2025: Climate Justice Leadership
Melody Arteaga has worked tirelessly as a youth worker, mentor, facilitator, and organizer to support climate adaptation with frontline communities in Minnesota, particularly Latino and immigrant populations. Working with the organization COPAL, she drove community engagement with state agencies like the Public Utilities Council and Minnesota Pollution Control Agency and facilitated spaces for grassroots organizing. She led COPAL’s environmental justice initiatives, focusing on forced migration, green jobs, pollution reduction and the clean energy transition. Through many capacities of leadership, including her role as a member of the Metro CERTs Steering Committee, Melody continues to elevate BIPOC perspectives to create a more equitable Minnesota.
