Healey-Driscoll Administration Awards $31.5 Million in Climate Resiliency Funding to Communities
The announcement was held on the original homeland of the Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohicans, who will reclaim land using grant funds
STOCKBRIDGE – The Healey-Driscoll Administration
Lieutenant Governor Kim Driscoll and Energy and Environmental Affairs (EEA) Secretary Rebecca Tepper made the announcement in Stockbridge, the original homeland of the Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohicans. In the 1800s, the Tribe was pressured to leave their home, forcing them to eventually relocate to Wisconsin. The Tribe was awarded $2.26 million MVP Action Grant to reclaim 351 acres of their indigenous homelands and establish tribally driven conservation and forest management strategies.
“As we work to address the climate crisis, we have an opportunity to right historical wrongs,” said Governor Maura Healey. “This investment to the Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohicans demonstrates our administration’s commitment to building strong relationships with Indigenous communities and supporting their efforts in mitigating the impacts of climate change. We are proud to be a part of this significant first step of welcoming the Tribe back to their homeland.”
“The Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohicans’ stewardship of lands is profoundly interwoven into their culture and reclaiming it will not only restore their relationship with the natural environment but also ensure ancestral-significant areas are preserved,” said Lieutenant Governor Kim Driscoll. “The MVP program is one of our critical tools to partner with communities and build resiliency. We’re grateful to this year’s recipients for their hard work to mitigate the impacts of climate change.”
"Our mission is to continue to foster and create relationships centered around integrated capital solutions and capacity building with our Tribal Nation, alongside partners, changemakers, community developers and partners like the state of Massachusetts," said Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohicans President Shannon Holsey. "We are creating a paradigm shift in how society invests in tribal nations by grounding an investment strategy in Indigenous systems thinking, recognizing the interconnectedness of all things and our responsibilities to our homelands and each other. Our approach ensures a resilient and regenerative framework from start to finish, built around the origins of our homeland."
“Equity and environmental justice are fundamental in our approach to tackling climate change. This project is just one example of how our administration is taking historic action in undoing the systems that excluded the Indigenous, Black, and brown communities and ensuring they are centered in our work,” said EEA Secretary Rebecca Tepper. “We look forward to continuing our partnerships with Tribes to develop proactive strategies protecting and restoring Massachusetts’ natural resources.”
The MVP grant program provides communities with funding and technical assistance to support the climate resilience planning process and implement priority actions to adapt to climate change. In April, Governor Healey launched MVP Planning 2.0, which serves as the next phase of our flagship program. It supports communities in updating their climate change resiliency plans in a way that centers environmental justice and other priority populations most impacted by climate change and putting these plans into action. The awards announced today include $3 million in funding for MVP 2.0 to 28 individual municipalities, one regional group, and one Tribe. The following communities will receive funding to complete MVP 2.0 in 2023-2025:
Grantee | Total Award |
Abington | $95,000 |
Acton | $95,000 |
Arlington | $95,000 |
Ashland | $95,000 |
Belchertown | $95,000 |
Charlton | $95,000 |
Chelmsford | $95,000 |
Chelsea | $95,000 |
Chesterfield | $95,000 |
Chicopee | $95,000 |
Central Massachusetts Regional Planning Commission on behalf of the Towns of Uxbridge, Sutton, Douglas, and Northbridge | $290,000 |
Cohasset | $95,000 |
Deerfield | $95,000 |
Easton | $95,000 |
Fairhaven | $95,000 |
Goshen | $95,000 |
Hassanamisco Nipmuc Band | $95,000 |
Leicester | $95,000 |
Lincoln | $95,000 |
Maynard | $95,000 |
Milford | $95,000 |
Montague | $95,000 |
Northampton | $95,000 |
Peabody | $95,000 |
Reading | $95,000 |
Somerville | $95,000 |
South Hadley | $95,000 |
Sudbury | $95,000 |
Westport | $95,000 |
Windsor | $95,000 |
Total (30) | Total: $3,045,000 |
Today’s awards also include $28.5 million in MVP Action Grant funding for 79 local implementation projects. These 79 projects are led by 56 different individual municipalities, 16 regional groups, two water districts, and one Tribe. MVP Action Grant projects are focused on proactive strategies to address climate change impacts and may include actions to invest in and protect environmental justice communities and improve public health, nature-based solutions to mitigate the impacts of extreme heat and flooding, and climate resilience-focused regulatory updates.
Grantee | Project Title | Total Award |
Amherst | Fort River Watershed Improvements for Flood & Water Quality Resiliency | $ 169,250 |
Andover | Climate Ready Shawsheen - Preparing for Flood Resilience | $ 81,900 |
Attleboro | Green Stormwater Infrastructure Feasibility Study | $ 101,250 |
Avon | Urban Park for People: Resilient D.W. Field Park | $ 1,455,350 |
Barnstable | Hyannis Harbor Master Plan | $ 199,000 |
Bolton | Future Resilient Field at Derby | $ 22,300 |
Boston (& Revere) | Regional Climate Resilience and Recreation in Boston, Revere, and Belle Isle Marsh | $ 330,500 |
Briggsville Water District (& Town of Clarksburg) | Briggsville Water District Land Acquisition and Tank Engineering for Flood and Drought Resilience | $ 48,150 |
Brookline | Brookline Town-Wide Drainage Model, System Evaluation & Vulnerability Assessment | $ 145,226 |
Buckland | Design of Clesson Brook Watershed Resiliency Projects | $ 160,000 |
Burlington (& Upper Mystic Communities) | Retrofits to Facilities that Host or Serve Priority Populations | $ 90,600 |
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