Benjamin Torres
Benjamin Torres is the President and CEO of the Community Development Technologies Center (CDTech), where he has led efforts to build economically viable and sustainable communities in low-income areas of Los Angeles since 2010. With over two decades of experience in community development, his work focuses on empowering marginalized residents through education, leadership training, civic engagement, and multiethnic coalition-building.
Mr. Torres also directs the Community Planning and Economic Development program at Los Angeles Trade-Technical College, preparing students to serve as agents of change in their communities. Under his leadership, CDTech has helped secure community benefits agreements, establish the CD-9 Coalition of over 25 stakeholder organizations, and launch the LA Community Organizing Academy—an institutional model for grassroots leadership development.
A Los Angeles native born to immigrant Mexican parents, Mr. Torres brings a powerful commitment to equity, social justice, and cross-racial solidarity in South Central LA. He currently serves on the boards of Strategic Concepts in Organizing and Policy Education (SCOPE), T.R.U.S.T. South LA, the For Chicana/o Studies Foundation, the LA County Public Health Equity Task Force, and is a former Commissioner for the City of Los Angeles Commission on Community and Family Service.
Mr. Torres also directs the Community Planning and Economic Development program at Los Angeles Trade-Technical College, preparing students to serve as agents of change in their communities. Under his leadership, CDTech has helped secure community benefits agreements, establish the CD-9 Coalition of over 25 stakeholder organizations, and launch the LA Community Organizing Academy—an institutional model for grassroots leadership development.
A Los Angeles native born to immigrant Mexican parents, Mr. Torres brings a powerful commitment to equity, social justice, and cross-racial solidarity in South Central LA. He currently serves on the boards of Strategic Concepts in Organizing and Policy Education (SCOPE), T.R.U.S.T. South LA, the For Chicana/o Studies Foundation, the LA County Public Health Equity Task Force, and is a former Commissioner for the City of Los Angeles Commission on Community and Family Service.
