Angela Benjamin was born and raised in historic Selma, Alabama, graduating from Selma High School in 1987.
She earned her BSW from Alabama State University (summa cum laude) and continued her education at the University of Alabama in the advanced standing graduate program, where she received her MSW. The University of Alabama hired her to assist the director with the Coco Cola First Generation Scholarship Program where 12 college students were assigned to her each year. Ms. Benjamin’s name is on two placards in the halls of the University’s School of Social Work. She is recognized at Alabama State University as Student of the Year and a member of Alpha Chi, where the top 10% of the entire university are represented. She served as an investor at the Department of Human Resources in the Child Abuse & Neglect (CAN) Unit while at ASU.
In 2008, Ms. Benjamin was installed to the office of Selma City Council, the same month that Barack Obama won as the first recognized Black president. As Councilwoman Benjamin, her first policy was to add a “Children & Families Committee” to the council which became local law, passing unanimously. That next year, she was elected President of the Office of Student Affairs of the National Association of Black Social Workers. Her next term, she was voted President Pro Tempore by her peers on the Selma City Council. Angela stopped running for office in 2020 to take the time create spaces to serve the community on multiple and higher levels.
She is currently the Programs Manager at Foot Soldiers Park & Education Center, where she also advises the National Youth Advisory Board concerning social justice and advocacy. Among her other professional contracted services that she offers to organizations and court affiliates as a master social worker, she is in a unique position to do something social workers find themselves doing all day—write. Ms. Benjamin is a correspondent for the Selma Sun Newspaper where her goal is to help ensure that community is positively represented in the media.
She is the president of the Coalition of Concerned Families, a 501(c) 3 nonprofit organization that is a first responder to disasters and that addresses social needs and injustices. She is the creator of the city’s annual Black Man Heal Symposium addressing holistic needs of African American men and boys, Jazz on the Grazz, keeping with her mantra ‘Bring back the arts,’ and the Annual Youth Conference, empowering teenagers and enhancing their individual and team leadership skills.
Among her many awards and accolades, Ms. Benjamin is the alumnus 2024 Game Changer at Alabama State University.
When asked what her favorite pastime is, she usually demonstrates by—dancing! When asked what kind of jobs a social work degree can land you, she usually responds, “Imagine it, and a social worker is probably already doing just that. The greatest social worker who ever lived goes by the name Jesus.”
Angela has four wonderful children and lots of grandchildren who she adores.