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The Year in Review

Community partnership and resilience
in the face of a slow-moving disaster.

There is no need to recount the many catastrophes that this year has contained. They are too familiar, and we are all unfortunately well-acquainted with them. But I do want to call attention to some of the good news I have seen this year in the midst of all the trouble. Having joined Alchemist CDC in June, I am profoundly impacted by what I have witnessed here.

I was not previously aware of just how many people were doing their very best to support the most vulnerable people in their communities, working hard to ensure that neighbors don't slip through the cracks. I found myself joining an incredible team and lucky enough to follow the exceptional leadership of Sarah Dillon, Interim Executive Director from 2019 until June of this year.

It has been my privilege to see staff, interns, and volunteers adapt to pandemic conditions while serving more low-income Sacramentans than ever at local farmers' markets. Witnessing the creativity and work ethic of disadvantaged food entrepreneurs chasing their dreams, and the passionate support they receive from our Alchemist Kitchen program managers, has been a bright spot in the midst of devastating news of local restaurant closures.

Your continued support has made these things possible, and I am so grateful for your partnership in catalyzing a better future in a year where hope can be so hard to find.

Thank you,
Sam Greenlee, Executive Director
Make your year-end contribution now!
CalFresh at Farmers' Markets
This year has been challenging to say the least, and our CalFresh at Farmers’ Markets team rose to the occasion without missing a beat. At the onset of the pandemic, we made the difficult decision to suspend our volunteer program completely and relied solely on program staff and interns. This was challenging on so many levels and required the full dedication of all team members who--week after week--provided essential food resource information, enforced safety measures, and kept our program fully operational at 6 sites throughout Sacramento County. Truly incredible.
 
In June we started to see more families finally receiving the food benefits they applied for weeks--and sometimes even months--prior. This influx of support for food insecure families, combined with our ongoing outreach, led to an incredibly busy summer for us!

We quickly realized that it was time to bring our volunteer program back (with some modifications, of course) in order to meet this growing demand. The group of volunteers who joined our essential staff between June and October this year have been nothing short of amazing. These are the rule-following, diligent, hardworking, and compassionate team players that every nonprofit vies for, and we are lucky enough to have them on our team. (If you are interested in joining our amazing team of volunteers, let us know here.)
 
I want to end this year with a huge thank you to our volunteers, entire program team, generous donors, sponsors who partnered with us to make this challenging year work, and to everyone who has shared words of gratitude and encouragement with us at the farmers’ markets. It all has made a difference

- Emma Burke, CalFresh at Farmers’ Markets Program Manager
 
Alchemist Kitchen
After launching last Fall, the Alchemist Kitchen program saw its first full year in 2020. Alchemist Kitchen is a food business incubator focusing on entrepreneurs from low-income backgrounds and under-resourced communities. To date, the program has served 69 entrepreneurs, of whom 71% are low-income, 63% are entrepreneurs of color, 61% are women, 22% are LGBTQIA+, and 14% are entrepreneurs with a disability.

The year began with the first cohort of Alchemist Kitchen Incubator Program (AKIP). This program provides one-on-one support, goal planning, connections to resources and opportunities, and reduced-rent at commercial kitchen spaces for participating food businesses. We currently have seven businesses in AKIP. We encourage you to check them out, follow them on social media, and purchase their delicious products! You can find the full list of businesses at: https://alchemistcdc.org/incubator/ To date, AKIP has provided over 130 hours of individualized consulting and technical assistance, and over 170 hours of commercial kitchen time at a reduced rate.

2020 also saw the successful completion of two cohorts of the Alchemist Microenterprise Academy (AMA). AMA is a 12-week food business training program covering fundamental topics for starting and growing a food business. Just two weeks into the Spring Cohort, shelter-in-place orders necessitated a rapid transition from in-person classes to a virtual classroom. The online transition was surprisingly smooth, and we were impressed with the determination of the eleven entrepreneurs who completed the program in the face of uncertainty brought on by the pandemic.

Adapting to the impact of the pandemic, the Fall Cohort was designed to be completed entirely online. It also gained the addition of a second weekly class to guide participants in the development of their business plans. We graduated our largest cohort to-date with 22 businesses completing the program. You can watch a recording of the graduation at tinyurl.com/AMAgrad2020. Be forewarned, the graduates' presentations will leave you hungry and impatiently waiting for their public launch.

As we move past this difficult year, we look forward to expanding our services and helping more entrepreneurs grow sustainable food businesses -- adding vibrancy and deliciousness to our local economy.

- Jacob Sacks, Alchemist Kitchen Program Manager
Neighborhood Empowerment
You might know of this program area by different names, such as "Building Blocks" or "Neighborhood Development".

Beloved community member, Randy Stannard, managed this program until March of this year, when he set out from Alchemist on two new adventures of parenthood and full-time urban farming at Root 64 Sacramento.

Before departing, Randy prepared an incredible vision for this program in which the goal is not to act as a service-provider to "clients" in the community, but instead to partner with the community and catalyze grassroots solutions for neighborhood improvement. Building on this vision, we chose to rename the program Neighborhood Empowerment, reflecting our vision of providing a sort of trellis of support and structure on which grassroots passion can grow and thrive.

At present, the Neighborhood Empowerment program is without a dedicated manager -- a serious gap we hope to be able to fill in 2021 (if you know of a grant that can help fund such a position, please let us know!).

Even so, we have seen significant goodness this year:
  1. After years of work, the Pansy Community Garden Park has its building permits and we expect it to be completed in the first quarter of 2021!
  2. The Oak Park Art Garden has continued to have passionate community support, and volunteers have helped maintain and sustain the project. We have also identified a major grant we will be pursuing in 2021 that, if awarded, would allow us to complete the design envisioned and created by the community.
  3. The Oak Park Sol Community Garden has seen increased interest, as more people have turned their attention to the importance of growing their own food amidst the economic insecurity of the pandemic.
  4. We were able to organize incredible community members as donors and site hosts in order to set up multiple pop-up cooling stations around the region during the severe heat waves.
We are also very excited about some new projects in the works for 2021 and cannot wait to share more. We continue, as always, to be inspired by the vision, passion, and creativity of neighbors throughout the region.

- Sam Greenlee, Executive Director
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