人生一定要有的八個朋友：
推手(Builder)、
支柱(Champion)、
同好(Collaborator)、
夥伴(Companion)、
中介(Connector)、
開心果(Energizer)、
開路者(Mind Opener)、
導師(Navigator)。
chutze@bostonorange.com
*******************
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Creates citywide eviction moratorium and
plans for Foreclosure Prevention Fund
BOSTON - Tuesday,
August 31, 2021 - Mayor Kim Janey today announced a Housing Stability
Agenda, following the recent ruling by the Supreme Court of the United
States to end the Center of Disease Control’s nationwide eviction
moratorium and the continuing challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. As
part of the Housing Stability Agenda, the Boston Public Health
Commission's Interim Executive Director signed a new public health order
establishing a moratorium on evictions in the City of Boston, effective
immediately. Mayor Janey has also directed the Department of Neighborhood
Development to lead creation of a $5 million Foreclosure Prevention Fund,
with program information to be released next week.
“The loss of
federal eviction protections and the ongoing pandemic has put our most
vulnerable neighbors at risk of losing their homes,” said Mayor Janey. “I
am implementing a housing stability agenda to continue Boston’s public
health recovery with emergency assistance for renters and homeowners who
need help.”
The moratorium
temporarily halts residential evictions in response to the COVID-19
pandemic, including the rise of the Delta variant. The public health
order prohibits landlords and property owners from pursuing tenant
eviction proceedings in the City of Boston.
In the coming
weeks, the $5 million Emergency Foreclosure Prevention Fund will be
available to eligible homeowners to help cover costs related to
homeownership including mortgage, insurance, and condominium fee
payments. To be eligible for the Fund, a homeowner must be delinquent on
those payments. Priority will be given to those homeowners most at
risk for foreclosure. The program will be financed through both the
American Rescue Plan Act and the CARES ACT Coronavirus Relief Fund (CRF).
The new eviction
moratorium and Emergency Foreclosure Prevention Fund build on the City’s
ongoing measures to protect both renters and homeowners, including
allocating $50 million to the Rental Relief Fund, distributing more than
$19 million to 3,500 households around the City at a pace exceeding state
and national averages. The recently expanded Office of Housing Stability
has also connected Boston residents to state housing relief resources. To
date, a total of 12,500 Boston households have received $72 million in
state and City housing stability assistance.
Gubernatorial candidate Danielle Allen and co author of The Path
to Zero and Schools: Achieving Pandemic-Resilient Teaching and Learning Spaces
policy guidance, Professor Meira Levinson will gather on Facebook Live
for a thirty minute Q&A about best policy practices that Massachusetts can
take up as this school year starts to keep students, educators, and school
staff safe as the Commonwealth starts its second school year affected by COVID.
Both Allen and Levinson have worked with schools on COVID safety practices
throughout the pandemic and are considered national experts.
Meira Levinson, in collaboration with other colleagues,
co-authored The Path to Zero and Schools: Achieving Pandemic-Resilient
Teaching and Learning Spaces policy guidance, a New England Journal of Medicine article on Reopening
Primary Schools in a Pandemic, and two additional white papers. She is a normative political
philosopher who works at the intersection of civic education, youth empowerment,
racial justice, and educational ethics. In doing so, she draws upon scholarship
from multiple disciplines as well as her eight years of experience teaching in
the Atlanta and Boston Public Schools. Since the onslaught of the global novel
coronavirus pandemic, Levinson has been focused on expanding educational ethics
to address the multitude of ethical challenges posed by school closures, remote
schooling, and uncertain reopenings. She has also been leading global teacher
discussion groups on the ethical challenges they face.
Danielle is a mom, policy expert, nonprofit leader, and professor
at Harvard University. She has advised policy makers at all levels of
government on critical policy decisions. Over the last twenty years, she has
led organizations at all scales from local civic education providers to a
global philanthropy. Danielle has achieved impact over decades through policy
and implementation in the domains of education, justice, health, and democracy.
Her leadership is characterized by listening, collaborating, and innovating--as
in leading a multi-disciplinary covid response team that led to the
Biden-Harris Pandemic Testing Board and an interstate compact to build out
COVID testing resources.
Baker-Polito Administration Awards $21
Million in Climate Change Funding to Cities and Towns
93% of
Communities Participating in Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness Program
EASTHAMPTON – Building on its commitment to creating a
more climate change resilient Commonwealth, the Baker-Polito Administration
today announced $21 million in grants to cities and towns through the Municipal
Vulnerability Preparedness (MVP) Program, representing a
doubling of the program budget since last year. To date, this brings total
awards through the MVP program to over $65 million. The grant program, which
was created in 2017 as part of Governor Charlie
Baker’s Executive Order 569, provides communities with
funding and technical support to identify climate hazards, develop strategies
to improve resilience, and implement priority actions to adapt to climate
change. The grants are in addition to the Administration’s proposal to
invest $900 million in funding from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) into
key energy and environmental initiatives, including $300 million to support
climate resilient infrastructure.
“With the ongoing success of the MVP program, we arepleased to double the
program’s funding this year to support local climate change resilience projects
throughout the Commonwealth,” said Governor Charlie Baker. “Massachusetts communities are implementing important,
nation-leading efforts to adapt to climate change. Our Administration is committed to working
with municipalities across the Commonwealth to tackle these urgent challenges,
which is why we have proposed a significant increase in funding for climate
adaptation projects through our federal ARPA spending plan.”
“The MVP program
is a vital tool in our efforts to prepare and strengthen our coastal and inland
communities to address the impacts of climate change,” saidLieutenant
Governor Karyn Polito. “We are thrilled to welcome 16 new towns to the
program as they take important steps in planning for the future, and to award
funding to 66 priority implementation projects that range from upgrading or
removing high-risk dams and culverts to investing in Environmental Justice
communities.”
Through this
latest round of funding, 93% of Massachusetts cities and towns, or 328
municipalities, are now enrolled in the MVP program. The program pairs local
leadership and knowledge with a significant investment of resources and funding
from the Commonwealth to address ongoing climate change impacts, such as inland
flooding, storms, sea level rise, and extreme temperatures. Of these funds,
$20.6 million was awarded to 66 cities, towns, or regional partnerships to
implement projects that build local resilience to climate change in the
Commonwealth’s fifth round of MVP Action Grant funding. Additionally, $400,000
was awarded to 16 towns to pursue a community led planning process to identify
vulnerabilities to climate change and priority actions. When complete, these
municipalities will be eligible for the next round of implementation funding.
“The MVP program has been recognized as a national model
for building climate resiliency through strong state and local partnerships,
and we are proud to have enrolled 93% of the municipalities in Massachusetts in
this critical effort,” saidEnergy and Environmental Affairs
Secretary Kathleen Theoharides. “Every region in Massachusetts
experienced extreme weather throughout the summer, including excessive heat,
record precipitation, and flooding, and the MVP program offers vital technical
and financial assistance to help municipalities address vulnerabilities and
create stronger, more liveable climate resilient communities.”
The $21 million
announced today will go towards MVP Planning Grants and Action Grants. Planning
Grants support communities in working with a state-certified technical
assistance provider to lead a community-wide planning workshop to identify key
climate-related hazards, vulnerabilities and strengths, develop adaptation
actions, and prioritize next steps. Results of the workshops and planning
efforts inform existing local plans, grant applications, and policies.
Communities are then eligible for competitive MVP Action Grant funding to
implement priority on-the-ground projects. Projects are focused on proactive strategies to address climate
change impacts and may include retrofitting and adapting infrastructure,
actions to invest in and protect environmental justice communities and improve
public health, detailed vulnerability assessments or design and engineering
studies, stormwater upgrades, dam retrofits and removals, culvert upgrades,
drought mitigation, energy resilience, and projects that focus on implementing
nature-based solutions such as wetland restoration and floodplain protection.
“The grant allows Easthampton to act on our deep
commitment to a resilient, environmentally aware ecosystem,” said
Easthampton Mayor
Nicole LaChapelle. “The Cherry
Street project serves as a model for future grants.”
"These
grants provide critical funding to Easthampton, Southwick, and communities
throughout our region for initiatives that focus on the consequential impacts
of climate change,” said State Senator John Velis (D - Westfield). “Projects funded by the MVP program, like
the Cherry Street restoration in Easthampton, allow our municipalities to
address local climate hazards and build a more resilient and environmentally
friendly infrastructure."
“I am very excited that Easthampton is receiving this MVP Action Grant,”
said State Representative
Dan Carey (D - Easthampton). “This grant for Cherry Street’s green infrastructure and slope
restoration construction is a perfect example of the partnership between state
and municipal government. The state funding from this grant will help to
make necessary improvements in our community. It is crucial that we
address climate change on the local level and this project will make the area more
resilient to ongoing and future climate change impacts.”
The following communities will receive funding to
complete the MVP planning process in 2021-2022:
Applicant
MVP Program Region
Total Award
Boylston
Central
$20,000
Clarksburg
Berkshires & Hilltowns
$15,000
Egremont
Berkshires & Hilltowns
$40,000
Hawley
Berkshires & Hilltowns
$27,000
Huntington
Berkshires & Hilltowns
$38,000
Ludlow
Greater Connecticut River Valley
$31,000
Millville
Central
$27,000
Oxford
Central
$26,900
Raynham
Southeast
$15,000
Savoy
Berkshires & Hilltowns
$15,000
Southbridge
Greater Connecticut River Valley
$22,000
Tolland
Berkshires & Hilltowns
$27,000
Tyringham
Berkshires & Hilltowns
$20,000
Warren
Greater Connecticut River Valley
$26,895
Webster
Central
$25,000
West Bridgewater
Southeast
$22,000
Total (16)
Total: $397,795
The following communities were awarded Action Grants:
Applicant
Project Title
Grant Award
Acton & Acton-Boxborough
Regional School District
Climate Action Plan and
Electrification Roadmap
$157,940
Andover
Shawsheen River Watershed Land
Conservation Planning and Prioritization for Climate Resilience and
Environmental Justice
Regional Low Lying Road Assessment
and Feasibility
$236,258
Westford
Westford Tree and Invasive Species
Inventory and Management Plan with Tree Planting Plan
$79,200
Westhampton
Resilience Building through
Community Visioning and Planning
$237,516
Winthrop, Boston, & Revere
Belle Isle Marsh: Evaluating Nature
Based Solutions to Protect Abutting Communities and Critical Shorebird
Habitat from Coastal Inundation
$145,307
Wrentham
Climate Resilience and Low Impact
Development Regulatory Integration and Green Infrastructure Master Plan
$113,344
Total (66)
$20,585,193
In June 2021, the Baker-Polito Administration re-filed its plan to immediately put
to use part of Commonwealth’s direct federal aid from the American Rescue Plan
Act to support key priorities including housing and homeownership, economic
development and local downtowns, job training and workforce development, health
care, and infrastructure. As part of the Administration’s proposal to
jump-start the Commonwealth’s economic recovery and support residents
hardest-hit by COVID-19, such as lower-wage workers and communities of color,
Governor Baker would direct $900 million to key energy and environmental
initiatives, including $300 million to support climate resilient
infrastructure. The funding would be distributed through programs like EEA’s
Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness Program and would fund priority climate
adaptation projects and investments aligned with the priorities identified in
the state hazard mitigation and climate adaptation plan. Investments that would
be supported through the funding include the acquisition of land specifically
targeted at reducing flooding and the Urban Heat Island Effect.
