MAPC Awards $800k in “Accelerating Climate Resilience” Grants to Municipal and Community-Organization Led Projects
The cities/towns of Revere, Marblehead, Chelsea, and the following organizations: Just a Start; Housing Corporation of Arlington; WalkMassachusetts; TownGreen, Inc.; Black Economic Council of Massachusetts; Neighborhood of Affordable Housing and Maverick Landing Community Services; MassEnergize, Inc.; and Boston Public Housing Corporation make up the next cohort.
September 18, 2025 – Boston – Eleven projects in the greater Boston region secured a total of $800,000 to advance local and regional climate change resilience. As part of the Accelerating Climate Resilience (ACR) Grant Program, both municipalities and community-based organizations across the region will implement strategies that protect people, places, and communities from the impacts of climate change.
With grants ranging in size from $25,000 to $125,000, projects are designed to facilitate long-term, innovative changes. In particular, the Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC) awarded projects that will advance climate equity, regional coordination, and social cohesion, with some focused more on mitigation or adaptation, or a combination of both. Mitigation includes actions to reduce emissions that cause climate change while adaptation actions manage the risks of climate change’s impacts.
This is the sixth round of funding distributed through the program, part of a partnership between The Barr Foundation and MAPC, and it is the first time that funds were available to non-municipal, community-based entities. Three of the funded projects are regional collaboration efforts, and most of the projects led by community-based organizations (CBOs) have strong municipal participation.
The following municipalities CBOs were awarded grants for their projects:
- Black Economic Council of Massachusetts: “BECMA Rooftop Garden” – $75,000
- Boston Public Housing Corporation: “Archdale Park and Playground” – $100,000
- Chelsea: “Stitching Against the Heat: A Yarn for Change” – $75,000
- Housing Corporation of Arlington: “Resilience for All: Creating Climate Resilient Spaces for Arlington’s Affordable Housing” – $80,000
- Just a Start: “Neighborhood Fabrics: Youth, Art & Climate Resilience in the Port” (Cambridge) – $25,000
- Marblehead: “Resilient by Design: Cooling Marblehead’s Housing for the Future” – $80,000
- MassEnergize, Inc.: “PlugIN for Resilience: Community-Led Electrification for Climate Resilience” (Acton, Ashland, Framingham, Natick, Sudbury, Wayland) – $50,000
- Neighborhood of Affordable Housing, Inc. and Maverick Landing Community Services: “Eastie’s Clean Air Partnerships” – $125,000
- Revere: “Building Adaptive Capacity in Beachmont: Flood Monitoring and Community Resilience at Belle Isle Marsh” – $40,000
- TownGreen, Inc.: “Cape Ann MARCH and the Neighborhood Resiliency Project” – $75,000
- WalkMassachusetts: “Climate-Safe Walk Audit Initiative: Enhancing Pedestrian Resilience In A Rapidly Warming World” (Danvers, Melrose, Salem, Stoneham, and Wakefield) – $75,000
“This was an extremely competitive year for the ACR grant program,” said MAPC Acting Executive Director Lizzi Weyant. “We received dozens of applications from municipalities and community-based entities across the region that proposed creative ways for meeting the moment. We are pleased to award funds to projects that prioritize equitable engagement, support mitigation and adaptation, and build regional capacity. Especially right now, MAPC is pleased to be able to continue this important work at the local level, where the impact will be felt for years to come.”
Grant recipients will also participate in MAPC’s Resilience Community of Practice, a peer-to-peer learning group that will bring together grantees regularly to discuss challenges and barriers to implementation and share lessons learned for collective problem-solving. Additional project information can be found at https://www.mapc.org/accelerating-resiliency.
In the past five years of the ACR Grant Program, more than $2.6 million has been awarded to implement 56 projects across the region. MAPC is thrilled to have been a part of some of the region’s most creative, impactful, and equity-centered projects to date. We are also delighted to see many existing and new collaborations among municipalities and their community partners strengthened through implementation of their climate resilience projects. MAPC’s Planning 101 blog provides more details on the program’s impact in the region to date: mapc.org/planning101/five-years-accelerating-climate-resilience-grants/.
“It is very exciting to look back and see all the wonderful climate resilience work municipalities have done with support from the ACR program these past five years, and to now step into a new model, where both municipalities and community-based entities can use this type of funding to further pilot, scale, and work collaboratively to make our region a more resilient place to live, work and play in. The Barr Foundation’s Climate Program is proud to support this effort,” said Kalila Barnett, Senior Program Officer, Climate Resilience at the Barr Foundation.
For more information and questions about the Accelerating Climate Resilience program, contact MAPC Director of Environmental Planning Van Du at vdu@mapc.org.
