Description
Position: SPECIALIST, ENVIRONMENTAL FINANCE CENTER (EFC)
Grade: 3
Salary Range: $62,723– 72,132
*Senior Specialist salary range: $76,836– 81,541
Delta Institute
Thriving Communities. Thriving Landscapes. Action and impact are core to Delta as we strive to create a Midwest and Great Lakes region with a healthy environment, robust economy, and vibrant communities. Delta creates programs that show how policies, ideas, and resources can be harnessed for a more sustainable and resilient region. We take a systems view on how businesses, communities, and government impact and are impacted by the environment and economy. We strive to create comprehensive solutions that pull these pieces together. Delta is proud to have a multidisciplinary team, and we are keen to attract a diversity of experience, skillsets, and perspectives to enable us to challenge assumptions and create new approaches to long-standing problems.
Our work takes us to population centers like Chicago, St. Louis, and Detroit; to mid-sized cities such as Gary and South Bend, Indiana; to Great Lakes coastal towns like Michigan City, Indiana and Muskegon, Michigan; and to rural communities and watersheds with tens of thousands of acres of farmland and waterways across our region. It’s quite likely that you—or someone you know—lives, works, or passes through a community that Delta has helped since our founding in 1998.
Functional Hive – Programs and Position
All Midwest communities and landscapes thrive through an integrated approach to environmental, economic, and social challenges. Our work is organized into distinct initiatives that move our mission forward, clearly define our work, and articulate impact. The programs functional hive strives to successfully address the challenges and creatively assist in sustainable solutions. The program hive staff focuses on the implementation of projects in Delta’s three initiative areas: Resilient Agriculture, Nature-Based Climate Solutions, and Sustainability & Support Services.
Overall, a Specialist at Delta performs program, administrative or organizational development-related tasks. Specialists are directed in their work on a day-to-day basis but manage large work projects with some guidance from Directors and Leads. Specialists can serve as liaisons with clients and stakeholders and are responsible for ensuring timely communication, consistent workflow and high-quality deliverables. Specialists represent the organization at public events and also assist in raising funds to support the organization.
The Program You'll Work Within: Sustainability & Support Services
Impact Statement: Our Sustainability and Support Services are designed to respond to invitations in community-led planning efforts and provide direct technical assistance to public and private sector partners, which include a wide array of sectors in which Delta has sizable experience. We forecast that by the end of strategic plan period, Delta will have worked with more than 250 partner communities while securing $40M in external investment and creating 100 practical tools, resources, strategies, and public plans.
Our Approach: Delta Institute prides itself on being responsive to the needs of its partners and responding to what they define as being the most important goal, activity, project, or taking a new approach to improving their local environmental and economic outcomes. We have decades of experience moving sustainable priorities forward in creative and innovative ways.
Delta supports our partners and their self-defined sustainability goals through our Sustainability and Support Services, designed to align the needs of our partners with the skills and expertise of our staff to contribute where most helpful. Beyond Sustainability & Support Services, this role will also provide technical assistance and implementation support to our Resilient Agriculture and Nature-Based Climate Solutions. For more information on our program initiatives, please visit our website: https://delta-institute.org/what-we-do/.
Specialist, Environmental Finance Center (EFC)
The Delta Institute USEPA Region 5 Water Infrastructure Environmental Finance Center (Delta EFC) provides drinking water, clean water, stormwater, and green infrastructure technical assistance to meet community priorities to improve their water infrastructure. The key priority of the Delta EFC is to help communities prepare, and apply for, Drinking Water and Clean Water State Revolving Fund support in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Wisconsin, and Tribal Communities within this region.
Delta EFC technical assistance is focused on community-identified needs with Delta EFC team providing clear scopes of work to move their water infrastructure priorities forward. A few examples of current technical assistance include, but are not limited to:
Lead Service Line Replacement Planning
Green Infrastructure Planning and Prioritization
Nutrient Limit and Emerging Contaminant Compliance Support
Funding and SRF Financing Assistance
Community Outreach and Engagement Strategies
Water Loss Investigation and Control Planning
Utility Rate Analyses
Capital Improvement Planning
More information on Delta’s Environmental Finance Center can be found here: https://delta-institute.org/epa-region-5-water-infrastructure/.
Position Specifics
The EFC Specialist will assist with the overall implementation and coordination for Delta’s USEPA Region 5 Regional Water Infrastructure Environmental Finance Center (Delta EFC). The position will provide technical, analytical, administrative, communications, and strategic support. Specifically, the EFC Specialist will be assigned direct technical assistance tasks based on discrete scopes of work with defined roles, responsibilities, and deliverables. The technical assistance will cover all aspects of the Delta EFC including drinking water, clean water, stormwater, and green infrastructure. The Specialist will directly manage implementation of technical assistance and coordination with community partners with support from the EFC Lead and other staff. The Specialist will coordinate with functional hive staff to ensure the delivery of high-quality, on-time, and on-budget work scopes.
In addition to direct technical assistance, the Specialist will coordinate with the EFC Lead and provide support for the successful oversight and administration of the Delta EFC. This includes assisting in developing required reporting, routinely updating TA request status and learnings, and identifying and tracking programmatic and process opportunities for continuous improvement and impact. The Specialist will also support the EFC lead in coordinating with USEPA Region 5, EPA HQ, State SRF, other regional and national EFCs, and other water infrastructure TA providers and consultants. The Specialist will also provide assistance, and have opportunities to present, at conferences, workshops, and other meetings to share technical assistance experience and identifying potential community partners.
The EFC Specialist should be at home tackling difficult environmental and social problems with often unclear paths to success or take iterative approaches with a long-term goal of seeking solutions to larger social and environmental issues. They will also need to be comfortable working by themselves, with multiple types of personalities, on tight deadlines, in ambiguous and circuitous circumstances, and have an overall positive outlook on the change that can happen in the world. The Specialist should operate with a perspective of continuous improvement and will be expected to provide and accept feedback, welcome and adapt to change, challenge the status quo and be committed to the success of others.
As part of a truly multidisciplinary organization, the EFC Specialist will also interface and support other projects that require unique skills and knowledge; and, have a knack translating complex ideas to a variety of audiences both internally and externally.
What you’ll be doing:
EFC TA Implementation
Provide direct technical assistance to communities for Drinking Water, Clean Water, Wastewater, and Green Infrastructure project development and SRF application submittals.
Assist the EFC Lead in the development of business and operations plans to support the successful implementation of the EFC including compliance, quarterly reporting, and tracking impact metrics.
Manage and implement multiple technical assistance projects as necessary to ensure high quality deliverables and on time and on budget completion.
Assist and implement the development of community-specific technical assistance work plans with tasks, timeframes, milestones, resources, and dependencies.
Keep informed of key water quality policies and water resource issues that impact communities as well as the environmental, economic and social conditions that affect the organization.
EFC Strategy and Development
Identify development opportunities to advance innovative new programs and services to achieve Delta’s mission through EFC activities.
Conceptualize and develop proposals and engage team members in proposal development to grow the impact of the EFC.
Understand near-term and long-range plans and determine how to best be positioned to achieve the mission.
Staff Collaboration
Facilitate collaboration and knowledge sharing across the programs team and entire organization
Inspire, motivate and guide others toward goal accomplishments.
Encourage and facilitate cooperation within the organization and with stakeholder groups.
Support an inclusive environment where diversity and innovation are valued and embrace a culture of continuous learning.
Create positive staff partnerships and model productive working relationships.
Relationship Management
Grow and maintain key professional affiliations in support of organizational and professional development goals.
Leverage talents and networks of staff, partners, and key stakeholders to build organizational support and growth.
In coordination with EFC Lead, communicate and manage relationships with clients and stakeholders.
Requirements
What you’ll have:
Minimum of a Bachelor’s degree in directly related to water infrastructure, public policy, public administration, sustainability, engineering, or equivalent field with Master’s degree desirable or equivalent experience.
Significant experience (3-5 years) in direct project management experience in water quality and/or water quantity projects.
Demonstrated knowledge of drinking water treatment processes, water distribution systems, wastewater treatment processes, wastewater collection systems, stormwater management systems, and/or green stormwater infrastructure.
Deep knowledge and experience working with municipalities, infrastructure projects, community stakeholders, and water utilities.
Significant knowledge of the Clean Water and Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (CWSRF and DWSRF) programs. Applicants with experience applying for, administering, and/or implementing CWSRF or DWSRF funds in EPA Region 5 states are preferred.
Strong record of accomplishment as an effective manager and a skillful, innovative leader capable of delivering results
Ability to engage a wide range of stakeholders including community groups, government agencies, foundations, corporate sponsors, and practitioner groups
Ability to create and nurture a culture of continuous learning, personal accountability, creative problem solving, and collaboration.
Excellent written and verbal communications skills
Knowledge of and a base of relationships with key stakeholders in the Great Lakes and Midwest
Integrity, positive attitude, mission-driven, and self-directed with demonstrated passion for Delta’s mission and commitment to working collaboratively with a leadership team
Be able to work in a fast-paced environment, manage multiple tasks and deadlines, and manage work in sometimes ambiguous situations
Strong analytical and problem solving skills
Strong written and verbal communication skills
