Immigration and child advocate and business owner, Jacqueline Inda, has filed to run for the Santa Barbara Unified School Board.
She is running against Mark Philibosian, a financial analyst, in Trustee Area 1.
Inda said she is running “to uplift the voices of those who have felt disenfranchised by federal changes.”
The current person in the seat, Gabe Escobedo, is running for Santa Barbara City Council.
Inda has been involved with a variety of nonprofits and political groups in Santa Barbara and previously ran for school board in 2008 and City Council in 2015.
She has been an outspoken voice on a number of issues in the community, including immigration raids, the fate of the La Casa de la Raza building, gun violence and district elections. She was a plaintiff in a lawsuit that forced the city to conduct district elections instead of at-large elections.
“I am running because our schools need to move beyond the COVID-era practices that were created out of necessity but have left us working in silos,” Inda said. “I have the institutional knowledge to rebuild relationships between our neighboring Councils and our feeder school districts; creating stronger partnerships that are responsive to the needs that our children and families face today.”
She currently oversees two immigrants’ rights organizations out of the historic La Casa de la Raza building. Previously, she’s sat on the board of directors of the Santa Barbara Women’s Political Committee. As a businessowner—Inda was part of the team that opened the now-closed Cafe La Fonda in 2023—she is the co-founder of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and President of the Hispanic Chamber Foundation.
A Santa Barbara native, Inda attended Santa Barbara High School and Santa Barbara City College. She has foster children at Adelante Charter School at Cleveland Elementary School.
Christian Alonso, chair of the Santa Barbara Democratic Party, said the organization is still considering its endorsement for Inda.
