna arbitrarily change. So the most important thing we provide to them is black men who love them, who support them,” Northcross said as kids played hoops with the Valkyries players and teens in Stephen Curry jerseys took pictures with Toscano-Anderson on the freshly painted yellow, violet, and black court.

“But also can let them know what we’re not going to tolerate, in terms of drugs, gangs, teenage pregnancies, poor education, homicides, and things of that nature. In order for them to understand that, in order for them to listen to what we’re saying, they have to know we love them.”

Kenzo Fukuda-ClutchPoints

The Valkyries’ role in the Bay Area community

For Stokes, who joined Golden State this past offseason, it was a cool opportunity for her to immerse herself in the local community she had heard so many positive things about.

“I’m not too familiar with the Bay Area in general or Oakland, so just to be here, to be involved in this program, to learn more about it, it’s been incredible,” Stokes told ClutchPoints. “And just to hear the stories and the people [OK Program] that they’ve helped and stuff, it’s an honor to be here, and it goes to show that’s what the Valkyries do. We’re more than just a sports team. We really want to try to get back as much as we can.”

It’s work that goes a long way. For OK Program alum and president of the alumni association, Josiah Harris, watching the Valkyries players interacting with the community is stuff that has the power to change lives.

“We’re able to see this court happen for the court to happen, it’s literally life changing,” Harris said, a Morehouse College graduate with a degree in political science who now teaches in Marin County. “When you talk about what our boys need, they need a space to come and convene that’s safe, that’s free from the streets, gang violence, and all those things.”

And it’s that personal, up-close touch Golden State operates with in their community outreach that stands out to Stokes.

While past teams she’s been with have certainly uplifted their local communities, Stokes noted that this is the first time she’s ever been a part of a court unveiling. Instead of just “talking on panels,” Stokes said the Valkyries’ method of outreach allows them to genuinely interact with the community, which in turn has made her time in the Bay Area live up to the hype.

“I don’t want to say I didn’t believe it when they were telling me about the [Bay Area community] before I signed here,” Stokes said. “But to actually be part of it, you understand the true meaning that there’s just more to life than basketball. So the way this community has embraced the Valkyries, I think [this] is the least that we, as a Valkyries organization, can do to just pour out as much as we can.”

It was a welcome feel-good outing for Stokes, Thornton, and the rest of the Valkyries who attended the event, in the midst of the doldrums of the WNBA season. At 21-9 on the season and tied for the second-best record in the league, Golden State has an opportunity to make some real noise in the playoffs.

Moments like these, with kids, teachers, and community members chanting Thornton’s pregame “Go Valks!” in unison is precisely the kind of energy, the kind of reminder, the Valkyries look to as they continue their journey on the hardwood.

“I always say, Ballhalla is our sixth man,” Thornton said with a big smile. “We’re going to need everybody to give us that extra push.”

Some video and photos from the event. Cool stuff, the kids were very hyped. https://t.co/B5wOuJRFPZ pic.twitter.com/s0mDLmbWHo
— Kenzo Fukuda (@kenzofuku) August 6, 2026

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