Community Solar Intern

Job Description

RETI Center is a Brooklyn-based nonprofit building climate solutions with local communities. We educate, train, and work alongside youth, workforce participants, experts, professionals, and community members to transform our coastal city from one driven by fossil fuels to one balancing equity, ecology, and economy.

Our Local Power Ecosystem connects climate education, workforce development, community solar, climate resilience, and community engagement so that frontline communities can lead and benefit from New York City's clean energy transition.

Position Overview

RETI Center is seeking a motivated and community-minded Community Solar Intern interested in gaining entry-level experience in renewable energy, community solar, environmental justice, workforce development, project coordination, and community engagement.

Under the supervision of the Solar Program Lead, the intern will support RETI Center's community solar portfolio through research, data entry, project tracking, subscriber engagement, workforce coordination, community-fund activities, communications, and administrative support.

Primary Duties and Responsibilities

1. Clean Energy Project Support

• Assist with organizing information about active and proposed community solar projects.
• Update project schedules, task lists, contact lists, meeting notes, and document folders.
• Conduct introductory research on community solar, renewable energy, energy savings, environmental justice, and clean energy careers.
• Help prepare project summaries, presentations, spreadsheets, proposals, and partner materials.
• Assist with collecting and organizing site, project, partner, and pipeline information.
• Learn how preliminary project feasibility, solar production, incentives, and financial assumptions are evaluated.
• Observe the Solar Program Lead's use of HelioScope, financial models, proposals, and project-management tools.
• Participate in project meetings, site visits, and partner discussions when appropriate.
• Track assigned follow-up items and communicate progress to the supervisor.
• Help translate technical project information into clear, community-friendly materials.

2. Workforce and Graduate Employment Support

• Assist with researching solar employers, contractors, unions, apprenticeships, and clean energy career opportunities.
• Help maintain a database of employers and project partners.
• Organize information about job openings, qualifications, credentials, and hiring timelines.
• Support communication among the Solar Program Lead, Workforce Program Manager, Career Pathways Managers, and project partners.
• Help prepare graduate referral materials, candidate lists, employer presentations, and hiring-event materials.
• Track graduate referrals, interviews, placements, and follow-up actions as assigned.
• Assist with project tours, information sessions, employer events, and workforce activities.
• Help identify professional-development resources for graduates interested in solar careers.

3. Subscriber Savings and Enrollment Support

• Assist with community solar outreach and subscriber-enrollment activities.
• Help prepare outreach materials, presentations, scripts, frequently asked questions, and sign-up resources.
• Support tabling events, resident meetings, workshops, telephone, email, and community events engagement.
• Enter prospective subscriber information into approved tracking systems.
• Help schedule follow-up conversations and maintain accurate outreach records.
• Assist staff and volunteers with explaining basic community solar concepts using approved materials.
• Record common questions, concerns, and barriers identified by community members.
• Help organize subscriber testimonials, savings information, and project-impact stories.
• Protect personal information and follow all data-privacy protocols & procedures.

4. Community Fund and Visioning Support

• Assist with planning community visioning and governance sessions.
• Prepare meeting materials, sign-in sheets, presentations, surveys, handouts, and supplies.
• Support participant engagement and meeting reminders.
• Take notes and document community ideas, priorities, questions, and decisions.
• Help organize research on community-benefit funds and participatory governance models.
• Enter and summarize survey responses and meeting feedback.
• Assist with preparing accessible summaries for residents and project partners.
• Help maintain organized records of the community-fund development process.

5. Administrative and Grant Support

• Attend assigned staff, project, partner, and community meetings.
• Prepare meeting notes, action-item lists, and follow-up reminders.
• Update Google Drive, Airtable, Dropbox, spreadsheets, and project-management systems.
• Assist with gathering information and documentation for grant reports.
• Help organize project photographs, agreements, reports, presentations, and outreach materials.
• Draft routine emails, summaries, and communications for supervisor review.
• Maintain an accurate timesheet and weekly task list.
• Complete assigned professional-development and learning activities.
• Support special projects related to community solar, clean energy, workforce development, and environmental justice.

6. Communications and Community Engagement

• Assist with drafting newsletter, website, social media, and presentation content.
• Help organize photographs, videos, resident stories, graduate success stories, and project updates.
• Work with staff and designers to support the creation of community-friendly materials.
• Participate professionally in meetings, workshops, events, and outreach activities.
• Help ensure project communications are accessible, accurate and consistent with approved messaging.

What the Intern Will Learn

The internship will provide supervised experience in:

• Community solar and distributed renewable energy
• Clean energy project development
• Energy affordability and subscriber savings
• Environmental justice
• Workforce development and clean energy career pathways
• Community & resident engagement
• Community-benefit funds and participatory governance
• Project coordination and documentation