Candidate Profile: Shebreh Kalantari-Johnson For County Supervisor

SANTA CRUZ, CA —Shebreh Kalantari-Johnson is one of three candidates running for Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors District 3 in the June 7 primary.

District 3 stretches from 7th Avenue in Live Oak through the City of Santa Cruz and up the North Coast.

Kalantari-Johnson is running against Ami Chen Mills and Justin Cummings.

Patch asked candidates to answer questions about their campaigns. Below are Kalantari-Johnson's responses.

Age (as of Election Day)

44

Party Affiliation

Democrat

Family

Brian Johnson: Husband of 16 years
Darioush Johnson: 14 year old son
Shyon Johnson: 12 year old son

Does anyone in your family work in politics or government?

No

Education

I have a Bachelor’s in Psychology and French from University of California, Santa Cruz and a Master’s in Social Work from San Jose State, with an emphasis on public policy and mental health.

Occupation

For the last two decades I have dedicated my work to building strong, healthy and safe communities. My role has ranged and included direct service provider, community organizer, grant writer, project manager, and facilitator in the fields of public health, education and social services.

I currently provide grant writing and project management services through my consulting business (for the last 11 years) and I provide leadership capacity building and organizational development through social enterprise that I co-founded called Impact Launch (for the last 5 years).

Previous or Current Elected or Appointed Office

I have served on the Santa Cruz City Council since December 2020.

Campaign website

shebreh.org

Why are you seeking elective office?

Having immigrated from Iran as a child in 1985, my family’s story includes experiences with gender, class, and religious injustices. My life experience as an Iranian immigrant has shaped my values of community, compassion and hard work. These values have set me on my path of investing in our community’s health. I’ve done this through my nonprofit and public sector work successfully over the last 20 years.

My life experiences, professional work, and time on the Santa Cruz City Council have taught me the importance of community and service. They have taught me that progress is accomplished through caring deeply, listening, building consensus, and being in action. I will bring to the job my professional experience, my understanding of county government and my commitment to develop practical solutions to address our challenges.

As a public health and social services professional, I know first-hand how important it is for local governments to provide leadership and resources to address our most serious challenges and work together towards community well-being.

The work includes a focus on critical issues such as affordable housing , dismantling systems that perpetuate racial inequities, wildfire preparedness and recovery, economic recovery for small businesses and their employees, and more. This is work I have experience with, am passionate about and ready to take to scale.

Serving on the Board of Supervisors will enable me to make the most impact towards community well-being for the greatest number of people in our community.

What are the critical differences between you and the other candidates seeking this post?

My extensive public health background and work in this community is one of the things that sets me apart from the other candidates. I have worked in this community for over two decades addressing the very issues that the Board of Supervisors are tasked to address, such as homelessness, behavioral health and healthcare, criminal justice system and more.

My opponents do not have the applied experience and long time relationships that I can bring to the job from day one. Over the past two decades I have worked with every jurisdiction, including the County Board of Supervisors to develop policies that decrease access to harmful substances to youth (i.e. alcohol, cannabis, pharmaceuticals) and increase healthy options to address the growing public health challenge of childhood obesity.

Additionally I worked with most of the County departments in my grant writing and policy efforts. You cannot be an effective County Supervisor if you do not understand the flow of state and federal money into the social services and environmental services supported by the County. I know how the flow of money works and I can develop resources and policies that help our residents. This also applies to our environmental goals including carbon reduction, reducing plastic waste, and maintaining our county beaches, parks and open spaces.

I support the $0.25 fee on plastic cups and want to see this funding help restore our parks and keep our beaches clean. I have met with Cal Fire about the challenges my district residents faced in the CZU Complex fire and I will work with our state and local electeds to remedy the basic systems that did not work including response across agencies and providing appropriate emergency communications.

That will take County, state and federal coordination. I will do that work. I have been recently endorsed by Jim Hart in recognition of the abilities I will bring to this position. I have recently also been endorsed by the two former Human Services Directors Cecelia Espinola and Ellen Timberlake as well as the former Health Services Director Mimi Hall (who led our county public health efforts during COVID).

These endorsements demonstrate my expertise in the areas that affect our residents and families everyday. My personal life experience as an immigrant from Iran and a mom bring a unique lens to the Board of Supervisors. We have not had a female Supervisor in a decade. I would bring this essential voice, along with my city council experience and my years in the public health field to the table.

If you are a challenger, in what way has the current board or officeholder failed the community (or district or constituency?)

Ryan Coonerty has provided Santa Cruz County with strong leadership and dedicated public service during his time on the Board. I am honored to receive his support and wholehearted endorsement.

Supervisor Coonerty has done a tremendous amount for our community. He has pushed forth policies that invest in our children and families including Thrive by Three and Nurse Family Partnership. I hope to continue his legacy by focusing on issues that impact our children and families.

This is something I have done successfully on the Santa Cruz City Council through the Children’s Fund and the Children and Youth Bill of Rights; as well as my work in the community on youth substance use prevention, youth homelessness; juvenile justice reform, childcare, childhood obesity and more).

Supervisor Coonerty has a different set of skills, expertise and life experience that he brings to the table than I have. I am an immigrant, a woman of color, and someone with a public health and social services background.

This is a perspective and lens that has been missing from the Board of Supervisors. I have over 20 years in the field in our community that has connected me to a diverse array of sectors and stakeholders in our county. This is evident in my robust and diverse endorsement list (which can be found at shebreh.org/endorsements). I have been successful at forging partnerships and ‘reaching across the aisle’ to build consensus and move towards pragmatic and compassionate solutions

When Supervisor Coonerty announced that he would not run for another term, he made clear that there was a void in a women’s voice on the Board of Supervisors. In fact, if elected, I would be the first Iranian American women elected to the Board of Supervisors in the State of California and the first woman on our Board in a decade.

I have very big shoes to fill! But I have life and work experiences, and the heart and drive to meet the challenge.

Describe the other issues that define your campaign platform

Santa Cruz county is brimming with beauty, opportunity and compassion. But too much of it is threatened, inaccessible or riddled with conflict. This is why I’ve decided to run for Third District Supervisor. I understand that the issues our County is facing are complex, nuanced and require strong leadership. Some of my priorities are listed below.

Homelessness and Behavioral Health. As someone who worked in San Francisco’s Tenderloin and with youth and young adults with lived experience in our community, I understand the complexities of homelessness. Most recently, as a city councilmember, I worked on policies that set parameters on time, place and manner for encampments and oversized vehicles while successfully advocating for services such as safe sleeping, transitional shelter, and safe parking. I will bring this same commitment to creative approaches as your voice on the County Board of Supervisors.

I believe that the County should take the lead on solving our homeless problem; the cities have neither the resources nor the proper jurisdiction to address the complexities involved in addressing the needs of the unhoused.

There is no one easy solution. It will take partnering across our jurisdictions, aligning the focus of city and county departments and leveraging all available resources. Our approach will have to be nuanced and holistic. We must simultaneously address the crisis of street homelessness while working upstream to prevent homelessness and increase housing options.

Housing. Housing is a public health and social equity issue. I have supported housing projects that increase our housing stock, maintain the integrity of our community, and improve our downtown. Our county policies and processes are outdated and need to be improved and streamlined. I will focus on policies and programs that increase the housing stock without impacting the quality of life or the natural environment and improve our internal systems to allow for expediency of rebuilding for those who have been impacted by the fires.

Emergency Preparedness & Recovery. The CZU fire devastated parts of our county. It is not a stand-alone event. With the growing impacts of climate change combined with population issues, we need to be prepared with quick response and supportive recovery. We also need our communities to be prepared. I will work with our emergency response professionals to identify areas of vulnerability and concern.

I will support community members impacted by the CZU Lighting Complex fire and fight to remove barriers to rebuilding and make sure we are setting up the infrastructure to prepare for future events. For our fire danger, this includes actions such as fuel mitigation, more reliable roads, more sources of power and water, and more accessible first responders.

Economic Vitality & Recovery. One of the things I hear from across all sectors is the challenges of retaining a reliable workforce. This is of course impacting all of our industries. There are multiple ways to address including:

Building up our workforce with systems partners, through apprenticeships and workforce training initiatives (I have grant experience in bringing these resources into our community);
Targeting economic development of inclusive businesses within high-opportunity industries;

Increasing access to financial services and supports for prospective first-time business owners who are from BIPOC communities; and
Removing administrative barriers for starting local businesses.

Additionally, we can think holistically to address external factors and alleviate stressors that impact workers' lives. This includes food security, low cost or subsidized childcare, accessible after school programs and more.

What accomplishments in your past would you cite as evidence you can handle this job?

I have forged cross-sector partnership to bring forth policies, resources and programming to address some of the most complex issues in our community. Some of my work accomplishments include:
-Secured over $30 millions in grant funding over the last 15 years for Santa Cruz to address mental health and substance use, and youth homelessness. These dollars translate to increased treatment options; increased housing and work options to help youth get off the streets; and less chronic disease.
-One of these grants was a highly competitive Housing and Urban Development Federal Grant-Youth Homeless Demonstration Project (YHDP). The purpose of this grant is to address the needs of youth and young adults experiencing homelessness. Santa Cruz -County was one in ten across the nation for Cohort 1 to be awarded the grant. Our community will receive over $1million in perpetuity to specifically address the needs of unhoused youth and young adults, who made up nearly 30% of our last homeless census count.
-Led strategic plans for early childcare and education, youth homelessness, and substance use prevention.
-Co-founded Impact Launch, a social enterprise focused on collaborative and leadership capacity building, project design, and strategic planning.
-Co-led a County emergency response team to support young adults experiencing homelessness secure a safe space to shelter in place.
I have served on the Santa Cruz City Council since December 2020. Some highlights of my work over the last year and a half on council include working with my colleagues to:
-Address our challenges around homelessness through a comprehensive homeless response plan
-Support housing projects and downtown improvements
-Invest in our youth through the Children’s Fund and Children & Youth Bill of Rights;
-Pass an actionable racial equity resolution

The best advice ever shared with me was:

Stay grounded in my core values of courage, compassion and integrity and do my work based on these values.

What else would you like voters to know about yourself and your positions?

I have been running a strong campaign since making the decision to turn late last Spring. My endorsements are the most robust and diverse among the candidates for this race.

Our current District 3 Supervisor Ryan Coonerty has endorsed me, stating “Shebreh Kalantari-Johnson is an excellent policymaker community leader and mom. She has all the knowledge, skills and the right values to represent our community. She has my complete and total support to succeed me on the Board of Supervisors."

I have also received the support of his predecessor Neal Coonerty and many other elected officials-including the only candidate with at least one elected official endorsement from each of the four cities in our county.

As mentioned earlier, I have also received the endorsement of many of our former County Department leaders such as former Health Services Director Mimi Hall. I also have the strongest education and health sector endorsements that include Superintendents, school board members and CEO’s of our federally qualified health clinics. For a full list of endorsements, please visit shebreh.org.

In addition to my strong endorsement, I have started early with my field campaign and have been knocking on doors since February. The issues that your average community member cares about are issues that I have actively been working on through my professional career as well as on the city council. This includes accountable measures around homelessness, making sure our neighborhoods are safe for our children, ensuring prosocial activities for our teens, and maintaining a healthy community overall.

Finally, I am a mom of two-Darioush Johnson (14) and Shyon Johnson (12) and married to my husband Brian Johnson. My boys give me insight into this community that I wouldn’t otherwise have.

I’ve learned so much about the health and safety needs of our community through volunteering at their schools, being engaged in their sports, and being a mom in this community. It is important not just for my boys and but so many families that I talk to, to ensure that the decisions we make at the City and Supervisor level create healthy and safe communities.

It is these everyday stories and experiences that inspire me to do my work and to serve. I have the experience, the drive and stamina to do this work and serve as the District 3 County Supervisor.

Follow this link for Patch's Santa Cruz Voter Guide.

Check out the full CalMatters 2022 Voter Guide here.