BOSTON – Twelve projects in Greater Boston will soon put more than $400,000 to work advancing local climate change resilience, thanks to a new round of "Accelerating Climate Resiliency” grant funding announced this week. 

Grants range in size from $12,000 to $50,000 per project and are designed to drive long-term transformative change by investing in impactful, short-term local projects. This is the third round of funding distributed through the program, part of a partnership between The Barr Foundation and the Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC) in Boston. 

Grants awarded in this round will go to:

• Arlington: “Remembrance of Climate Futures” public art project 
• Beverly: Community outreach campaign with Salem for retrofitting buildings 
• Boston: Food Forest Coalition education campaign 
• Braintree: Nature-based climate solutions in environmental justice communities 
• Brookline: “Tech Buddies” program 
• Chelsea: Social vulnerability assessment with Revere and Winthrop 
• Marlborough: Tree planting initiative 
• Medford: Conceptualization and community building for Equitable Resilience Hubs 
• Revere: Creating a Regional Resiliency Working Group with Everett, Lynn, Malden & Saugus 
• Salem: Mack Park Farm and Food Forest 
• Stoughton: Community pollinator gardens 
• Stow: Building a climate resilience coalition within MAPC’s Minuteman region, a group of 13 communities northwest of Boston.
  

Grant recipients will also participate in MAPC’s Resilience Community of Practice, 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.  

“MAPC is so pleased to offer this third round of Accelerating Climate Resiliency grants to help cities and towns prepare their communities for climate change,” said MAPC Deputy Director Rebecca Davis. “From installing green infrastructure to helping to address food insecurity and building multi-municipal climate coalitions, these communities are leading by example. Their collective efforts are advancing equity, creating best practices and models for others to adapt and adopt, and deepening our region’s resilience to climate change.” 

“The City of Chelsea is extremely grateful to be working with MAPC again on an Accelerating Climate Resiliency Grant,” said Chelsea City Manager Thomas G. Ambrosino. “This grant will provide a meaningful first step for the Chelsea, Revere and Winthrop North Suffolk Regional Sustainability Office to begin assessing and analyzing the characteristics and needs of our most vulnerable Environmental Justice communities and will set forth actionable recommendations to allay the worst impacts spurred by climate change. 

“Stoughton is very excited to have our project, ‘Community Pollinator Gardens,’ be chosen for the Accelerating Climate Resiliency Program grant,” said Stoughton Executive Director of Human Services Janiece Bruce. “This will help make our town a healthier place to live by promoting cooperative work, education in land-use and nature-based solutions toward climate resiliency, with the side benefits of stress relieving, intergenerational activities.”

“Barr’s climate program is proud to support this effort to create more climate resilient communities. There is no one size fits all solution to the climate crisis. The projects funded reflect the diversity of strategies and approaches necessary to meet current and future challenges,” said Kalila Barnett, Program Officer, Climate Resilience at the Barr Foundation. 

 For a full list of local grant award amounts, timelines, project descriptions and local partners, visit mapc.org/resource-library/accelerating-resiliency. 

For more information and questions about the program, contact MAPC Senior Environmental Planner Van Du at [email protected].