Springfield Secures $20 Million From EPA

For Climate Justice

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August 19, 2024

Press Release by the Public Health Institute of Western Massachusetts

City of Springfield selected by EPA to receive a nearly $20 million Environmental and Climate Justice Community Change Grant. The Environmental Protection Agency has awarded the City of Springfield and the Public Health Institute of Western Massachusetts a nearly $20 million Community Change Grant to advance environmental justice and climate resilience in Springfield (Green and Resilient Springfield Initiative).

 

Work under the grant will include a community solar project; retrofitting 30 one- to four-unit homes to reduce energy use and improve indoor air quality; complete home rehabilitation projects to remove lead and other pollution hazards; converting two city-owned buildings to non-grid clean energy sources and expanding their use as community resilience hubs and emergency shelter locations; expanding tree canopy by planting 1,500 trees; restarting a city e-bikeshare program; supporting a workforce development program for HVAC-R technicians; and more.
 

This initiative will be convened under the Live Well Springfield Coalition, bringing together partners such as the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission, Arise for Social Justice, and Way Finders, who collaborated with city staff on the grant application and will continue as part of the working group. Key partners include Revitalize CDC, ReGreen Springfield, and MassHire, along with neighborhood organizations New North Citizens Council and Martin Luther King Jr. Family Services.

 

The project will also have an Advisory Board with representatives from ten community organizations, focusing on neighborhood councils or other neighborhood representatives in the Project Area, and ten Resident Advisors from the Project Area.