April marked the D.C. convening of Emerald Cities national staff in conjunction with the Good Jobs Green Jobs Conference. At the conference, ECC President Denise Fairchild discussed creative ways that labor, education, and community groups can deliver skills to build more resilient and democratic institutions. Andrew Cortes and Tara Marchant, Local Directors in Providence and Oakland, discussed the ways in which local decentralized energy projects offer great potential for environmentalists, low-income communities and labor unions to work together and create jobs. At the end of the week, Emerald Cities staff met with Congressional staff to educate members about the work of the ECC at the local and national level, and connect that work to federal policy.