Clean Energy Programs Manager (CEPM)

ABOUT CITY FIRST ENTERPRISES

City First Enterprises (CFE) is a community development financial institution (CDFI) specializing in flexible lending for affordable housing, commercial real estate, small businesses, non-profits, clean energy, and homeownership. With a mission to create equitable financial solutions to support people and communities in achieving their economic aspirations, we envision a future where all people and communities transform their futures through equitable access to capital. CDFI is a designation given by the United States Treasury to organizations expanding economic opportunity in low-income communities by providing access to financial products and services for residents and businesses.

CFE offers an open, innovative, and collaborative work environment; committed to serving communities through financial tools, creativity, and technology. We seek intellectually ambitious individuals who hold themselves accountable to a high bar of performance.

The City First family of organizations is dedicated to promoting diversity, multiculturalism, and inclusion in our work and hiring practices. City First Enterprises entirely focuses on equality and economic inclusion and believes that diversity in opinion and background only helps further that mission.

To learn more about our organization, please visit our website at https://www.cfenterprises.org/.

THE POSITION

The Clean Energy Programs Manager (CEPM) is a newly created role, reporting directly to the CEO and closely collaborating with CFE’s leadership team. CFE’s 2024-2026 Strategic Plan calls for us to build and rapidly expand multi-sector clean energy lending, with a focus on benefiting communities of color to ensure equitable environmental and health benefits. As such, the CEPM will be responsible for leading our clean energy initiatives, including but not limited to spearheading CFE’s implementation of initiatives related to the EPA’s Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund. This role presents an exciting opportunity to contribute significantly to achieving our organization’s goals during the strategic plan period and beyond. 

In particular, the CEPM will lead the design and development of financial products and technical assistance aimed at accelerating the adoption of clean energy technologies within small business, non-profit organizations, and low-to-moderate income communities; facilitate the financing of clean energy projects for our clients and expand CFE’s market penetration in the sector in alignment with the Justice40 Initiative; and coordinate CFE’s participation in EPA’s Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund initiatives, including managing existing partnerships and developing new collaboration opportunities. 

The ideal candidate will have a strong understanding of clean energy technologies, emerging public policy impacting the sector both at the local and federal level. They are an experienced professional who prefers to work in a dynamic, collaborative environment, have strong financial analysis and writing skills, and seek to play a pivotal role in a fast-growing financial organization.  

This position will be based out of our office in Washington DC. 

ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Partnership Management  

• Drive the development and maintenance of climate lending partnerships with key stakeholders, including EPA Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GGRF) grantees, commercial banks, local green lending authorities, public agencies, real estate developers, and other private corporations.  

 Business Development 

• Work in partnership with senior team members on business development activities, including participating in client and/or prospect calls and representing the organization in meetings with potential business partners.  
• Collaborate with the lending team in working with clean energy financing borrowers throughout the loan origination process.  
• Coordinate with cross-functional teams to ensure the successful execution of clean energy efforts, including customer acquisition, marketing and communications, lending, reporting, and capital raising.  

Market Research and Product Development  

• Conduct market and industry research and stay up-to-date on state and federal policy, identifying new programmatic opportunities for CFE and our clients.  
• Ensure compliance with local, state, and federal regulations in the implementation of clean energy initiatives, particularly those connected with the GGRF.  
• Develop and launch commercial lending products in at least two clean energy categories, incorporating the use of clean energy rebates, tax credits, and other incentives available to small business owners and real estate developers. 
• In collaboration with at least one external partner, develop and launch clean energy-related programmatic resources and technical assistance to deploy more capital in Low-income and Disadvantaged Communities (as defined by EPA). 

 Strategic Planning and Program Management 

• In collaboration with the CEO and senior management, develop and implement comprehensive workplans and metrics to build out CFE’s clean energy lending strategy in accordance with the overall goals and KPIs (key performance indicators) in our 2024-2026 Strategic Plan.  
• Support ongoing evaluation and reporting on the progress and impact of CFE’s clean energy initiatives to inform strategic improvement and increase the effectiveness of our programmatic work and fundraising efforts.  
• Collaborate with internal teams to ensure alignment of clean energy initiatives with organizational goals and values as well as external funding commitments.  
• Lead the organization’s engagement with external consultants working in all matters related to clean energy, including the outsourcing of technical expertise related to renewable energy and energy efficiency.  

Other 

• Perform other duties as may be deemed necessary and appropriate.