Announcing Vermont Public Finance Fellowship

Vermont Bond Bank (the “Bond Bank”) is seeking candidates for its Public Finance Fellowship during Fall 2023. This opportunity will provide fellows with a broad overview of municipal finance and the public finance debt markets.

The Bond Bank is an instrumentality of the State of Vermont with a mission to support access to readily available and low-cost financing options for governmental units pursuing long-term capital projects. This mission is undertaken through the Bond Bank’s tax-exempt bond issuance authority as well as the financial administration of the State of Vermont’s Clean and Drinking Water State Revolving Loan Funds. Both programs have large loan programs with a combined amount of over $800 million outstanding.

The Bond Bank is currently developing several clean energy finance programs associated with federal funding opportunities.

Candidates should have an interest in infrastructure, community building, and public finance. Fellows will help with data analysis and research related to the Bond Bank’s existing and planned programs.  

See vtbondbank.org for more information on the Bond Bank.

Fellowship Description

This position will help provide quantitative power to the Bond Bank’s many initiatives. Candidates will receive broad exposure to the public finance landscape, including peer statewide organizations working in public finance. Focus areas include the following but may expand or contract with time and organizational priorities:

• - validate and populate data for the Bond Bank’s partners at USDA-RD and the VT Department of Environmental Conservation for inclusion in the statewide infrastructure database;
• - analyze and format statewide datasets used in Bond Bank credit analysis;
• - assemble and format credit data from peer bond banks (as available);
• - assist the Bond Bank in surveying the existing landscape of local government debt across the state through the review of financial statements from the Bond Bank's borrowers;
• - assist in the development of the Bond Bank’s new lending activities related to a potential Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund award; and,
• - produce white papers and presentations that can expand the Bond Bank’s institutional knowledge on topics related to capital planning, clean energy lending for governments, and school construction financing.

Work Location

Fellows must live in Vermont although some work may be done remotely.

Compensation

The Fellow will be paid at a rate of between $18 per hour for undergraduates and $22 per hour for graduate students, for 10-20 hours per week. Expected duration 12 weeks, although flexibility exists within the 2023-2024 school year.

Deadline & Requirements

Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis until Friday, September 29th. Please submit brief description of interest and resume to michael@vtbondagency.org.