Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness

2026

In 2026, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts awarded the Town with grant funding for the Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness Program (MVP 2.0), which is offering funding for the Town to revisit our MVP 1.0 climate resilience priorities, with a focus on equity and translating these priorities into action. This will be a two-year initiative, divided into two key phases:

• $50,000 for Planning & Engagement: Developing a community-led team and updating climate data
• $50,000 for a "Seed Project": A targeted, 9-to-10-month initiative designed to immediately jump-start a community-identified resilience priority

You may view the full grant announcement here. 

2025

In 2025, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts awarded the Town grant funding through Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness for the regional SuAsCo Climate Collaborative. The Town is the lead agency on the project, partnering with the Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC) and OARS 3 Rivers.

The SuAsCo Climate Collaborative is working to build regional capacity around climate resilience and water resource management across the watershed. By fostering productive relationships among municipalities, community-based organizations, state agencies, and residents, the Collaborative seeks to assess shared regional needs and identify opportunities to leverage funding and resources more effectively. Through coordinated planning, improved communication, and increased education and engagement, this effort aims to strengthen climate resilience across the Sudbury, Assabet, and Concord rivers watershed.

2018

In 2018, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts awarded the Town grant funding for the Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness Program (MVP 1.0) which offered funding for the Town to access our vulnerability to and prepare for climate change impacts, build community resilience, and receive designation as an MVP Community, further unlocking grant opportunities.

Following Community Resilience Building Workshops, the four climate resiliency priorities identified for Concord were: increased flooding, extreme heat, increased drought, and extreme storms. The full Summary of Findings from the Community Resilience Workshops can be viewed here.

What You Can Do

10 Things You Can Do TODAY to Help Create a More Sustainable and Resilient Concord

Be prepared for storms and weather events - Check out ready.gov for tips about how to create an emergency plan, a preparedness kit, and how to talk to your family about emergency preparedness. Enroll in Concord's CodeRed notification system and follow Town of Concord on social media for updates.

Reduce your energy consumption and demand - Mitigating our impact on climate change means we have less to adapt to. Reducing your need for energy through energy efficiency measures at your home like improved insulation will also make you more resilient in the case of outages. Find tips and resources here.

Conserve our natural resources - With the threat of increased drought, reducing demand on our water and other natural resources is important to a resilient community. There's a lot you can do at home to reduce your demand for water indoors and outdoors. Find tips and resources here.

Spread the word - People are more often influenced by friends than by experts, so make sure to talk about climate change with friends and family, colleagues and those in your network. Check out our 5 Tips for Communicating about Climate Change.