Senior Associate, ILSFA – Grassroots Education

The Illinois Solar for All Program (ILSFA), directed by the Illinois Power Agency and administered by Elevate, aims to deliver the benefits of solar and the clean energy economy to low-income and environmental justice communities across Illinois. The Illinois Solar for All (ILSFA) Grassroots Education Senior Associate works across functional teams, shared services, and external partners to support the implementation of the ILSFA Program with a focus on ensuring that the program’s community engagement goals are met by grassroots educators. The Senior Associate, ILSFA, works to partner with Grassroots Education organizations to provide them with high-level strategic guidance, and effectively plans community engagement and partnership efforts for the program to increase participation in Low-income Distributed Generation (residential) and other sub-programs, as needed. This position requires project management skills, relationship building, budget and invoicing management, administrative knowledge, attention to detail, organizational skills, educational training and/or outreach and community engagement experience, flexibility, and the ability to manage time effectively between a diverse set of tasks and teams.

The Senior Associate, ILSFA Grassroots Education reports to the Senior Program Manager, ILSFA Strategic Partnerships. The Senior Associate, ILSFA Grassroots Education may support and take direction from other managers and functional teams conducting work related to the ILSFA program. This position is located in Chicago, IL and is currently remote. Some occasional travel to grassroots education events throughout Illinois is required.

Responsibilities

Develop and maintain relationships with Grassroots Education organizations and manage day-to-day communications with educators, providing clear, concise, and timely updates and responding to requests for information or assistance in a timely manner.
Learn and be able to communicate detailed knowledge of the ILSFA program and its subprograms, including eligibility of potential participants, and the participant journey.
Lead the development of Grassroots Education Request for Proposals (RFPs) and funding recommendations.
Lead regular reporting of campaign activities, budget spend, and qualitative information from campaigns to internal and external stakeholders, including the program funder.
Manage contracts with multiple Grassroots Education Organizations, ensuring that organizations stay on track in their spending and progress to scope.
Develop training materials and provide training opportunities to Grassroots Education organizations to further their understanding and ability to communicate with the public about ILSFA, including an annual orientation, a mid-year review, and ongoing Office Hours meetings.
Provide analysis and communicate regular project/program updates and results to internal staff and external stakeholders to inform strategic decisions. Ensure ongoing reporting is accurate and timely and be able to develop and analyze data from Salesforce or other platforms as needed.
Create new materials and strategic, targeted campaigns to reach eligible communities across Illinois with information on ILSFA and increase participation in the residential Low-Income Distributed Generation sub-program.
Coordinate with internal and external partners to enable low-income and environmental justice communities across Illinois to benefit from solar, including recommending changes to program structure, policies, and processes.
Build new stakeholder relationships and strengthen existing relationships with external partners.
Stay current on solar and clean jobs policy, available financial and program offerings for participants in ILSFA.
Attend and participate in staff inter-departmental teams and staff meetings and assist in other departmental and/or organizational activities as required.
Perform other duties as assigned.

Qualifications and Skills

Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience required
At least four (4+) years of work experience in project coordination and management, relationship-building, contractor or vendor management, community engagement and/or strategic planning and partnerships
Proficiency in MS Office applications (Outlook, MS Teams, Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Access, etc.)
Experience with Salesforce or a similar platform preferred
Excellent written and verbal communication
Customer service skills required
Project management experience required
Ability to independently leverage critical thinking skills to address project challenges
Ability to work under pressure and meet tight deadlines with high degree of accuracy
Willingness to be a flexible team player adapting to priorities as needed
A demonstrated attention to detail
Exceptional organizational and coordination skills

Organization Description

We design and implement programs that reduce costs, protect people and the environment, and ensure the benefits of clean and efficient energy use reach those who need them most.

At Elevate, the greatest asset of our organization is the kind of people we attract. Elevate employees co-create our energetic and collaborative environment, where constant learning and service to others take priority. We empower individuals to challenge conventional thinking in pursuit of innovation and we seek dynamic, hardworking team members who are inspired to work with people of diverse backgrounds and perspectives. Every day we make a difference by placing our team, clients, and community partners first. From our mission to our focus on staff wellbeing and career development opportunities, there’s no better place to grow your career than Elevate.

Compensation

The total compensation for this position includes health and welfare benefits (medical, dental, vision, etc.), defined contribution benefit (401k with contribution), professional development, generous paid time off policies, and a flexible schedule. This is exempt individual contributor position with a salary range of $65,000- $75,000, based on experience.

Anti-Discrimination Policy

Elevate is an equal opportunity employer that does not discriminate against any employee or job applicant based on race, color, national origin, religion, sex, sexual orientation, age, disability, veteran status, or marital status. This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including, but not limited to, hiring, termination, promotion, transfer, layoff, leaves of absence, compensation, and training.

ADA Accommodation

Elevate will reasonably accommodate qualified individuals with a disability so that they can perform the essential functions of a job unless doing so causes a direct threat to these individuals or others in the workplace, and the threat cannot be eliminated by reasonable accommodation, or if the accommodation creates an undue hardship to Elevate. Contact the People Team with any questions or requests for accommodations.

To Apply

To apply, please submit your cover letter and resume through our candidate portal at https://workforcenow.adp.com/mascsr/default/mdf/recruitment/. Search for “Senior Associate, ILSFA – Grassroots Education” to find the position listing.

Please note that Elevate will only contact candidates via an elevatenp.org email address. We will never ask a candidate for payment of any kind as part of the hiring or onboarding process or send payment to any candidate prior to completing the hiring and onboarding process.

No phone calls please.