Community Reinvestment Outreach Manager

BMO•Chicago, IL

8d•$74,000 - $138,000

About The Position

The Community Reinvestment Outreach Manager is responsible for strengthening the bank’s Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) performance through proactive community engagement, strategic partnerships, and market-level impact initiatives. The role drives outreach efforts that expand access to affordable housing, small-business development, financial wellness, and inclusive economic opportunities within low- to moderate-income communities. A key function of this role is to analyze community needs and CRA activity trends at the market level, and report insights, opportunities, and potential CRA shortfalls to internal business lines, including Retail, Mortgage, Small Business, Commercial, and Philanthropy. The manager escalates identified gaps, recommends responsive strategies, and collaborates with internal partners to support CRA-eligible lending, services, volunteerism, and investments aligned with regulatory expectations. The manager serves as a visible community representative for the bank—cultivating relationships with nonprofit organizations, civic leaders, government agencies, CDFIs, and ecosystem partners. Success requires strong stakeholder management, data-informed decision-making, polished communication skills, and the ability to translate community priorities and CRA performance risks into actionable and measurable outcomes that support compliance, market growth, reputation, and equitable impact. Reporting to the Senior Community Reinvestment Outreach Manager team BMO East, this is a key role within the Community Reinvestment Outreach organization with primary responsibilities for managing both the achievement of the bank’s $40+ billion, 5-year Community Benefits Plan, EMpower, and implementing BMO’s Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) outreach strategy. This role will assist in managing the Chicago, Indianapolis and Florida MSAs.

Requirements

Knowledge of the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) and building partnerships within underrepresented communities.
Exercise sound judgement, accurately identify and proactively resolve potential problems.
Demonstrate ability to pivot to unexpected community needs/occurrences
Travel within the assigned coverage area at least 25% of the time.

Responsibilities

Serve as a CRA and Empower Subject Matter Expert for the assigned coverage area.
Conduct and interpret CRA and community development needs assessments analysis for assigned markets.
Maintain productive relationships and communication plan with regional presidents to ensure colleagues are actively engaged in local needs or opportunities.
Develops and maintains effective relationships with all lines of business (LOBs) about community needs/priorities.
Guides market leads in achieving Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) performance relatives to their respective lines of business and assisting in the formation of market action plans for CRA Lending, Investing and Service.
Partners closely with the CRA Governance team to regularly review CRA performance-to-goal and as needed, assist with the collection of information for the CRA exam and performance context.
Contributes to performance context by documenting community development activities including training leadership and employees on correctly logging community development services for CRA credit.
Cultivates relationships and partnerships with community, civic and nonprofit organizations to position BMO as a trusted partner and advocate for community advancement.
Builds recognition for BMO for our community investments and serve as a thought leader on BMO’s behalf; originate, facilitate, and attend meeting with community stakeholders; develop and maintain a productive network of professional relationships with key government, philanthropic, nonprofit, community leaders, and maintain strategic alliances with local advocacy groups.
Connects community partners to broader company initiatives like EMpower and special purpose credit programs to drive impact throughout BMO’s footprint.
Manage strategic grants and sponsorship requests to ensure the greatest impact for both the community in which we serve.
Represents BMO at local and national events, including speaking opportunities.
Collaborate with leadership on community development referrals and volunteer services.
Assist with Fair Lending matters as necessary.