The Bay State is doling out some much-needed cash to its soggy cities and towns, throwing a lifeline to 37 communities hit hard by last year's floods. Massachusetts' Lieutenant Governor Kim Driscoll broke the news at the Massachusetts Municipal Association's meet-up, revealing the Healey-Driscoll administration is starting its largesse with a cool $10 million slice of the disaster relief pie, part of a bigger, legislator-approved fund intended to put the state back on drier ground.
This financial infusion, carved from a supplemental budget signed off by Governor Maura Healey in December, is just the beginning — with another $5 million set to roll out this spring to buffer the blow from September's storms, while also adding a $7 million boost to the Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness (MVP) program, it's aimed to better prepare communities against the punch of inland floods through eco-friendly planning and construction.
Healey's team is opening the floodgates for the Fiscal Year 2025 Community One Stop for Growth program, as well, seeking to streamline the slog for state cash for community and economic development projects, per the announcement.
Flush with this round of funding, Governor Healey dished out that her team has seen the aftermath of the weather's wrath up close after last year's climate calamities, stressing the extra money is for towns to cut the risk of such soggy situations in the future, the Healey-Driscoll administration is making a practical bet on using nature itself to build flood defenses, said Driscoll has seen the benefit of banding together firsthand, formerly calling the shots as the Mayor of Salem before stepping into her current state-wide role.
The Governor's office is clear that this cash is also about fairness, spreading it around to Gateway Cities, rural, and small towns alike — tallying 869 grants worth over $396.3 million since the One Stop for Growth's 2021 debut.
Details on how to snag a piece of this fiscal pie are hitting the interwebs February 16, with recorded webinars full of tips on how to make the cut — and with an expanded window for project pitches, communities can keep their hopes high for landing a grant this year. Start prepping now, because applications open May 6 and will only stay that way until June 5, 2024, according to an official statement.
