Grants will support resilient zoning, parks, and paths
Resilient Mystic Collaborative Communities Secure over $4 million in Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness Grants for Climate Resilience
Grants will support resilient zoning, parks, and paths
Arlington, MA, September 23, 2025—Governor Healey’s announcement of $28.7 million in FY2026 Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness (MVP) grants included just over $4 million in funding for community-led projects to address inequitable climate change risks 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 (MyRWA) in September 2018, and now led by senior staff from twenty cities and towns, state and regional agencies, 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.
These MVP grants bring the total resources secured for RMC climate resilient projects to over $160 million in state, federal, and foundation funding since the voluntary partnership began. This includes federal grants that were canceled by the Trump Administration—$50 million for the Island End River Flood Resilience Project in Chelsea and Everett, and approximately $1 million for community-based initiatives aimed at addressing extreme heat and its health impacts.
“The MVP grant program continues to deliver real benefits for those most at-risk from climate change in our watershed, and we’re grateful to the Healey-Driscoll Administration and the Legislature for their continued support,” said Nasser Brahim, Director of Climate Resilience for the Mystic River Watershed Association. “This year’s awards show the benefit of investing in equitable climate resilient infrastructure, whether by zoning to ensure that private developments play their part in reducing urban heat islands and flooding, or by building parks and paths that give people safe and beautiful places to play, connect, and get around when it’s extremely hot outside.”
The $4 million received this year represents half of the total funding applied for by RMC municipalities this cycle, meaning that many projects—which all aim to protect people and infrastructure from climate risks—still seek a path forward. MyRWA has been advocating for increased funding to the MVP grant program in the Healey Administration’s Mass Ready Act, now moving through the state legislature. To learn more about the effort to increase MVP funding, visit https://www.massachusettsmvpcoalition.org/.
Quotes from each community, followed by a summary of grants awarded, are included below:
By far the largest grant—$2.45 million—was awarded to the City of Woburn for construction at Hurld Park. Improvements will transform the site of a former school into a heat-resilient park, including a new accessible playground and splash pad, shade trees, open space for the community to gather, and green stormwater infrastructure. The project complements other work at the project site, funded by a $3 million federal earmark secured by US Congresswoman Clark, to create a “natural” area with a stream, wetland, and floodplain to protect the city, as well as communities downstream, from stormwater flooding.
“Turning under-utilized land into a community asset is always a win for the city,” said Michael Concannon Mayor, City of Woburn, “We are honored to receive the MVP grant which, when combined with other grants and earmarks previously received, will allow us to realize our vision for shared recreational space that will serve as a nature park and community engagement hub.”
The City of Somerville was awarded a $1,367,300 Action Grant for constructing urban heat resilience measures at Blessing of the Bay Park. The project includes a community-envisioned greenway, replacing heat-generating asphalt with a shaded path for community members to access regional employment and transit centers at Assembly Square in Somerville and Wellington Circle in Medford. The project leverages nature-based solutions, including trees, tree trenches, and native plants, to address urban heat and stormwater priorities outlined in Somerville’s MVP Plan. It will improve community resilience by increasing educational programming and access to nature at Blessing of the Bay Park and the Mystic River Reservation.
“This MVP Action Grant is an incredible opportunity to build on our community’s vision for Blessing of the Bay Park and the Mystic River,” said Somerville Mayor Katjana Ballantyne. “Thanks to the state’s support and the sustained local investment through Somerville’s Community Preservation Act, we can replace asphalt with trees, shade, and a greenway that connects residents to jobs, transit, and nature. These investments in climate resilience and public space are exactly what it takes to keep Somerville healthy, connected, and thriving in the face of climate change.”
“High-quality parks and connected paths are not luxuries; they are essential infrastructure for 21st-century cities. They improve community health and wellbeing, mitigate climate impacts, and encourage active mobility,” said Karl Alexander, Greenways Program Senior Manager for the Mystic River Watershed Association. “With these improvements funded by the MVP Action Grant, we are turning community-led designs into reality.”
Finally, the City of Chelsea and the North Suffolk Office of Resilience and Sustainability received $313,600 for Stronger, Smarter, Greener: Implementing Resilient Zoning & Design in Chelsea. This project will develop specific recommendations for zoning and land use controls aimed at addressing stormwater flooding, coastal flooding, and urban heat mitigation.
"Chelsea struggles with disproportionate climate risks because of our densely paved surfaces and surrounding waterways," said Kristen Homeyer, Resilience Manager with the North Suffolk Office of Resilience and Sustainability (NSORS), which works in Chelsea, Revere, and Winthrop. "Our project will bring together community members, partners in City Hall, and industry experts to design updates to Chelsea's zoning that will ensure new development and redevelopment are done in a way that advances our climate goals, rather than leaving us at greater risk."
FY2026 MVP Action Grants Secured by Resilient Mystic Collaborative Municipalities
Chelsea - Stronger, Smarter, Greener: Implementing Resilient Zoning & Design in Chelsea
$313,600
Somerville - Blessing of the Bay Urban Heat Resilience
$1,367,300
Woburn (& Mystic River Communities) - Hurld Park Heat-Resilient Nature Park
$2,451,500
Total Requested - $8,116,737
Total Awarded - $4,130,900
% Funding Awarded - 51%
% Projects Awarded - 27%
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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.
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