Revere Secures Federal Funds for RiverFront Environmental Efforts

By Adam Swift

Revere recently secured nearly $2 million in federal funding to help alleviate current conditions and prepare the community for the impact of worsening risks of climate change and sea-level risks.

The funding will expand mitigation and adaptation efforts in the RiverFront area, and is part of nearly $13 million in federal community project grants for nine resilience projects in the Mystic Watershed.

“As a community located outside the shelter of Boston Harbor, we get the brunt of increasingly intense winter storms,” said 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 resident Loretta LaCentra, who has been deeply involved in climate issues in the neighborhood.

“Our worst-case scenario has become a common event as we dread reports of upcoming flooding and King Tides,” LaCentra said. “We need immediate attention and remediation to address the multiple flooding events we experience annually. We cannot wait any longer.”

When President Biden signed the FY2023 Consolidated Appropriations Act 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 secure multiple 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 FY2022, and nine in FY2023.

“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 Patrick Herron, executive director of the Mystic River Watershed Association (MyRWA), which staffs the 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, according to  John Walkey, Director of Waterfront & Climate Justice Initiatives at local non-profit 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 a founding member of the Resilient Mystic Collaborative, a 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 non-governmental partners, the RMC focuses on managing flooding and extreme heat on a regional scale and increasing the resilience of vulnerable residents and workers to extreme weather.