Staff Spotlight

Community Energy Project is proud to provide a variety of direct, in-homes services and educational workshops, and participate in important advocacy work. Behind all of these vital efforts is a team of vibrant, multifaceted, and hardworking individuals. We are excited to introduce the CEP Staff Spotlight, a series dedicated to the people who make everything we do possible. Today’s spotlight shines on CEP’s Director of Finance and Administration, Donovan James.

“Hello babies. Welcome to Earth. It’s hot in the summer and cold in the winter. It’s round and wet and crowded. On the outside, babies, you’ve got a hundred years here. There’s only one rule that I know of, babies – damn it, you’ve got to be kind.” – Kurt Vonnegut

1. Describe your role at CEP and what makes you passionate about your position.

I’m the Director of Finance & Administration at CEP. I manage everything related to our finances, including invoicing, budgeting, and our audit, as well as all HR and administrative responsibilities. 

2. What is your work background and how does this empower you at CEP?

We are all at the mercy of a lottery of birth. Some of us are born with privilege, to wealthy or loving families, while others among us, through sheer chance alone, are born into abusive or poverty-stricken families. I didn’t choose my family, or where I was born, or my identity, yet these factors determine so many of the opportunities that I’ve had in life. This perspective gives me immense compassion for everyone. We can take our experiences and use them as a source of divisiveness, as some do, hunkering down in beliefs like, “Well I had to work for mine and no one helped me so I’m not helping anybody.” Or we can say, “What I went through was so hard, and so determined by chance, that I don’t want anyone to suffer like I did. I want to help them.” I choose the latter.

3. Describe the program you run and why it is important to CEP and the community you serve.

The Finance Department updates the executive director and the board on our financial outlook each month, which gives them information they need to guide the organization towards helping those we serve. Finance also ensures that we’re paid on time and that we pay our subcontractors, employees, and others on time. This gives the programmatic departments the money they need to help the community we serve.

4. What is a problem that the Portland community faces and how is your team addressing the issue?

Wealthy people have long taken advantage of the racist policies of redlining by buying up properties previously owned by black folks and then raising property values in the area through a process called gentrification. CEP helps to combat this by providing extensive, free home repairs to low income folks, especially through our PCEF funded program. This is an innovative, compassionate, and much needed solution to the problem of gentrification, and the abuse of the wealthy on the poor in our society.

5. What makes CEP unique in addressing climate change?

Many solutions to climate change are in the form of a carbon offset, or worse, in the realm of “potential solutions” that have still not been enacted, like a carbon tax. However, CEP is doing the tangible, real work of addressing climate change by offering free weatherization and home energy repairs to low-income homeowners. This not only addresses climate change, which we must do as a species if we want to survive on this planet, but it also improves the lives of those that need help the most.

6. If you had to pick one meal to eat for the rest of your life, what would it be? 

A vegan burrito – refried beans, guacamole, lettuce, pico de gallo, fajita veggies, and the hottest salsa possible. With a side of fries.