Tucson City Council Member Regina Romero has accepted a job with the Tucson-based Center for Biological Diversity as its new national director of Latino engagement.
She said she is excited about the role and sees it as a way to ensure Latino voices are part of the environmental movement and issues including climate change, preserving public lands and species protection.
Romero previously worked for Pima County as a program coordinator in youth job and neighborhood infrastructure programs. She also co-founded Las Adelitas, a group for Latina activists.
She will work as a City Council member part time — and that’s what’s in the job description in the city charter. For eight years, she has been putting in 40-60 hours a week as a council member, she said.
“I’m always going to be ‘on’ when it comes to city issues,” she said, but she’ll spend two days a week at her council office and other days at the center.
Romero said she deliberately sought a position with no conflicts of interest with city business.
Earlier this year, Councilwoman Karin Uhlich took a job as director of housing administration at Cenpatico, the regional behavioral health authority.
