About Benny

Benjamin Torres has focused his entire career on placing the tools of democracy directly in the hands of society’s most marginalized residents through education, training, engagement, and multi-racial, multi-ethnic, and multi-linguistic community building.

For the last 26 years, Benjamin Torres has worked to increase the social capital and economic opportunity of the South LA region’s Black/Brown neighborhoods through inclusive democratic and power-building action and the strategic utilization of highly effective public, private, nonprofit, and resident partnerships. He currently serves as the President and CEO of Community Development Technologies Center (CDTech), a 501(c)(3) focused on addressing racial equity and economic justice in low-income areas of Los Angeles.

Prior to joining CDTech, Benjamin served as the Vice President of the Working Democracy Division and Director of CDTech’s Community Planning program at Los Angeles Trade-Technical College (LATTC) where he developed programs in the area of community capacity building and leadership development and served as a technical assistant/trainer to their community outreach efforts with an emphasis on building grassroots African American and Latino leadership cadres.

Benjamin is committed to building leadership capacity in South Central Los Angeles as well as national organizations committed to progressive movement building. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of key organizations in South LA, as the President of the Community Investment for Families Commission for the City of Los Angeles, and on the Los Angeles County Public Health Equity Task Force Commission.