Candidate for
Member, Board of Education; Long Beach Unified School District; District 3

Dr. Juan M. Benitez is a father, educator, and community leader dedicated to Long Beach. He serves as the Executive Director for the Center for Community Engagement (CCE) and as an Associate Professor of History at California State University, Long Beach (CSULB).

As Executive Director of the CCE, Juan heads university-wide community engagement projects, programs, activities, and engagement initiatives. He has helped raise over $2 million in funding for projects in the Long Beach area, working with over 100 nonprofit organizations and community groups, as well as thousands of students and community members.

Through his work with the CCE, Juan proudly helped implement the California Endowment's Building Healthy Communities campaign in Long Beach, a 10-year effort to improve neighborhood conditions that contribute to good health. Juan also worked with AmeriCorps and other community groups to create a collaborative vision of youth development, parent engagement, the achievement and opportunity gaps, and school discipline issues in Long Beach schools.

Juan also sits on the Board of Directors for the Long Beach Nonprofit Partnership, a vital and growing resource for over 3,000 community-based organizations in the Long Beach area. He serves on several committees including the Committee for Community Collaboration, which hosted an annual Long Beach Community Issues Forum that brought thousands of students, educators, and community members together to engage in dialogue and develop proactive strategies to address key issues in areas such as "A-G" completion rates, community health, homelessness, and race and racism.

A product of public schools, Juan earned his Bachelor's, Master's, and Doctorate Degrees from the University of California, Los Angeles. He is the proud and dedicated parent of a daughter who will be starting school in a few years.