Jesus Benavides is a Regional Coordinator for the new California Climate Action Corps program. He joins us from the South Los Angeles Transit Empowerment Zone (SLATE-Z) where he served as a partnership coordinator. He managed the SLATE-Z partnership consisting of 72 public, private, and community-based organizations dedicated to revitalizing South Los Angeles. He also led and planned a series of virtual community engagement meetings focused on empowering the South LA community to confront environmental racism, disinvestment, and inequities through the creation of a community plan that addresses the various contributors to and impacts of climate change.
He was born and raised in South Los Angeles. In addition, he is a first-generation graduate from the University of California, Riverside. While in school he was a Judicial Intern for the Riverside Superior Court, a Congressional Intern for Pete Aguilar, and Ronald Loveridge Fellow for the Institute for Local Government. Jesus also served as a past CivicSpark Climate Fellow (18-19), helping to incorporate equity into the Clean Power Alliance’s local strategic planning. His mission is to help frontline communities like his own of South LA achieve environmental and racial justice.