Biography
Jasmin Tobar was born and raised in Los Angeles, CA to Salvadoran immigrant parents. By growing up in an immigrant community, Jasmin learned at a young age how to advocate for immigration justice; as she learned how many of the families in her neighborhood fled the US-backed civil wars of Central America. Learning about her family's fight for liberation inspired her to become a community organizer. Jasmin has been a part of grassroots movements since the 2006 immigration mobilization when she was a senior in high school. Jasmin has a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology with an emphasis in Global Studies and Human Rights from mount St. Mary's University in Los Angeles. She received her Masters of Science in Social Work at Columbia University, School of Social Work.
During her time in New York City, she worked at the Roberto Clemente Family Guidance Center where she worked as a psychotherapist intern with recently arrived immigrant families and youth experiencing the trauma of migration, intergenerational trauma, and collective trauma. Jasmin's research focuses on historical memory, oral history traditions and healing in the Central American community. She is the co-founder of the Central American Healing Collective which aims to bring forth healing through ancestral practices, narrative approaches, historical memory, oral histories, and clinical-therapeutic methods. She also currently works for the Salvadoran-American Leadership and Educational Fund and organizes around immigration justice, education policy, and works with unaccompanied minors and their families.