Black History Month 2024: Jordan Killebrew

Celebrating week three of Black History Month I met with Jordan Killebrew at his Santa Barbara City College office. He is the Executive Director (VP), Public Affairs & Communications for SBCC and has his own Graphics company, JK Graphic Solutions. His current volunteer work includes Founder of Project IV Love and Co-Founder & Executive Director of Juneteenth Santa Barbara since April 2018. He has served on several nonprofit boards from The Fund for Santa Barbara, Endowment for Youth Community, and Pacific Pride Festival Committee. He holds a B.A. with honors in Art from UCSB and graduated in 2017 from the Leading from Within, Emerging Leaders Program. 

Q. What are the top Black art, music and cultural contributions you are celebrating? 

A. African Americans have a strong history of cultural achievements and happenings that majorly contribute to the local economy and region. I think of how the contributions of Sojourner Kincaid Rolle, among other past elders, Horace McMillan, Anita Mackey, Valencia Nelson, Babatunde Folayemi, William Downey, Grover C. Barnes, and Shirley Kennedy – who all are artists in their fields – have forged pathways that allow our current generations to be successful. I celebrate them every day as they celebrate and champion the ideas of me and my contemporaries. 

Personally, I am still processing the loss of Sojourner. She was a huge mentor, friend, and like a mother figure to me. I am working with local organizations on ways to celebrate her. I know Healing Justice Santa Barbara will honor her at the sold-out Black is Beautiful Gala and Fundraiser naming the Sojourner Kincaid Rolle Youth Artivism Scholarship! I am inquiring with Santa Barbara County Arts Commission to identify a location to have a mural created and dedicated to Sojourner. It is so important to me, as she has paved the way for so many people and gave so much of herself to our region. I am interested in continued ways to preserve her legacy and inspire people to have the kind, honest, and loving heart she had. 

Where can people find Black arts, music and culture in the Santa Barbara area? 

The culture is being in community. I am grateful for organizations like Healing Justice Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara Black Culture House, NAACP – Santa Maria and Lompoc, Gateway Educational Services, among others, for organizing significant events this month and year-round. 

I am a co-founder of Juneteenth Santa Barbara. Along with my fellow co-founders, Chiany Dri and Simone Ruskamp, we meet monthly with community members to understand needs and challenges. One outcome was a public community calendar as a resource that lists all events – anyone can add an event. It is updated weekly, as Black History is more than just a month. 

Beyond events and music, being in community, to me, means intentional relationships. It means loving, understanding, and building relationships with community members, especially Black community members living here right now, here in the present, in this community. 

What are SBCC’s programs for Black History Month?

SBCC has different events to support our students, with huge thanks to Lelia Richardson who is the Program Advisor that oversees our UMOJA Space. We call it Black Futures Month on campus, where we look to the future, educating the community on Black contributions and support. Last month the SBCC Board of Trustees also passed a resolution honoring Black History Month. 

What do you think is SBCC’s biggest challenge?

My job is Executive Director of Public Affairs and Communications, I’m six months in and I have received such a warm welcome and I want to take SBCC to the next level. SBCC has had years of inconsistent leadership, among other events that heavily impacted the school, including closing during COVID-19 – so we are rebuilding SBCC and I cannot thank the faculty and staff enough who have lived through these years and for their continued work. I’m very excited working with this team. 

We are fortunate enough to have Erika Endrijonas return to campus, as she is now serving as Superintendent/President. She is not going anywhere and is already bringing much-needed stability to campus. Our goal is to engage more deeply with community, and we ask the community to check out MySBCC.org if you are looking to take a course and follow your dreams. Or if you are an alumnus of SBCC, please sign up for our Alumni newsletter and events at SBCC Alumni Connect! 

What are your focus points for 2024?

I am so grateful be at SBCC. To me community colleges are where dreams become tangible realities. I am also grateful to be in this role to focus on internal and external communications. And for the community, I want to remind them that we are a resource for everyone – whatever you are interested in, check our website. That includes being a venue for community events! 

What is the coolest aspect of your SBCC and volunteer work?

Relationships. I love building intentional relationships. At SBCC it is with the students and my colleagues. In my volunteer work, I am fortunate to work with many diverse community members who inspire me to show up as my best self. The touchpoints, stories, and communication, especially between different generations, create shared learning that benefits all of us. I also love being around creatives, hearing their dreams and their viewpoints of the world. 

What/who is your foundation for your ongoing success?

I am unsure why, but I have been fortunate to have people give me a lot of feedback – solicited and unsolicited, constructive and unconstructive – and I, at a young age, was mentored to take any feedback to evaluate and apply, if valuable. I was also educated in a way that, at a young age, networking is now constantly build relationships. One can call it healthy or unhealthy, but I have a knack for wanting to improve constantly and that includes myself. All to say, a lot has been poured into me throughout my life and I want to return the favor for my community. 

Advice for students and entrepreneurs?

Jane Fonda said it best in the first podcast episode of Wiser than Me by Julia Louis-Dreyfus. “It’s really, really hard to be young,” says Fonda. “I personally think that it’s important to let young people know that it’s not you, honey. It’s just really hard!” Fonda, in the podcast, talks about her life in three acts – the first is her trying different things, succeeding, failing; the second act is similar, but includes applying what you’ve learned along the way; and the final act is making sense of the first two. Hearing these wise words is helpful to put into perspective it takes time to find what YOU want to do with your life and try it – and give it your all. 

411: Juneteenth SB: http://juneteenthsb.org
Healing Justice SB: http://hjsb.org
SBCC Alumni Connect: www.sbccfoundation.org/alumni
MySBCC: http://mysbcc.org