The Sacramento Bee’s Latino Change Makers: Meet the Top 20 pioneers transforming the community
Sacramento City Councilmember Karina Talamantes has no problem telling you that she was a WIC baby and a Head Start preschooler or that federal grants helped to fund the nonprofit that allowed her parents to become homeowners.
No one could have known that Talamantes, who turns 36 Sunday, would have what it took to become an elected leader in California’s capital, voting on issues that affect more than half a million people.
Yet, she said, leaders from generations past put in place a framework that ensured she would get the right nutrition through the Women, Infants and Children program, that her brain would get the early stimulation it needed for future academic success and that her working-class parents could put in sweat equity to get an affordable home through the Community Housing Improvement Program.
Talamantes now represents 67,000-plus residents in Natomas, Gardenland and Northgate, she said, but she’s cognizant that her vote will affect all of the city’s residents and takes that into account as she’s considering each decision.
Since her election in 2022, Talamantes has helped court Costco and Top Golf to locate facilities in District 3. But her proudest moment as a public servant came during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, when she was working as chief of staff for former Councilmember Angelique Ashby.
“When the vaccination became available and county health gave us the blessing, Natomas Unified School District and our office and the city, we set up a clinic in like four days or three days,” Talamantes said. “We had to figure out how to sign people up and make sure that people who most needed it and didn’t have access to technology could do it. We set up a hotline. We vaccinated more than 30,000 people.”
Talamantes also has experience in the business world, helping to run two small family-owned businesses and working as a corporate recruiter for two staffing agencies. Before working in city government, she served four years on the board of trustees for the Sacramento County Office of Education.
