Swearer Center for Public Service

• Masters in Art Education, Miami University-Ohio (2008)
• B.A. Spanish, with a focus on youth studies, University of Minnesota (2004)

Aleida Benitez serves as the Manager for Community Partnership for the Swearer Center at Brown University. In this role, she is responsible for the management, coordination, and development of reciprocal community partnerships and program engagements. She works with community-based partner organizations to access and leverage resources of the institutions to advance their organization’s mission and work. These may include the Bonner Community Fellowship, Off-Campus Federal Work-Study, the Engaged Scholarship Certificate, and SPRINT- iProv.

Aleida is originally from El Salvador and studied Spanish and youth development at the University of Minnesota. She became committed to campus-community partnership as a student working at a project called the Jane Addams School for Democracy in St. Paul Minnesota. She then got her masters in community-based art education from Miami University-Ohio and worked for many years at Providence CityArts for Youth. At CityArts, Aleida saw the power art has in building resilient communities, engaging and empowering young people to be active members in their community. Aleida has taught Spanish at Gordon School and is an instructional faculty at College Unbound, where she teaches courses on leadership studies and being latinx in our community. Aleida is a proud long-term resident of the Elmhurst/Mt. Pleasant neighborhood in Providence, where she lives with her family. On the weekends you can find her shopping at the farmers market, going to yoga class, walking her dogs and watching or playing soccer.