Climate Jobs Institute Hosts Panel at 2025 SOMOS Puerto Rico Conference
On Thursday, November 6th, the Climate Jobs Institute (CJI) co-hosted a panel discussion on its 2025 report “Key Interventions: How We Can Still Achieve Our Climate, Jobs, and Equity Mandates” at the 2025 SOMOS INC Puerto Rico Conference. The discussion, involving a wide range of stakeholders, took place at the Caribe Hilton and focused on state-led policy actions to improve energy affordability and create high-quality union jobs.
Senator Jessica Ramos sponsored this panel. Along with CJI members, Dr. Lara Skinner, Zach Cunningham, and Lynda Nguyen, the panelists included:
- New York State Labor Commissioner Roberta Reardon
- New York State Senator Jessica Ramos
- Santos Rodriguez, Chief of Staff of the Building & Construction Trades Council of Greater New York (Building Trades)
- Julie Tighe, Executive Director of the New York League of Conservation Voters
This is the third straight year CJI has presented at the SOMOS Puerto Rico conference. SOMOS is a twice-annual conference organized by members of the New York State Assembly Puerto Rican/Hispanic Task Force that aims to raise awareness of issues affecting the state’s Puerto Rican and Latino communities. The organizers host one convening in Albany, New York, and another in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The convening brought together nearly 2,000 New York-based legislators, labor leaders, business leaders, community organizers, and philanthropists. This year’s conference theme was “El Momento es Nuestro: Rise, Build, Reimagine.”
CJI representatives included Executive Director, Dr. Lara Skinner; Assistant Director for Labor Education, Zach Cunningham; Assistant Director of Labor Outreach and Workforce Equity, Melissa Shetler; Assistant Director of Research, Avalon Hoek Spaans; and team members Daniel Castro and Lynda Nguyen.
