MVP 2.0 - Updated Massachusetts Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness Process
Commonwealth of Massashusetts
The Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness grant program (MVP) provides support for cities and towns in Massachusetts to build resilience to climate change. Communities who complete the MVP Planning program (MVP 1.0) become certified as an MVP community and are eligible for future funding to complete resilience projects. Since 2017, nearly every Massachusetts municipality has participated in MVP 1.0.
Linnean, in collaboration with StarLuna Consulting and BSC Group, worked with the Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs (EEA) to redesign the State’s Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness Planning Grant program from 2021 - 2022. The new program, MVP 2.0, expands on the work municipalities' have done to date, and provides communities throughout the state with new tools, resources, and processes for building community resilience.
An Equity Council made up of social and environmental justice advocates throughout the state guided the overall development, and 75 stakeholders participated in a set of asynchronous focus groups (through a Policy Delphi model) to inform the needs, goals, and vision for the program. The resulting program – which includes trainings in community resilience, equity, climate justice, as well as seed funding for community-driven projects – creates a process for communities to revisit their community resilience priorities with a focus on equity and translate those priorities into action through project development and implementation.
See more on the program here.