Resilient Mystic Collaborative communities secure $12.9M in federal community grants for 9 projects

  When President Joe Biden signed the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023, into law on December 29, 2022, the $1.7 trillion spending bill included nine grants for Resilient Mystic Collaborative (RMC) cities and towns totaling almost $13 million. These earmarks bring the total grant funding for RMC community projects to $30.4 million since its founding in 2018. For each of the last two federal budgets, Congresswomen Katherine Clark and Ayanna Pressley and Congressman Seth Moulton were able to help fulfill multiple requests for Community Project Funding for projects with demonstrated local support that fit within specific existing federal grant programs. These grants included four for RMC communities in Fiscal Year 2022, and nine in Fiscal Year 2023.

  Congresswoman Clark secured funding for climate resilient projects in Arlington, Malden, Medford, Revere and Woburn. Congressman Moulton secured a $2 million grant for Reading.

  “We couldn’t be more grateful to Congresswomen Katherine Clark and Ayanna Pressley and Congressman Seth Moulton and their staff for securing such robust funding for our communities,” said Executive Director Patrick Herron of the Mystic River Watershed Association (MyRWA), which partners with RMC. “These investments will make our cities and towns safer, more equitable, and more beautiful.”

  “Since its beginnings the Resilient Mystic Collaborative has been focused on projects that make a difference for the people most affected by climate change,” said Director of Waterfront & Climate Justice Initiatives John Walkey of the local nonprofit GreenRoots. “It’s why GreenRoots is so excited to support and partner with the RMC and its members to help secure almost $14 million in federal grants to fund these projects.”

  Each of the municipalities that championed these climate resilient projects is an RMC founding member. The RMCis a Mystic River watershed–wide voluntary partnership focused on regional climate resilience. Convened by MyRWA in September 2018 and led by senior staff from 20 cities and towns and nongovernmental partners, the RMC focuses on managing flooding and extreme heat on a regional scale and increasing the resilience of our most vulnerable residents and workers to extreme weather. These projects are the result of years of analysis and design by both individual communities and multiple municipalities working collectively.

  The list of FY2023 Community Project grants secured by RMC communities is summarized below:

Malden: Malden River Works Project ($1,334,610)

  This funding will be used to transform Malden’s Department of Public Works yard on the Malden River to incorporate a public, climate-resilient riverfront park. It will reduce Malden’s climate vulnerability by building green stormwater infrastructure to reduce surface flood risk, increasing the tree canopy by planting over 100 new trees to mitigate urban heat island effects, restoring the natural riverfront landscape and building an elevated greenway path to serve as a flood barrier in the event of sea level rise.

  “The Malden River Works Steering Committee is inclusive of the diverse Malden population and under-represented communities of color,” said Steering Committee Chairperson Marcia Manong. “Our project will help reduce the City’s climate vulnerability by building green stormwater infrastructure to reduce surface flood risk, increasing the tree canopy by planting over 200 new trees and bushes to mitigate urban heat island effects, restoring the natural riverfront landscape, and building an elevated greenway path to serve as a flood barrier in the event of sea-level rise. We wish to thank all for the effort put forward to ensure that this community-driven project was included in the Community Project earmarks.”

  “Addressing the legacy of environmental racism is an important part of our response to climate change,” said Malden Mayor Gary Christenson, “and that is what we are doing with the Malden River Works project. It represents a new planning approach for Malden that focuses on elevating the voices of marginalized community members to build a climate-resilient park on the Malden River. The funding secured by our federal delegation will play an important role in the eventual success of Malden River Works.”

Revere: Riverside Climate Resiliency Project ($1,977,220)

  The funding will alleviate current conditions and prepare the community for the impact of worsening risks of climate change and sea-level rise. It expands mitigation and adaptation efforts in the RiverFront area in Revere.

  “As a community located outside the shelter of Boston Harbor we get the brunt of increasingly intense winter storms,” said Revere Mayor Brian Arrigo. “This funding will help us manage coastal flooding in our Riverfront neighborhood.”

  “The frequent flooding of the Riverside neighborhood due to sea level rise has reached a critical juncture,” said Revere activist Loretta LaCentra. “Our worst-case scenario has become a common event as we dread reports of upcoming flooding and King Tides. We need immediate attention and remediation to address the multiple flooding events we experience annually. We cannot wait any longer.”

Everett: Gateway Park Urban Forest/Wetland Restoration ($750,000)

  This funding will help support the restoration of a degraded 14-acre waterfront parcel of land and create a rare public open space for low-income Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) residents in the environmental justice community of Everett. This project will remove invasive plants and other debris, reconstruct a forested coastal wetland area as a habitat and for stormwater management, reforest with native trees and other perennials, install environmental education signage in a broad range of languages and construct a pedestrian boardwalk throughout the site.

  “For as long as I can remember, the wetlands portion of Gateway Park has been neglected and overgrown,” said Everett Mayor Carlo DeMaria. “This grant will help us restore wildlife habitat and bring residents in an environmental justice community closer to nature along the Malden River and Boston Harbor waterfront.”

  “Everett is in desperate need of healthy open space… We can’t wait to see Gateway Park finished,” said Josee Genty from Everett Community Growers.

MyRWA: Cooling Urban Heat Islands through Enhancing Urban Forests in Greater Boston’s Mystic River Watershed ($400,000)

  This funding will help mitigate the dangers of climate-driven extreme heat in vulnerable environmental justice communities, including Everett, Chelsea and East Boston. The program will support the implementation of local urban forestry plans (including the planting of 750 trees), while training youths, reentry citizens and others to perform the horticulture activities needed to establish and maintain urban trees.

  “This funding allows us to partner with communities to cool off some of the hottest neighborhoods in our watershed that currently have very few parks, trees, or other cooling amenities,” said MyRWA Deputy Director for Projects David Queeley. “These same neighborhoods are where many low-income BIPOC residents live due to past redlining practices and crushingly high housing prices elsewhere. Helping vulnerable residents stay safe lowers hospitalization rates and medical costs. If we can help cool off the hottest streets, or even whole neighborhoods, why wouldn’t we?”

Mystic River Watershed at a Glance

  The 76-square-mile Mystic River Watershed stretches from Reading through the northern shoreline of Boston Harbor to Revere. It is one of New England’s most urbanized watersheds. The seven-mile Mystic River and its tributaries represented an early economic engine for colonial Boston; 10 shipyards, tide-driven mills, brickyards and tanneries along both banks of the river brought both wealth and pollution. In the 1960s, the Amelia Earhart Dam transformed much of the river into a freshwater impoundment, while construction of Interstate 93 filled in wetlands and dramatically changed the river’s course. Since then, many former industrial sites have been cleaned up and redeveloped into new commercial areas and residential communities.

  The Mystic is facing growing climate-related challenges: coastal and stormwater flooding, extreme storms, heat, drought and unpredictable seasonal weather. The watershed is relatively low-lying and extensively developed, making it prone to both freshwater and coastal flooding. Its 21 municipalities are home to 600,000 residents, including many who are disproportionately vulnerable to extreme weather: environmental justice communities, new Americans, residents of color, elders, low-income residents and employees, people living with disabilities and English-language learners.