Jon Jacobo
Jon Jacobo is a San Francisco organizer, strategist, and writer based in the Mission District. He is active in civic life, local politics, and public policy, with a focus on Latino civic participation, housing, and economic opportunity for working families.
He is the Founder and Executive Director of ¡Vota Ya!, which he started in 2016 as part of a collective of community members in San Francisco and San Mateo County. Its early work helped register about 2,000 Latino voters. In 2026 he is hosting civic education courses and working directly with community organizations in Latino communities throughout Northern California, building local leadership and expanding access to the ballot.
He continues to organize in San Francisco alongside street vendors, incarcerated people, and their families. Since 2023 he has worked with street vendors in the Mission District to defend their right to work and to push for fair, workable city policy, including helping found the Mission Street Vendors Association. He is a certified mentor and facilitates men's groups inside San Francisco jails and in communities across Northern California, and works with young people impacted by the streets and violence.
He is Managing Director of Jacobo Consulting Group, a strategic advisory firm that works with businesses, campaigns, coalitions, and institutions on strategy, public policy, and government relations.
He writes regularly on Substack about San Francisco politics and policy. In 2026 his essays have covered the city's changes to inclusionary housing, the policy failures facing street vendors, and the consolidation of political power nationally.
His work builds on nearly fifteen years in public life. He has served as a legislative aide to Supervisor Jane Kim, Director of Community Development at TODCO, a San Francisco Building Inspection Commissioner, Vice President and Council Member of the Calle 24 Latino Cultural District, and California Latino Press Secretary for Bernie Sanders' 2020 presidential campaign. As Health Chair of the Latino Task Force, he helped lead community COVID testing and vaccination efforts. Earlier, he managed a $25 million corporate portfolio.
He holds a bachelor's degree in Political Science from California State University, East Bay, completed on a pre law track with a focus in economics. He was a founding member of the university's chapter of Pi Sigma Alpha, the National Political Science Honor Society. He is writing his first book, on discipline, hard seasons, and the lessons that carried him through them.
