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Karla Nelson

Biography

When Karla Nelson's father was diagnosed with lung cancer, she quit a lucrative consulting career to become his fulltime advocate in hospitals, rehabilitation facilities, and social service offices. It was a life-changing experience. "What initially seemed like an enormous personal sacrifice became a valuable learning experience. I saw a broken system with institutionalized inequality. There is nothing more basic to life than physical health and it became clear to me that health is related to an individual's socioeconomic status."

Karla thanks her father for opening her eyes. She entered in Southern Oregon University and earned degrees in human service and sociology, with a minor in psychology. She developed a passion for evaluating program frameworks and conducting participatory action research. By volunteering as a victim advocate, she received an inside look at the Oregon courts, the District Attorney's office, and the juvenile system. As an unpaid caregiver-advocate for two disabled adults, she learned how to negotiate around obstacles in human service programs.

In short, she saw how a strong advocate can help the disabled, the elderly, at-risk youth and others access "the system" and its services. She wants to help people negotiate their way through the maze - but also to help fix the system. With an advanced degree she hopes to work for "change in the way social service delivery systems are designed, managed, and evaluated."

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