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<\/a><\/p>\nThis story is part of our July 2026 Young Professionals issue. To read the print version, click here.<\/a><\/p>\n
\n Look around Sacramento\u2019s food scene and you\u2019ll see traces of \n Sacks spearheaded both programs soon after joining the nonprofit \n Alchemist CDC also manages several of the region\u2019s farmers \n As director of economic development at the nonprofit, Sacks has \n Sacks grew up in Fresno and arrived in the Capital Region to \n \u201cIn my work, I see some of the consequences of systems that \n Though he had previously imagined going into politics or law, \n \u201cI was kind of just in the right place at the right time,\u201d Sacks \n Raising funds is always the most challenging part of running a \n That became especially clear earlier this year, when Alchemist \n The funding came through, and Sacks says the project is ongoing \n Sacks now lives in Sacramento with his partner, Beth, her cat \n \u201cAs this area transitions and becomes something new, being \n \u2013\n<\/p>\n \n View the\u00a0list of
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\n Jacob Sacks\u2019 work everywhere. Many of the city\u2019s buzziest food
\n businesses \u2014 the addictive Jazz\u2019s Saucy Sauce, the Latin fusion
\n pop-up Old Coyote, the new Arab-Mexican restaurant Meza \u2014 are
\n alumni of the Alchemist Microenterprise Academy and the Alchemist
\n Kitchen Incubator Program, programs that equip aspiring
\n entrepreneurs with the training and tools they need to launch
\n their businesses.\n<\/p>\n
\n Alchemist Community Development Corporation in 2016.\n<\/p>\n
\n markets, including the Sunday Certified Farmers Market in
\n Southside Park, taking over after former market managers Dan and
\n Renae Best retired earlier this year. And the nonprofit recently
\n broke ground on their most ambitious project yet: the Alchemist
\n Public Market, a venue in the River District that will host a
\n food court, farmers market, retail spaces, a commissary kitchen
\n and coworking offices.\n<\/p>\n
\n his hands in all of these projects. But the soft-spoken
\n 37-year-old is humble about his role in the Capital Region\u2019s food
\n scene. \u201cI\u2019m very much an outsider to the food world,\u201d he says
\n over lunch at another Alchemist participant, Sapha Kafe. \u201cI
\n recognize that I don\u2019t know a lot of this, and I\u2019ve tried to
\n intentionally build out the team with people who do have that
\n experience.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n study political science at UC Davis. During a quarter abroad in
\n Italy, he developed an affinity for walkable, close-knit cities
\n and spent a year chasing that lifestyle as an English teacher in
\n Spain before moving to San Diego in 2013. The transition from his
\n small Spanish town to Southern California sprawl was jarring.
\n \u201cYou had to drive to go anywhere, and there\u2019s freeways
\n everywhere, and I was like, where could I go that has that
\n smaller, more European feel?\u201d he says. The answer was Davis,
\n where he returned in 2014.\n<\/p>\n
\n have been set up to discriminate and exclude. Over 250 years
\n there\u2019s been ebbs and flows of progress, but we remain far from
\n a country that is truly equitable, vibrant, diverse and
\n healthy. I am working to move us closer within my sphere of
\n influence.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n Sacks instead began looking for nonprofit jobs that would let him
\n help shape the region into his new ideal. That search brought him
\n to Alchemist CDC. Initially hired as an administrative assistant,
\n he wrote a series of successful grants that prompted his rise in
\n the organization, including the grant that funded the
\n Microenterprise Academy.\n<\/p>\n
\n says with characteristic humility, before explaining his in-depth
\n process. He was inspired by similar projects that connect
\n small-scale food entrepreneurs with the resources they need to
\n grow, such as La Cocina in Oakland, and by La Cocina\u2019s founder
\n Leticia Landa.\n<\/p>\n
\n nonprofit.\n<\/p>\n
\n CDC CEO Sam Greenlee announced that the Public Market project
\n would fold if the nonprofit could not secure a $3 million loan in
\n \u201cbridge funding\u201d from the City of Sacramento or another funder.
\n After local and social media amplified Greenlee\u2019s message, rumors
\n began to circulate about the 26-year-old nonprofit being forced
\n to close.\n<\/p>\n
\n and Alchemist is here to stay. But the nonprofit is still always
\n open to donations. \u201cIndividual donors are incredibly important to
\n us,\u201d he says, explaining that it is often difficult to use grant
\n money to pay for day-to-day costs like office expenses. \u201cThe
\n unrestricted funds that you get from private donations help make
\n nonprofits run.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n Julian, and his dog Roma, and loves attending baseball games at
\n Sutter Health Park. A lifelong sports fan, he is also looking
\n forward to soccer games at the forthcoming Sacramento Republic FC
\n stadium in the Railyards and in being part of the nascent River
\n District through Alchemist Kitchen.\n<\/p>\n
\n central to the identity of it is an opportunity that we\u2019re really
\n excited about,\u201d he says.\n<\/p>\n
\n honorees<\/a>\u00a0from 2015 through 2026.\n<\/p>\n