Diana Benitez
April 14, 2025
2025 Forty Under 40 winner
As the Senior Community Development Planner at Canal Alliance, Diana Benitez leads the “Nuestro Canal, Nuestro Futuro” initiative, which aims to create a unified vision for the Canal neighborhood of San Rafael, addressing challenges such as overcrowded housing and the impacts of rising sea levels.
Benitez holds a Bachelor of Arts in Urban Studies and Planning from California State University, Northridge and a Master’s in Urban and Regional Planning from UCLA.
One of her greatest professional accomplishments has been helping developers maximize greenhouse gas reductions for the Affordable Housing Sustainable Communities program, which funded 1,113 affordable housing units, including the 87-unit Maudelle Shirek Community in Berkeley.
When it comes to professional challenges, “The field of planning is traditionally top-down with limited community engagement and we’ve inherited land uses, zoning codes, and policies that were developed in a time when segregation and racism were a norm.” Benitez said. “This requires current planners to acknowledge this racist history, understand the generational impacts to the community, and work with these communities to create new policies to heal and create safe, healthy, and affordable places.”
That understanding may be why Benitez admires Dr. Monica Guerra, a planner with the U.S. Department of Transportation, because of her focus on equity and belonging in her work.
Benitez said the best advice a mentor gave her was “to put myself out there,” and apply for opportunities even if she wasn’t confident of her chances. This advice helped her apply for her current job, which she considers one of the best decisions she ever made.
Top goals this year include bringing a member of the Nuestro Canal, Nuestro Futuro Consejo to a statewide planning conference and becoming a Fulcrum Fellow with the Center for Community Investment.
When asked what she wanted to be when she grew up, Benitez answered, “As a child I wanted to be an architect. But at 17, a dilapidated apartment building next to my home collapsed while my neighbors were having dinner. The family fortunately survived, but more than 20 residents were left homeless. I subsequently learned that this building was one of 140 Los Angeles properties owned by a single slumlord, and from that day forward I was on a path to become a planner. The injustice drove me to take action.”
