Amherst Climate Action, Adaptation, and Resilience Plan
Amherst, MA
In 2018, the Town of Amherst received a Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness (MVP) Planning Grant to build community resilience in Amherst. Linnean served as the town’s MVP service provider—a process which included facilitating two half-day workshops attended by a range of town staff, representatives from key institutions, organizations, and businesses, as well as town members invested in community resilience. In addition to focusing on a range of infrastructural and environmental concerns, the group emphasized the importance of rethinking models of town and community engagement to make participation more inclusive, accessible, and relationship-focused. Building on this process, Amherst hired Linnean to facilitate the development of the town’s Climate Action, Adaptation, and Resiliency Plan, structured around a commitment to advancing social equity through the thoughtful inclusion of historically marginalized communities and intentional elevation of their voices.
Community task group members were compensated for their time, meetings were multilingual, and discussions emphasized lived experiences and storytelling as a primary mode for sharing information. This approach has supported the emergence of principles that prioritize equitable engagement, and have begun to influence subsequent town planning processes. The result of this equity-focused process is a plan that creates a vision for the future of Amherst and that expands the potential for meaningful community participation in future town decision-making.
See the full plan here.