Healing Justice Santa Barbara - HJSB

Healing Justice Santa Barbara - HJSB Healing Justice Santa Barbara aspires to uplift all Black/African-Americans to affirm that they are deserving of safety, love, equity, respect, and joy.

Appreciation post! Shout out .hs_bsu for hosting their first mentorship fair last week. We know this takes hours of pla...
03/19/2026

Appreciation post!

Shout out .hs_bsu for hosting their first mentorship fair last week. We know this takes hours of planning and communication and we love yall taking the lead 🙌🏾

The Black Student Alliance stays on the move! Thanks to , Mr. Abel, and HJSB staff Faith and Jazmyn for supporting our ...
02/25/2026

The Black Student Alliance stays on the move! Thanks to , Mr. Abel, and HJSB staff Faith and Jazmyn for supporting our students to apply for scholarships and admission at the Historically Black Colleges and Universities Expo earlier this month. This is our 3rd year supporting students to connect with colleges built with Black hands, and we look forward to next year!

Our thanks to for including us and our Black history walking tour of Santa Barbara in their week of immersive learnin...
02/23/2026

Our thanks to for including us and our Black history walking tour of Santa Barbara in their week of immersive learning. And love to our tour guide and staff and Faith! 💕

As a reminder we became community archivists and historians as a way to prevent and slow gentrification and push out of Black folks from the central coast. We remind people of this every tour because we see the same strategies being used to push out and displace our Latinx and indigenous kin.

Natural disasters, the construction of freeways, restrictive covenants and violence were all used to push the Black community into smaller and smaller spaces until what was once the Haley Corridor, a thriving black district, was dismantled.

There are so many parallels to what we see happening now in the west side.

Our continued thanks to generous funders like the and McCune for understand that sharing and uplifting these histories, especially with our youth, and making strategies for resistance is social change 🙌🏾

we have given 4 tours this month! If your group is interested in book tap the link in our bio ✨✨

Last week our co Executive Director Leticia, and BSA coordinator and outreach staff Jazmyn and Faith accepted the Black ...
02/20/2026

Last week our co Executive Director Leticia, and BSA coordinator and outreach staff Jazmyn and Faith accepted the Black History Month proclamation from the City of Santa Barbara.

We are reminded daily that there is still much to be done to support Black life in Santa Barbara including accessible and affordable housing, meaningful wages, support for undocumented Black folks and increased culturally responsive curriculum in our schools.

We are committed to working on the goals year after year.

The work continues 🙌🏾

See yall this weekend!
02/20/2026

See yall this weekend!

Event reminder! Join us this weekend Saturday at 4pm the east side library for a book celebration with local illustrator...
02/19/2026

Event reminder! Join us this weekend Saturday at 4pm the east side library for a book celebration with local illustrator .iman_

Children, families and elders are always welcomed! 💕

Swipe for some photos of us excited to see our book out on display 📚📚

Thanks again to for helping us make this history accessible

Sippin on Dune’s Black history month blend all month long. On sale now, you can purchase the Black is Beautiful blend at...
02/10/2026

Sippin on Dune’s Black history month blend all month long. On sale now, you can purchase the Black is Beautiful blend at . A portion of proceeds go to support our urgent work in Santa Barbara!

And thanks to for the model nails 💅🏾💅🏾

Our book baby is on display! As community organizers turned community archivists, we wanted our book to be accessible be...
01/15/2026

Our book baby is on display! As community organizers turned community archivists, we wanted our book to be accessible because this is everyone’s knowledge and we are all better when we can look to one another and affirm the histories and futures of Black folks…. Especially in a time when histories are being erased to create space for further displacement and harm

We are so proud to share that you now find our book at the following local shops, libraries museums
📍Santa Barbara Public Library
📍Santa Barbara Historical Museum
📍Santa Barbara Trust for Historic Preservation
📍Chaucer’s (coming soon!)

And as always thanks to
Reyna for illustrating
Dr. Michelle Petty for editing
Ana for translating
Frank for the map visual
Leticia, Jazmyn for project management and glossary
Kryslte and all former staff for years of research
The City of SB and UCSB Special Archives
Ms Sojourner for loving us
And Simone for writing

It’s a whole Black illustrator yall! Join us this weekend as we celebrate MLK with a community book signing with Black i...
01/15/2026

It’s a whole Black illustrator yall! Join us this weekend as we celebrate MLK with a community book signing with Black illustrator and creative .iman_ at United Methodist Church in Isla Vista

Continuing to tell the truth in public is just one of the many ways we honor Kings legacy locally. 🙌🏾

She will be available to sign books beginning at 1pm 🎨🎨🎨

Say hey our newly certified Teen Mental Health First Aid crew. If we say we about community than that means staying read...
01/15/2026

Say hey our newly certified Teen Mental Health First Aid crew. If we say we about community than that means staying ready and willing to support each other. Ubuntu, I am because you are

Our thanks to for facilitating this training, and our partners McCune Foundation and

We can't say thank you enough to everyone who supported our 2nd annual Black is Beautiful Gala, and truly made the eveni...
11/22/2025

We can't say thank you enough to everyone who supported our 2nd annual Black is Beautiful Gala, and truly made the evening feel like a love letter to the Black community.

In a year marked by so much uncertainty and fear, coming together in a space rooted in joy, unity, and cultural pride felt especially meaningful. The evening reminded us of the power we hold when we gather to celebrate, to honor our legacies, and to nurture a future where Black lives are valued, protected, and able to thrive.

The night was filled with so much joy, from performances by P Money Experience Dancers , and Lunch Break Band, to our magnetic and hilarious host Vivian Storm , and the powerful keynote from . We honored our Black Legacy Awardees, including Isaac “Ike” Jenkins (In Memoriam), Ms. Wendy Sims-Moten, and Ms. Christine Simms. We also celebrated our student youth scholarship recipients and debuted our children’s book We Were Here, We Are Here.

The love in the room was real and overflowing, ya'll! 🙌🏾 😭 🌹 Thank you, thank you, and stay tuned as we share more recaps from this year's Black is Beautiful Gala.

Our children's book is here, ya'll! 📚✨We Were Here, We Are Here: A Living History of Black Santa Barbara is now availabl...
11/19/2025

Our children's book is here, ya'll! 📚✨We Were Here, We Are Here: A Living History of Black Santa Barbara is now available to the public for purchase.

First shared at the Black Is Beautiful Gala, this book brings Santa Barbara’s Black history to life through the voice of our beloved ancestor and poet laureate Sojourner Kincaid Rolle. Readers follow Mrs. Sojourner and local youth as they explore community stories, ancestral roots, and living history.

Get your copy today through Barnes & Noble bit.ly/WeWereHere-WeAreHere-BN or Amazon amazon.com/dp/B0FVTJ4HY1
———
Written by Simone Akila-Ruskamp
Illustrated by Reyna “Iman” Harris
Edited by Dr. Michelle Petty, Leticia Resch, and Jazmyn Heggins

With Special thanks to Sojourner and Rod Rolle, the City of Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara Historical Museum, University of California, Santa Barbara Special Collections, Black Gold Cooperative Library System, Los Angeles Herald, Page & Trumbull, Nicole Hernandez, Frank Rodriguez, Krystle Farmer Sieghart, and HJSB staff past and present.

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P. O. Box 8628
Goleta, CA
93118

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