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Good things sometimes happen in threes, especially at Clean Energy Works.

The Portland-based nonprofit helps Oregon homeowners assess the energy efficiency of their homes. The group then helps them find ways to retrofit the structures and make them more efficient by tapping into local sources that provide no-money-down financing, materials and installation services.

Clean Energy Works started in 2009 as a Portland pilot program, and then expanded statewide in 2010.

“We’re now the largest nonprofit home performance provider in Oregon, said Stephanie Swanson, Clean Energy Works’ director of marketing.

The nonprofit operates targeting three goals that Swanson refers to as the “three E’s”: energy, economy and equity. With an eye toward making good on the latter two parts of that slogan, Clean Energy Works helps connect homeowners with local suppliers and installers, while also working to help create job opportunities for women, minorities and veterans.

In order to work on a project that Clean Energy Works is affiliated with, contractors must follow the nonprofit’s “High Roads” standards. They include minimum pay and provisions for health insurance, hiring historically underutilized members of the workforce (including women and minorities), and hiring locally.

“We’re happy to report they almost always exceed (the standards),” Swanson said. “We provide jobs through 35 prime contractors and over 200 subcontractors statewide. The minimum pay is 180 percent of minimum wage, with health care provided by the employers.”

In the past three years, Swanson said, more than half of the completed projects that involved Clean Energy Works featured work performed by women and minorities. Additionally, more than 20 veterans were employed on those projects.

Those efforts haven’t gone unnoticed at the state level. This past December, the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries (BOLI) presented Clean Energy Works with the BOLI Workforce Champion Award for creating more jobs for women, minorities and veterans.

“I think about what we do and how many people we’ve helped in just five years and sometimes I’m amazed,” Swanson said. “It’s nice to go to work every day and look at what we’re doing and what our goals are and think: Mission accomplished.”