Who is a member?
Our members are the local governments of Massachusetts and their elected and appointed leadership.
Gov. Healey announces a new pilot program to support cities and towns across Massachusetts in updating and putting their climate change resiliency plans and projects into action during a press conference at Belle Isle Marsh in East Boston. (Photo courtesy Joshua Qualls/Governor’s Press Office)
Gov. Maura Healey and Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Rebecca Tepper have announced a relaunch of the Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness program’s planning component, which they’re calling MVP 2.0.
The April 19 announcement follows a year of thorough review, stakeholder input, and an informational webinar on the new program.
Created in 2017, the MVP program has provided more than $100 million to cities and towns across Massachusetts to help them identify potential climate change impacts and existing and future vulnerabilities and strengths, and to develop, prioritize and implement key actions.
The Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness Planning 2.0 program will help municipalities continue to increase climate change resilience by building on existing planning grants to fill gaps with new methods, tools and resources.
One of the new tools, Guides for Equitable and Actionable Resilience, or GEAR, will be released in the coming weeks to better explain the intersection of climate hazards and community systems and infrastructure within a community, while highlighting possible actions and solutions as well as MVP case studies.
Paired with the MVP 2.0 announcement came a commitment from Gov. Healey to provide $100 million over the next five years for the MVP Program through the state’s capital budget. This level of funding is comparable to the program’s first five years of operation.
Application details
Communities that have completed an MVP Planning Grant are eligible to apply for the MVP 2.0 pilot program. Of the 351 municipalities in Massachusetts, 349 have already completed or are in the process of completing an original MVP Planning Grant.
Municipalities applying for and implementing MVP Action Grants may participate in the MVP 2.0 pilot concurrently. Action grant applications for fiscal 2024 are open through May 4.
Up to 30 communities (five in each region) will be awarded an MVP 2.0 grant to participate in the two-year pilot. The deadline to apply for the MVP 2.0 pilot program is May 19.
Visit the MVP program website for more information, including the link to the COMMBUYS website with the Request for Responses and required forms.