When Jacqueline Inda Karlsen was in foster care, angels came into her life.
They didn’t descend from the heavens. Instead, they came from the District Attorney’s office, the police department, or the classroom.
Being cared for by members of the community at a time when she didn’t have a family of her own planted the seeds for Inda Karlsen’s desire to advocate for families.
Now, she’s setting her sights on the Santa Barbara Unified School Board.
“The one factor children have that helps them find their own identity and their own voice is our school district,” Inda Karlsen said.
Inda Karlsen, known around town for her immigrant rights activism, entanglement with La Casa de la Raza and previous bids for public office, is running for trustee area one of the Santa Barbara Unified School District, which encompasses downtown and on the eastside.
She is running against Mark Philibosian to replace Gabe Escobedo, who is running for Santa Barbara City Council.
Inda Karlsen previously ran for school board in 2008 and lost.
The activist is running on a platform of collaboration and upgrading classroom facilities. She has the support of the Santa Barbara Teachers Union and the Santa Barbara County Democratic Party.
Currently, Inda Karlsen channels her immigration advocacy through the Restorative Justice Center, an immigrant rights group she runs out of the historic Latino community hub La Casa de la Raza.
With previous experience serving on committees related to suicide prevention and gang injunction in schools, she said she knows how important it is for school districts to collaborate with local organizations, but that she doesn’t see Santa Barbara Unified currently doing that.
“Unfortunately, since COVID, Santa Barbara Unified has worked very diligently in the structure of a silo,” Inda Karlsen said.
The school district has not been able to form an ad hoc committee, for example, on migrant rights because the district has stopped meeting with City Council, she said.
“What happens when you trickle down in policy is that things like migrant rights become community-based and only community-based,” Inda Karlsen said. “Pieces happen with responses differing throughout classrooms, throughout community centers, throughout all different sources. Responses start to happen and emerge by themselves.”
Inda Karlsen said the lack of a coordinated response on immigration is where the organization she leads, Restorative Justice Center, has stepped in.
In 2020, Restorative Justice Center — an organization providing resources to community members left behind after Immigration and Customs Enforcement takes their loved ones — moved into the historic La Casa de la Raza building, which filed for bankruptcy earlier this year.
Her tenancy in the building, however, has not been without controversy.
Inda Karlsen was sent a cease-and-desist letter by the La Casa de la Raza Board of Directors to stop misrepresenting herself on behalf of the organization.
The request came after Inda Karlsen criticized the Old Spanish Days Fiesta committee for rejecting her organization from participating in Fiesta’s Mercado de la Guerra this year and therefore breaking away from a 52-year tradition of serving La Casa de la Raza’s tri-tip tortas.
In a response to the request, Inda Karlsen agreed to stop representing herself as La Casa de la Raza, but said she does not admit to the allegations set within the cease and desist notice.
“I will not be scapegoated, others must stop divisive patterns set before them by elders, and we must one day learn to put down the civil action tools that cause our own to in-fight in the name of helping others because our community deserves our full attention to the community crisis at hand,” Inda Karlsen said in a written response.
In a letter to the Old Spanish Days Committee, the La Casa de la Raza Board of Directors apologized for the misrepresentation, saying: “We regret that others are misrepresenting themselves by using our Mercado booth that sold our own special recipe of tortas de tri tip for decades, and even our classic red and white “World’s Famous” Fiesta sign.”
Born and raised in Santa Barbara, Inda Karlsen grew up in the foster care system and jumped around to different homes and families. She said she attended Dos Pueblos, San Marcos and Santa Barbara high schools as a result.
After she was emancipated from foster care and went on to Santa Barbara City College, she obtained her foster care license at 19 and took in “at-risk” youth, but said she couldn’t remember how many children she’s fostered.
Early on in her advocacy, Inda Karlsen worked with family resource centers to ensure facilities were meeting the needs of teenage parents in junior high and high school.
Looking toward the future, she said that Santa Barbara Unified should work collaboratively with agencies like the County Education Office in creating an AI policy.
“We can’t reinvent the wheel or try to make something up,” Inda Karlsen said.
In addition to working collaboratively with local organizations, Inda Karlsen said she sees an opportunity for the board to upgrade school facilities and supports putting a bond on the ballot to pay for it.
Upgrading facilities, for Inda Karlsen, also addresses the district’s $5.4 million budget deficit and declining enrollment.
“Facilities have a large cost associated with them,” Inda Karlsen said. “They can be better resourced if we evaluated our enrollment rates and evaluated the spaces in which we’re providing education.”
Overall, Inda Karlsen said she sees improving facilities as one of many opportunities to take as a school board member, along with fostering collaboration with local organizations.
“We have many opportunities right now that could continue to stay vacant as opportunities,” Inda Karlsen said. “Or I could jump into the space to be reflective upon the community that I’m uplifting.”
