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Mayor Sarno Approves MVP Grant Funds to Neighborhood Councils

Mayor Domenic J. Sarno has approved Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness (MVP) grant funding to nine (9) neighborhood councils that applied for grant funding to help increase awareness and participation in their respective neighborhood councils, with a focus on targeting vulnerable, environmental justice populations and residents that would be least likely to participate (i.e. renters, English isolated, low-income, youth and/or disabled residents).

The City of Springfield received $50,000 in MVP grant funding from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs.  In October 2021, the Springfield Office of Disaster Recovery released an RFP for funding opportunities and received a response from nine (9) neighborhood councils.  Per the RFP, all request and awards were capped at $10,000.  All proposals were reviewed in accordance with the evaluation criteria published within the RFP, which included: 

  • Plan to carry out stated goals and tasks – including combination of in-person and digital outreach
  • Plan includes strategies that would successfully target environmental justice populations and residents least likely to participate
  • The neighborhood council submitting the plans has a significant population that experience two or three of the environmental justice criteria as defined by the Commonwealth
  • Proposed use of grant budget – did budget align with the proposed plan and would assist in successfully achieving the goals of the grant funding

Neighborhood councils awarded grant funding include:

 

Neighborhood Council

Award Amount

Armoury Quadrangle Civic Association

$9,500

New North Citizens Council

$9,091

Old Hill Neighborhood Council

$6,300

McKnight Neighborhood Council

$6,200

East Springfield Neighborhood Council

$6,059

Bay Area Neighborhood Council

$5,350

Upper Hill Residents Council

$5,000

Indian Orchard Citizens Council

$1,500

East Forest Park Civic Association

$1,000

   

Mayor Sarno states, “I want to thank the RFP review committee for their efforts in this selection process and special thanks to Governor Charlie Baker, Lt. Governor Karyn Polito and Secretary Kathleen Theoharides for their continued leadership and making this MVP grant funding available.  My administration fully supports our neighborhood councils as they serve as a strong voice that advocates on behalf of their community, residents and businesses.  This grant funding will help our neighborhood councils with their outreach initiatives, many of which already do a tremendous job in bringing awareness and working tirelessly to improving the quality of life for all.”

The RFP review committee consisted of:

  • Ed Whitley, Deputy Director of Neighborhoods
  • Cathy Buono, Director of A&F, Community Development
  • Tina Quagliato-Sullivan, Director of Disaster Recovery
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Page last updated:  Tuesday, March 1, 2022 01:32 pm