LINC at SOMOS 2025: Empowering Today’s Students, Families and Educators in Today’s Climate and Beyond

Last week, LINC’s Chief Program Officer, Laura Walsh, Chief of Advocacy and Community Mobilization, Albania Jimenez, and Neighborhood Manager for The Bronx, Arisbel Villa joined thought leaders in education from around the globe at the annual SOMOS Conference in Puerto Rico. 

SOMOS brings together leaders and learners, activists and artists, public officials and private sector champions with a shared belief that the future must be shaped with our communities, not for them.

Laura and her fellow panelists, Melissa Aviles-Ramos, Chancellor of New York City Public Schools (NYCPS, Randi Weingarten, President of the American Federation of Teachers, Andrea Vasque, Secretary for the Professional Staff Congress, NeQuan C. McLean, President of the Education Council Consortium (ECC), Tamara Alsace, Interim Co-Principal Investigator for the City University of New York’s Initiative on Immigration and Education (CUNY-IIE), Daniela Alulema, Project Director for CUNY-IIE, and Charlotte Gossett Navarro, Chief Director for Puerto Rico at the Hispanic Federation held an insightful and timely discussion entitled Education Not Deportation: Empowering Today’s Students, Families and Educators in Today’s Climate and Beyond. 

“Our bilingual babies are our superheroes,” exclaimed Laura. 

LINC’s impactful Community Literacy Model (CLM) is a solution to the literacy crisis that city and state officials are excited about, and we are so grateful to have been part of this important dialogue. 

The conference was a wonderful opportunity to nurture existing partnerships and engender new ones alongside a wide range of advocates, from government officials and small business owners, to other non-profit professionals and union leaders. 

Thank you to all of the panelists for their insight and to our sponsors for championing our work in early literacy. 

To learn more about LINC’s advocacy efforts or connect with one of our staff, please contact us at communications@lincnyc.org.