Oakland, CA – The Council of Development Finance Agencies (CDFA) has selected Oakland-based Renewable Funding as one of its winners of the 2014 CDFA California Financing Roundtable Excellence Awards.
The CDFA California Financing Roundtable Excellence Awards recognize outstanding development finance programs, agencies, leaders, projects and success stories. These awards, presented at the CDFA California Financing Roundtable Conference, honor excellence in the use of financing tools for economic development, as well as the individuals who champion those efforts.
“Each year CDFA is proud to honor excellence in development finance. The work of our award winners is cutting-edge, innovative and an example of best practices in our industry,” said Toby Rittner, CDFA President & CEO.
The CDFA excellence award honored Renewable Funding’s PACE program CaliforniaFIRST, the nation’s largest residential PACE program, for helping pioneer residential PACE and the open-market model for commercial PACE applications. PACE financing enables property owners to install water and energy upgrades with no money down and to repay installation costs over time through a revised property tax assessment.
“We are very honored to have our thriving CaliforniaFIRST program recognized by the CDFA,” said Renewable Funding CEO Cisco DeVries, who created the nation’s first PACE program in 2008 while serving as chief of staff to Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates. “We firmly believe in the promise of the PACE to help homeowners, businesses and communities go green as they finance important clean energy, water efficiency and renewable energy improvements through the CaliforniaFIRST program.”
Renewable Funding in August launched its residential PACE program, CaliforniaFIRST, in 17 California counties and more than 142 cities in California, with plans to expand statewide by the end of the year. The CaliforniaFIRST Program is a program of the California Statewide Communities Development Authority (CSCDA), a joint powers authority co-sponsored by the California State Association of Counties and the League of California Cities.
The other CDFA award winners included:
CDFA Excellence Award: Agency – California Pollution Control Financing Authority
CDFA Excellence Award: Leadership – California State Treasurer Bill Lockyer
CDFA Excellence Award: Project – Ivanpah
The CDFA California Financing Roundtable Conference Excellence Awards will be formally presented at the 2014 CDFA California Financing Roundtable, in Long Beach, California on October 9. More information regarding the CDFA California Financing Roundtable conference and the other award winners is available at www.cdfa.net.
More information on the CaliforniaFIRST program is at CaliforniaFIRST.org.
