Tannya Benavides

Tannya Benavides (she/her) was born and raised in the frontera of South Texas. Having attended Laredo public schools, Tannya earned a B.A. in Political Science from Texas State University and an M.S. Ed. from Johns Hopkins University. As an educator, Tannya helped attain policy wins at the NYC DOE and Houston ISD. Tannya co-founded and led the grassroots coalition Organizing For Equity NY and was a member of ONE Houston. In 2020, Tannya moved home to Laredo and joined the No Border Wall Coalition to help in the fight against the U.S./Mexico border wall. Their efforts culminated with the cancellation of federal contracts worth over $1 billion and 71 miles of wall in 2021. Prior to joining Local Progress as their Texas Chapter Manager, Tannya was the Advocacy Director at Commission Shift, a statewide nonprofit based in Laredo, fighting for environmental reforms in the oil & gas industry of Texas.