SAN MARCO CITY COUNCIL CANDIDATES
Barbara Escobar focuses on her local roots and her community engagement as key qualifications in her run for city council. Born and raised in San Marcos, and a proud graduate of SMHS, she has been a member of area organizations devoted to providing supplies for students and services to residents of all ages.
“I love what I do. I love my community. I love San Marcos. And I’m not going anywhere. So I hear everybody and I see what’s going on,” she said.
Escobar has remained in this area her entire life and built relationships through the Bay Area Fellowship church as well as through community service and education programs. Her father was born in Martindale, her mother was born in San Marcos. Escobar married in 2016, and has three children, ages 26, 18 and 14. Student-focused outreach programs have played a key role in her life since her children were young.
When Escobar became a member of Head to Toe – a San Marcos nonprofit which provides school supplies, food and clothing to local families – the organization was filling backpacks for about 25 elementary school students, she said. After she joined, Head to Toe partnered with parent liaisons at SMCISD schools to expand the program, and this year provided supplies to more than 450 children.
“Now we give them their clothing, their hygiene items, toothbrush, deodorant, toothbrush, soap, toothpaste. They get haircuts. They get Bibles. They get all their school supplies, not some, all.”
After working with parent liaisons through Head to Toe, Escobar became one herself at Rodriguez Elementary School, where she helped to start a Big Brother Big Sister program pairing students with athletes from Texas State University. She also began a field trip incentive program for students with perfect attendance, a parent/family engagement night and helped to establish the Rodriguez Elementary Friday Heart Cart program, with local businesses providing treats and snacks for teachers and staff.
Affordable housing is one of the primary talking points of her campaign. She currently works as Resident Service Coordinator with the San Marcos Housing Authority, but she lived there with her mother when she was in first grade.
“It’s just a full cycle to be able to give back and know where everyone’s coming from. We all know about affordable housing. We’ve got to figure out how to make it work for all our locals, for our elderly, for the Texas State students, and for our single parents, whatever the situation is.”
In her job the SMHA, Escobar helps residents to access assistance for utilities, food banks and rent payments.
“I plug them in where they need help,” she said.
She also runs the afterschool program at SMHA, where she has invited Hays County Justice of the Peace Maggie Moreno, as well as Deputy Mark Andrews of the Hays County Sheriff ’s Office, to speak to the kids.
“I wanted the kids to know that law enforcement are friends, not foes. It was very important to me because I heard some kids talking about ICE, ‘my mom said I can’t go to school because of ICE,’ and that just breaks my heart.”
Escobar stresses that the relationships she has already created in the community would be an asset in her role as a city council member.
“I think if we were to all get together, the county, the city, the San Marco CISD school board and Texas State, and we all communicated, I think we would be doing really, really well.”
