Community Revitalization Program Officer

Community Revitalization Program Officer

Community Revitalization Program Officer (CDFI/NMCIC)
Job Details

Industry
Community Foundation Employment Type Full-Time
Employment Status
Exempt
Job Functions
Loan/Portfolio/Program Management
Direct Reports
0
Position Reports To
Community Revitalization Senior Program Manager
Career Pathway
IC300

Northwest Minnesota Foundation, Bemidji MN

The Northwest Minnesota Foundation (NMF) is one of the six Minnesota Initiative Foundations (MIFs) established by the McKnight Foundation in 1986 to assist Minnesota's rural regions during the farm crisis in the 1980s. As the region's MIF and the only community foundation in the region, NMF has been serving the vast nonprofit community in northwest Minnesota for more than 30 years.

NMF provides grants and loans to organizations and small businesses and scholarships to individuals within the 12-county region and the two tribal nations. Since its founding, NMF has invested millions to help make the region a better place to live and work.

In 2023, NMF created a wholly-owned subsidiary, the Northwest Minnesota Community Impact Corporation (NMCIC). NMCIC is an emerging Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) (a certification granted through the federal Department of Treasury). The NMCIC's mission statement: NMCIC builds better lives by revitalizing communities, empowering individuals, and creating economic opportunities. As a community development organization, we provide capital solutions to projects that may not otherwise receive support from traditional financial institutions.

We help communities and individuals accomplish goals in underserved areas, by bringing expertise and filing gaps in funding.

Position Description
The Community Revitalization (CR) Program Officer (CDFI/NMCIC) is accountable for assisting entrepreneurs and small business owners with financial education, business planning, and personalized support in their journey to successful small business ownership and/or business expansion. This position will also support loan pipeline development for NMF and NMCIC and will perform loan portfolio management in collaboration with the CR team. This position will assist the CR Senior Program Manager with CDFI certification and reporting, strategic planning and execution, financial management of the NMCIC, revenue development, and marketing, through the lens of supporting underrepresented entrepreneurs.

This position will also support childcare providers in accessing loan opportunities.

Duties & Responsibilities

• You will develop programming designed to support underrepresented and under-resourced entrepreneurs.
• You will establish a training/educational program that can be customized to meet individual entrepreneurs' needs. This may include developing partnerships with organizations that provide these services, and/or designing and delivering trainings internally.
• You will provide robust, one-on-one assistance to the entrepreneurs, and refer them as appropriate to other local resources.
• You will remain a constant support and guide from business idea through knowledge building to business launch.
• You will be a resource to clients, providing guidance, referrals, and accurate information as they seek potential small business financing.
• You will meet with clients and partners by traveling across the region, and you will utilize virtual meetings to strengthen these connections.
• You will assist with CDFI certification compliance and reporting, and other reporting requirements of state, federal, or private funders.
• You will develop expertise in regional small business loan products and resources.
• You will maintain confidentiality and discretion for the protection of small business clients/borrowers and for NMF and NMCIC.
• You will maintain accurate client data.
• You will collaborate with the CR team to develop the loan pipeline and provide loan servicing activities.
• You will process childcare loan applications and collaborate with CR staff members and utilize existing processes to originate, underwrite, approve, and service these loans.
• You are responsible for all other duties as assigned.

What success looks like:

• You can meet people where they are in terms of their small business management experience, and work with them to set and achieve their financial goals.
• You have experience working with people of diverse backgrounds, and you have cultural sensitivity to the demographics of northwest Minnesota.
• You will have a good understanding of the principles of rural economic development, including business finance and/or entrepreneurship.
• You will take the initiative to learn about best practices amongst CDFIs, loan products, loan servicing, and technical assistance, and evaluate and implement these best practices to support NMCIC's mission.
• You are a person who demonstrates a high level of initiative and collaboration in working partners to implement solutions to support underrepresented and under-resourced entrepreneurs and small business owners.
• You have the…