Eight new projects will be led by City of Lynn, Town of Natick, Salem Alliance for the Environment (SAFE), Fenway Forward, Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) Massachusetts, Mystic River Watershed Association (MyRWA), Vital Village Networks & Black Swan Lab
BOSTON -- The Metropolitan Area Planning Council in Boston awarded more than $300,000 in grants to eight projects across Greater Boston this week, advancing resilience to climate change on the local and regional level through innovation and community-based programs.
The projects, part of the Accelerating Climate Resilience (ACR) Grant Program, will help cities, towns, and community-based organizations implement strategies that protect people, places, and communities from the impacts of a changing climate. The grants range from $20,000 to $50,000, and projects span affordable housing, thermal energy generation, air quality, and beyond.
“MAPC is thrilled to be able to support these projects with ACR funding. This program really encourages creativity and innovative ideas, pairing local work with a support system for implementation,” said MAPC executive director Lizzi Weyant. “This is some of the most important work that we do to protect our cities and towns from the impacts of climate change. This program provides critical funding, as well as peer-to-peer resources that can sustain the grant’s impact at the local level.”
Each project was evaluated on how well it advanced not only climate equity but also social cohesion and regional collaboration. Grantees must demonstrate actionable resilience interventions that will increase the region’s readiness for the impact of climate change. This is the fifth year and seventh round of funding distributed through the ACR grant program, part of a partnership between The Barr Foundation and MAPC.
Three of the funded projects are regional collaboration efforts, and at least half of the projects led by community-based organizations (CBOs) include municipal partnerships. This was one of the most competitive grant rounds yet, with more than 40 proposals received totaling more than $2 million in funding requests, approximately five times the available award budget, speaking volumes about the ongoing need and commitment from cities, towns and community partners to advance climate-resilient solutions, according to MAPC.
The following municipalities and CBOs were awarded grants for their projects:
- Black Swan Lab: “Scaling TENs: Technical Assistance for Equitable and Resilient Municipal Energy Transition” - $20,000
- Fenway Forward: “Creating a Resilience Hub for Low-Income Elderly Residents in the Fenway” - $50,000
- Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) Massachusetts: “The Resiliency Cohort: Supporting Massachusetts CDCs in Resiliency Planning” - $50,000
- Lynn: “Lynn, MA Green Infrastructure Rehabilitation and Planning” - $50,000
- Mystic River Watershed Association (MyRWA): “Healthy Mystic, Healthy Communities" - $50,000
- Natick: “Atlantic White Cedar Study and Restoration Plan” - $50,000
- Salem Alliance for the Environment (SAFE): “SAFE Air for All” - $50,000
- Vital Village Networks: “Community Leadership for Climate Resilience and Family Wellbeing” - $50,000
All grant recipients will participate in MAPC’s Resilience Community of Practice (RCOP), a peer-to-peer learning group that will bring together grantees regularly to discuss challenges and barriers to implementation and share lessons learned for collective problem-solving.
In addition to the RCOP, the ACR Program also hosts a Speaker Series that is open to the public.
“Climate resilience is built locally -- through the leadership, collaboration, and dedication of municipalities and community organizations,” said Mariella Puerto, Interim Vice President for Strategy and Programs and Director of Climate at the Barr Foundation. “Through the ACR program, we are seeing communities turn their ideas and priorities into on-the-ground action while generating lessons that can inform and strengthen resilience efforts well beyond a single project or place. Implementation is rarely linear, but the persistence, adaptation, and shared learning demonstrated by this work build the knowledge, relationships, and capacity needed to protect communities across the region.”
For more information about the ACR program, contact MAPC Director of Environmental Planning Van Du at [email protected] and visit mapc.org/resource-library/accelerating-resiliency.