City of Gloucester Awarded $69,890 Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness Grant

GLOUCESTER — Mayor Sefatia Romeo Theken and the Gloucester Clean Energy Commission (CEC) are pleased to announce that the City of Gloucester has been awarded a state grant to support climate change resilience.

The town was awarded $69,890 through the Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness (MVP) Action Grant program, which offers financial resources to municipalities that are seeking to address affects resulting from extreme weather, sea level rise, inland and coastal flooding, severe heat and other climate impacts.

Funding will go toward the creation of a Community Action and Resilience Plan (CARP), which will be developed in collaboration with the Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC) and CEC. The plan will help the community to identify the highest priority challenges and most feasible solutions to put Gloucester on track to meet long-term energy, climate and resiliency goals.

“The City of Gloucester has long been committed to addressing climate change. We felt that it was necessary for the city to develop a broader, public-facing strategy and identify clear goals that reflect the needs of our community,” said Mayor Romeo Theken. “The CARP will outline actionable goals for emissions reduction, and we hope that the community becomes involved in this collaborative effort.”

The CARP will include an inventory of the city’s current baseline greenhouse gas emissions, renewables and natural resources, as well as a community outreach plan based on MAPC’s framework for equity and the MVP environmental justice and equity tool kit. The plan also will include a set of community goals generated from the baseline data and a community roadmap to achieve these goals.  

“We are so appreciative of the state’s continued support as we face climate change challenges,” said Planning Director Gregg Cademartori. “This planning initiative will help us to establish effective ways in which the entire community can participate in efforts to reduce Gloucester’s carbon footprint.”

The MVP grant program was created in 2017 by Gov. Charlie Baker’s administration to provide support for cities and towns in Massachusetts to identify climate hazards, assess vulnerabilities, and develop action plans to improve resilience to climate change. As part of the program, municipalities can apply to receive planning or action grants. The program is offered by the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs.

###