Administration announces $2.25M in Community Innovation Challenge grants

Twenty-seven programs involving 162 cities and towns will share in $2.25 million in Community Innovation Challenge grants for fiscal 2013, the Patrick administration announced today.

The grant program, now in its second year, is intended to support innovative regionalization and other cost-saving initiatives.

“These programs will change the way local governments do business to maintain service delivery and stretch every taxpayer dollar as far as possible,” the governor’s office said in a statement.

The project recipients reflect geographic and income diversity across the state.

“We’re excited to continue this program with the second round of award recipients, who have all proposed more innovative opportunities and cost-saving measures to collaborate, regionalize and maintain valuable local services,” said Lt. Gov. Timothy Murray.

“Our new fiscal reality demands that government change the way it does business,” said Administration and Finance Secretary Glen Shor.

The CIC grant program, Shor said, “is just one of the many ways we are working to give cities and towns the tools they need to drive change in local government.”

The program provides incentives, such as technical assistance, training and other one-time or transition funding, for municipal leaders to work together to pursue innovative ways to deliver services. Ideal projects include those with the potential for greatest impact, high levels of innovation and substantial potential cost savings for municipalities.

The $4 million fiscal 2012 program invested in 27 projects involving 138 cities and towns. The results and outcomes of each project will be shared this summer at www.mass.gov/anf.

The following are the Community Innovation Challenge grant recipients for fiscal 2013:

Education

Creating In-District Programs for Students with Severe Emotional and Behavioral Disorders ($110,800)
School districts in Agawam, East Longmeadow, Longmeadow, Ludlow and West Springfield; Hampden-Wilbraham Regional School District; Southwick-Tolland-Granville Regional School District

Berkshire County Curriculum Frameworks Project ($89,520)
Central Berkshire Regional School District (lead); Adams-Cheshire Regional School District; Berkshire Hills Regional School District; Northern Berkshire Vocational Technical School District; Southern Berkshire Regional School District; public school districts in Clarksburg, Florida, Savoy, Lee and Lenox

Expanding Regional Services for Students with Dyslexia ($73,000)
Manchester-Essex Regional School District

Regionalizing Technology Support Services ($52,037)
School districts in Richmond (lead), Hancock and New Ashford

School StatNet Pilot ($38,326)
Cities of Somerville (lead), Fitchburg, Revere and Chicopee

Financial Services

Regionalization of Assessment Services ($35,000)
Towns of Amherst (lead) and Pelham

Public Health

Public Health Nursing Program, Year 2 ($54,840)
Berkshire Regional Planning Commission (lead); city of North Adams; towns of Adams, Alford, Becket, Clarksburg, Dalton, Charlemont, Great Barrington, Hancock, Lanesborough, Mount Washington, New Marlborough, Peru, Richmond, Sandisfield, Savoy, Sheffield, Washington, West Stockbridge, Williamstown and Windsor

Local Boards of Health Online Tobacco Retailer Certification Program ($25,250)
Towns of Lee (lead), Lenox and Stockbridge

Cooperative Public Health Service ($68,317)
Franklin Regional Council of Governments (lead); towns of Buckland, Charlemont, Conway, Deerfield, Gill, Hawley, Heath, Monroe, Leyden and Shelburne

Hampden County Health Alliance ($45,000)
Pioneer Valley Planning Commission (lead); communities of Blandford, Granville, Holyoke, Ludlow, Palmer, Southwick, Springfield, Westfield, West Springfield

Public Works and Environmental Affairs

Regional Highway Equipment Cooperative, Phase 2 ($24,500)
Towns of Brookfield (lead), Brimfield, East Brookfield, Hardwick, Warren and West Brookfield

Northern Middlesex Storm Water Collaborative ($98,000)
Northern Middlesex Council of Governments (lead); city of Lowell; towns of Billerica, Chelmsford, Dracut, Dunstable, Pepperell, Tewksbury, Tyngsborough and Westford

Cape Cod Great White Shark Research and Outreach Program ($50,000)
Towns of Orleans (lead); Chatham, Truro, Nantucket, Harwich, Yarmouth, Dennis, Wellfleet, Provincetown, Brewster and Barnstable

Regionalizing Municipal Storm Water Management in Central Massachusetts ($115,000)
Towns of Spencer (lead), Auburn, Charlton, Dudley, Holden, Leicester, Millbury, Oxford, Paxton, Shrewsbury, Spencer, Sturbridge, Webster, West Boylston, Boylston, Grafton, Hardwick, Monson, New Braintree, Northbridge, Northborough, North Brookfield, Palmer, Princeton, Rutland, Southbridge, Sterling, Upton, Ware, Westborough and Wilbraham

Regional Department of Public Facilities and Infrastructure ($30,000)
Towns of Wenham (lead) and Hamilton; Hamilton-Wenham Regional School District

Information Technology

Central Massachusetts Regional Electronic Permitting Collaborative ($112,000)
Central Massachusetts Regional Planning Commission (lead); towns of Barre, Blackstone, Boylston, Dudley, Hardwick, Leicester, Northbridge, Spencer and Upton

Hampshire Cloud ($80,000)
Hampshire Council of Governments (lead); towns of Chesterfield and Hadley

Electronic Weights and Measures Inspection ($21,550)
Towns of Holliston (lead), Ashland, Medway and Millis

Malden 311 and Workers’ Compensation Reentry Program ($27,780)
City of Malden

Regionally Improving Citizen Access and Service Delivery ($80,000)
Merrimack Valley Planning Commission (lead); cities of Amesbury, Haverhill, Lawrence, Methuen and Newburyport; towns of Andover, North Andover and Salisbury

Expansion of the Southeast Fire Department Electronic Records and Permitting Collaborative ($75,000)
Southeast Regional Planning and Economic Development District (lead); city of Fall River; towns of North Attleborough, Seekonk, Marion, Westport and Fairhaven

Municipal Open Checkbook System ($120,000)
Cities of Woburn (lead), Chelsea, Chicopee and Revere; Town of Brookline

Transportation

Expansion and Implementation of a Reconfigured Transportation Management Association ($60,000)
Towns of Acton (lead), Boxborough, Concord, Littleton, Maynard, Stow and Westford

Regional Paratransit Services (Two-Town Trolley) ($30,600)
Towns of East Longmeadow (lead) and Hampden

Libraries

The Ames Free Library’s Creative Commons ($40,000)
Town of Easton

Public Safety

Northwestern District Anti-Crime Task Force Program ($81,288)
Franklin Regional Council of Governments (lead); cities of Greenfield and Northampton; towns of Athol, Amherst, and Montague

NoFires ($63,750)
Hampshire Council of Governments (lead); city of Holyoke; towns of Athol, Erving, New Salem, Orange, Petersham, Phillipston, Royalston, Warwick and Wendell

Rutland Regional Animal Control ($83,904)
Towns of Rutland (lead), Oakham, Barre and Paxton

Housing

Massachusetts Housing Data Portal ($50,000)
Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC)

Veterans’ Services

Expansion of Professional Regionalized Veterans Services ($35,083)
City of Northampton (lead); towns of Amherst, Chesterfield, Williamsburg, Cummington, Goshen, Pelham, Worthington, Hadley and Middlefield