Jan Campbell has been a champion for victims and survivors of domestic violence in Santa Barbara County in the three years that she has served as the executive director of Domestic Violence Solutions.

Campbell, striving to help residents visualize a life free of domestic violence, has had a hand at creating permanent housing for survivors, strengthening relationships among partner agencies, and creating and managing a multifaceted budget.

Campbell recently announced her retirement from the organization. She will step down as executive director at the end of this year.

“I’m leaving on such a high note. I grew tremendously as a person over these past three years and just realized how privileged I am. There are so many people who are suffering, and I am happy that I could help just a little bit,” Campbell told Noozhawk. “It just makes me really happy to give something back to people that are so vulnerable. I’ve learned a lot from my clients, believe me.”

Campbell joined Domestic Violence Solutions as executive director in 2018 with more than 20 years of experience in management, community engagement and fund development expertise in the nonprofit sector. 

Campbell has lived in Santa Barbara almost continuously since 1970, and has dipped her feet in a variety of roles and positions, she said. Campbell has worked for the Santa Barbara Police Department, the Page Youth Center and Heal the Ocean, and even published a newspaper for a few years, among other roles.

“I’ve done a variety of jobs, but I’ve always been very interested in community-based work. The landscape of the community is just really important to me,” she said.

Before joining Domestic Violence Solutions, Campbell served as the chief philanthropic officer for the Santa Barbara Foundation from 2009 to 2018, she said.

Campbell said she was thinking about retirement after leaving the Santa Barbara Foundation in 2018, but reconsidered when she heard the news that Domestic Violence Solutions’ former executive director would be leaving, she said.

“A friend of mine was on the board and asked if I knew anyone who could do the job,” she told Noozhawk. “And then I thought, ‘Hey, I think I can do the job.’ Everything that I have done in my work life really prepared me for being an executive director at an agency like Domestic Violence Solutions.”

The only responsibility of the executive director at Domestic Violence Solutions that Campbell hadn’t had experience with before was handling public funding and working with all of the government entities to get that funding, she said.

“That was really challenging because I had no idea how to do any of that; it’s one of those things that you just have to figure out,” she added.

Campbell’s time as executive director was a learning experience, and she had to “dig deep at times to not get overwhelmed,” she said.

Every day at Domestic Violence Solutions was different, and Campbell often found herself making decisions on the spot. She said the executive director role is similar to “being the president of a little company.”

“There’s a million different decisions that you have to make. How do we find housing, where do we keep people safe?” Campbell said. “Fortunately, the staff here are all just the best people I’ve ever worked with. I’m so grateful to have this experience and be surrounded by so many amazing people.”

As executive director, Campbell signs all the checks and approves the expenses, works closely with other departments to make a budget, makes sure that all of the expenses are justified and billable to the government, and works closely with the program staff who work one-on-one with clients, she said. She also oversees all the administrative work, fundraising and grant writing.

“It’s a big job,” she said.

Campbell said that one of her proudest accomplishments from her time at Domestic Violence Solutions was transitioning an apartment building in Santa Barbara’s Westside neighborhood from transitional housing to permanent housing for domestic violence survivors.

“We realized that our real estate footprint really wasn’t financially sustainable, and it hadn’t been for a while,” she said. “What we ended up doing was working with the Housing Authority to transition that transitional housing into permanent housing.

“We have people who have had so many success stories. They’ve got a job, got on their feet and have a permanent place to live in our apartment complex.”

Campbell said that achievement will be a permanent, lasting legacy of Domestic Violence Solutions.

“We’ve worked really hard to provide comfort and safety for people so they can visualize a life free of violence,” she said.

Other achievements made under Campbell’s tenure include improved relationships among partner agencies, social services and law enforcement, acquiring significant public funding for emergency services, housing and support for domestic violence clients, remodeling shelters to improve the safety and comfort of clients and staff, and establishing a job and life skills program to help clients obtain employment, education and financial information that is needed to achieve full independence.

While at Domestic Violence Solutions, Campbell was chosen as the Junior League of Santa Barbara’s 2020 Woman of the Year, showing how widely she was recognized for her efforts in philanthropy and community service.

After retiring, Campbell said that while she plans to stay involved in some of her other philanthropic work, she looked forward to “just chilling out.”

“I’m not going to do anything for three months! I’m going to spend some time with my friends and family, and I have an adorable Jack Russell terrier puppy that I want to spend more time with,” she said. “I’ve always been a worker, but I think I kind of left it all on the table here at Domestic Violence Solutions.”

— Noozhawk staff writer Jade Martinez-Pogue can be reached at jmartinez-pogue@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.