Grants will protect people, communities manage heat and flooding
Arlington, MA, August 1, 2024—Governor Healey’s announcement of $52.4 million in FY2025 Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness grants included just over $12 million in funding for community-designed projects to prevent harm to residents, workers, and resources in Resilient Mystic Collaborative (RMC) cities and towns.
Convened by ten Mystic watershed communities and the Mystic River Watershed Association in September 2018 and now led by senior staff from twenty cities and towns and non-governmental partners, the RMC designs and completes on-the-ground projects to protect our most vulnerable residents and public services from harm due to increasingly extreme weather.
“The MVP program connects local leaders with state resources to protect our most vulnerable communities from extreme weather,” said EOEEA Secretary Rebecca Tepper. “The Resilient Mystic Collaborative exemplifies regional teamwork, demonstrating how collective efforts can drive climate adaptation. We are proud to fund critical initiatives such as flood management, resilient community centers, and forest health. We're proud to award the most funds in MVP history to such a strong set of projects.”
These MVP grants bring the total resources secured for RMC climate resilient projects to nearly $140 million in state, federal, and foundation grants since the voluntary partnership began. “What is extraordinary is that about three quarters of all the funding we’ve secured are for regional projects,” said Mystic River Watershed Association’s Julie Wormser, who helps facilitate the RMC. “These are critical investments that communities can’t accomplish without partnering with their neighbors.” Multiple FY2025 MVP grants build on the accomplishments of prior successful proposals.
Quotes from each community followed by a summary table of individual and regional grants are below.
By far the largest grant—the maximum $5 million allowed for regional projects—went to the Island End River coastal flood management project, a multi-year effort by Chelsea and Everett to protect environmental justice neighborhoods and critical regional infrastructure including fruit and vegetable distribution for all of New England and the Canadian Maritimes. “The Island End River flood barrier will protect thousands of residents in Chelsea and Everett and billions of dollars in infrastructure,” said Chelsea City Manager, Fidel Maltez. “This $5 million grant will advance this project and ensure that our cities remain viable economic engines for the foreseeable future, while also beautifying the area for locals to enjoy.”
“What our communities are accomplishing together is nothing short of miraculous,” said Patrick Herron, Executive Director of the Mystic River Watershed Association. “Extreme weather mocks municipal boundaries. Municipal staff and local non-profits are pulling together to protect people and infrastructure at the scale of the challenge.”
An emerging goal for Mystic communities has been to reinforce critical facilities that serve priority populations—residents and workers disproportionately affected by extreme weather. Medford and Somerville are working regionally to develop a network of resilient community centers that can provide on-going public services (e.g., afterschool programs and food pantries) while providing food and shelter during heat waves and extreme storms.
“We are so grateful for this $746,580 MVP grant award and want to thank the Healey Administration for their continued commitment to climate resilience,” said MaryAnn O’Connor, Medford Public Health Director. “This funding will allow us to continue our efforts to build a resilient Medford and ensure that all of our residents are prepared for future climate events.”
“Individual communities are learning what it takes to make better resilient community centers,” said Emily Sullivan, Somerville’s Climate Change Program Manager. “This $310,100 grant will help us work with the people we most seek to serve in establishing a regional network of welcoming, accessible safe havens that people will want to go to.”
“These projects are examples of how beneficial it has been to have municipal and environmental justice non-profit staff working together,” said John Walkey, Director of Climate Justice & Waterfront Initiatives for GreenRoots. “Every year we are getting better and better choosing and designing projects with and for the people who need our work most.”
The Town of Reading submitted a regional grant to help seventeen communities stormproof key community facilities. The Metropolitan Area Planning Council is sponsoring a regional pilot program to understand how best governments can communicate with hard-to-reach vulnerable residents—like unhoused or socially isolated people—before and during extreme weather.
“The projects generated by this grant will protect critical facilities and fragile sites, a top priority to Reading and surrounding Resilient Mystic Collaborative communities,” said Town Manager Matt Kraunelis. “We’re pleased to continue this long-term work with our surrounding cities and towns and look forward to the innovative solutions to come.”
“With one of the hottest summers on record we're excited to continue to advance local and regional preparedness for extreme heat in the lower Mystic” said Sasha Shyduroff, Principal Planner with MAPC. “This $490,813 grant will fund critical partnerships between municipalities, public health, and community-based organizations to develop culturally relevant communications and strategies to talk about extreme heat."
RMC communities are also increasingly investing in healthy open space and urban trees. Cambridge is sponsoring a regional grant to increase forest health across the Mystic Watershed and Medford is drawing up a resilient urban forest plan. Watertown, Everett, Arlington, Chelsea, and Malden secured funds for community-designed public cooling solutions.
“The Mystic River Watershed is the most urbanized watershed in New England,” said Jim Wilcox, Cambridge City Engineer. “This $276,800 grant will allow us to create a watershed-wide map of areas of high- and low-tree mortality risks so we can plant most trees where they’ll grow well and give others extra TLC to improve their chances at reaching maturity.”
“Just like many other Greater Boston communities, Watertown’s more vulnerable residents unfortunately live in those neighborhoods with the most pavement and fewest trees,” said Steve Magoon, Assistant City Manager for Community Development and Planning. “This $976,270 grant will allow us to continue to implement a previous MVP grant to transform neighborhood streets using green infrastructure where people need it the most.”
“Wicked Cool Mystic--Súper Fresco Místico is a $687,000 grant for Everett, Arlington, Chelsea, and Malden to implement community-designed outdoor cooling solutions,” said Everett Mayor Carlo DeMaria. “Our last grant asked people what they most wanted; this funding lets us follow through on their requests.”
“These grants use state resources, municipal support, and community leadership to bring resources to the people who suffer most during heatwaves,” said Nicole Fina, Civic Engagement and Advocacy Manager with Everett Community Growers. “I look forward to working with the City and with residents to help implement the outdoor cooling solutions they chose for their communities.”
Finally, communities are working to manage flooding from intense rainstorms and higher seas. Stoneham is restoring a freshwater wetland to improve flooding and habitat near its high school, while Boston and Revere are partnering to manage coastal flooding into neighborhoods around Belle Isle Marsh.
“Extreme weather and frequent flooding continue to increase vulnerability in Stoneham and throughout the region as a result of climate change,” said Erin Wortman, Director of Planning & Community Development. “We are thankful to the MVP Program for this $2,346,126 grant that allows us to implement a multi-year planning process. The funding will be used to manage stormwater flooding, improve wildlife habitat, and protect drinking water quality while expanding an accessible trail system for residents and visitors to enjoy.”
“The City of Boston is thrilled to receive FY25 MVP funding for the Resilient Bennington Street and Fredericks Park Project, and to continue our partnership with the City of Revere on a regionally significant coastal resilience project," said Catherine McCandless, Senior Climate Resilience Project Manager with the City of Boston's Environment Department. "Through this $456,500 grant, we will advance the project into the next phase of design so we can address coastal flood risk that impacts both municipalities while providing recreational benefits for our communities.”
“Revere is eager to continue to work with the Boston Planning Department on the regional flood risk reduction planning for Bennington Street/ Fredricks Park and adjacent neighbors and businesses,” said Elle Baker, Open Space and Environmental Planner. “Using FY24 MVP funds we were able to conduct a thorough alternatives analysis. This follow-on grant will let us select the most effective alternative and deliver beneficial resiliency and outdoor recreation to our communities.”
Five million in MVP funding will go toward protecting food security in the Northeast and environmental justice neighborhoods in Chelsea and Everett. (Photo Credit: Greg St. Louis. Flooding at the New England Produce Center during a record Nor’easter in 2018)
FY2025 MVP Action Grants Secured by Resilient Mystic Collaborative Municipalities
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Mystic River Watershed at a Glance
The 76-square-mile Mystic River Watershed stretches from Reading through the northern shoreline of Boston Harbor to Revere. An Anglicized version of the Pequot word missi-tuk (“large river with wind- and tide-driven waves”), it is now one of New England’s most densely populated, urbanized watersheds.
The seven-mile Mystic River and its tributaries represented an early economic engine for colonial Boston. Ten shipyards built more than five hundred clipper ships in the 1800s before roads and railways replaced schooners and steamships. Tide-driven mills, brickyards, and tanneries along both banks of the river brought both wealth and pollution.
In the 1960s, the Amelia Earhart Dam transformed much of the river into a freshwater impoundment, while construction of Interstate 93 filled in wetlands and dramatically changed the river’s course. Since then, many former industrial sites have been cleaned up and redeveloped into new commercial areas and residential communities.
The Mystic is facing growing climate-related challenges: coastal and stormwater flooding, extreme storms, heat, drought, and unpredictable seasonal weather. The watershed is relatively low-lying and extensively developed, making it prone to both freshwater and coastal flooding. Its twenty-one municipalities are home to 600,000 residents, including many who are disproportionately vulnerable to extreme weather: environmental justice communities, new Americans, residents of color, elders, low-income residents and employees, people living with disabilities and English-language learners.
