As clean energy companies scale to meet climate and equity goals, they face steep hurdles, complex technical requirements, shifting regulations, workforce shortages, and the challenge of serving diverse communities across varied geographies. Many organizations in the space struggle to build and sustain contractor relationships that deliver quality work while advancing equity objectives. The task was twofold: work directly with a Middle Market partner to strengthen its own procurement approach, and translate those lessons into a practical, replicable framework other clean energy organizations could use to identify, support, and grow relationships with contractors, particularly those from underrepresented or historically excluded backgrounds.
As clean energy companies scale to meet climate and equity goals, they face steep hurdles, complex technical requirements, shifting regulations, workforce shortages, and the challenge of serving diverse communities across varied geographies. Many organizations in the space struggle to build and sustain contractor relationships that deliver quality work while advancing equity objectives. The task was twofold: work directly with a Middle Market partner to strengthen its own procurement approach, and translate those lessons into a practical, replicable framework other clean energy organizations could use to identify, support, and grow relationships with contractors, particularly those from underrepresented or historically excluded backgrounds.
The Center by Lendistry and Public Works facilitated structured working sessions with GRID Alternatives to develop a procurement plan focused on building contractor capacity and establishing a national supplier discount. From this hands-on engagement, the team distilled a four-step playbook that walks organizations through the full lifecycle of building a contractor relationship. The playbook outlines a four-step framework (Identification, Assessing Need, Finance, and Technical Assistance), to help organizations source mission-aligned contractors, target support to their specific gaps, connect them with capital through CDFI partners, and build long-term capacity through training and business development support. It closes with a Readiness Checklist so organizations can gauge their own capacity before committing to this kind of contractor partnership.
Together, they showcase a replicable approach to inclusive procurement that other Middle Market and clean energy organizations can adopt, building momentum toward broader adoption of practices that deliver meaningful community and economic benefits. The Center by Lendistry has presented the work at LA Climate Week and is working alongside Public Works Partners to showcase this work during NYC Climate Week. This work has extended its reach well beyond the original engagement.
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