The Town of Amherst has received a $100,000 Municipal Vulnerabilities Preparedness (MVP) Action Grant from the Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs (EOEA). The grant funding is designated to hire technical assistance, interpreters/translators, and to engage a community liaison in the development of a Climate Action, Adaptation and Resiliency Plan. These advocates and advisors will work closely with the Town’s Sustainability Coordinator and other staff with advice from the Town’s Energy and Climate Action Committee (ECAC).
“We are extremely pleased to have received this competitive grant that will assist the town in developing a process to move Amherst towards its recently adopted goal of being carbon neutral by 2050,” stated Amherst Town Manager, Paul Bockelman. “This grant will provide additional resources to build out our Climate Action Plan and ensure vulnerable communities are able to engage in the process that impacts their lives most directly”.
The action grant award follows the town’s receipt of a $29,000 MVP Planning Grant in 2019 to conduct and engage the community in identifying its vulnerabilities to climate change. Amherst was the first Western Massachusetts community to create a Climate Action Plan in 2005. “The Town is grateful to the EOEA, and the MVP program in particular,” stated Stephanie Ciccarello, the Town’s Sustainability Coordinator. “This funding will allow us to engage the collective skills and expertise of the ECAC, with the assistance of an experienced consulting team, in developing a strategic pathway for emissions reductions that transcends municipal operations by engaging the residential, business and institutional communities.”
The Sustainability Coordinator will work with the ECAC and Town staff to develop an action plan over the next five months. “We see this as the beginning of a committed process that strategically identifies goals, lays the pathways for implementation and monitors success in a way that incorporates sustainability into all aspects of the Town, its municipal and school operations, and the community at-large,” said ECAC Chair, Laura Draucker.
The town has issued a Request for Proposals and anticipates securing a consultant in the coming weeks. For more information on this grant and program, please contact Stephanie Ciccarello, Sustainability Coordinator at ciccarellos@amherstma.gov.
For immediate release: February 6, 2020 | Contact: Brianna Sunryd sunrydb@amherstma.gov