The Cities of Somerville, Cambridge, Medford, Everett, Chelsea, Revere, and Winthrop, in partnership with the Resilient Mystic Collaborative (RMC), Everett Community Growers (ECG), Groundwork Somerville (GWS), Communities Responding to Extreme Weather (CREW), and Mystic River Watershed Association (MyRWA), are undertaking an ambitious, regionally coordinated effort to assess and plan a network of resilient community centers across the Lower Mystic region. Funded by a FY25-FY26 Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness (MVP) Action Grant from the Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs (EEA), this project builds upon prior research and planning efforts, such as the Lower Mystic Regional Climate Assessment, Wicked Hot Mystic, and Medford Connects, as well as local efforts from community-based organizations and municipal climate teams.

These resilient community centers are envisioned as trusted, community-serving facilities—such as schools, shelters, senior centers—that provide critical services during both everyday life and extreme weather events. Designed with robust community input in mind, these centers will offer social infrastructure to increase preparedness and equity, enhance emergency response, and support improved environmental justice outcomes. The initiative emphasizes a community-centric process to identify and co-design sites, with programming tailored to the unique needs and assets of each municipality.

Project objectives include:

● Identifying potential locations for resilient centers using community-driven and data-informed methodologies;

● Establishing a regional framework for equitable, sustainable site selection and development;

● Facilitating a community of practice among municipal staff and community leaders to exchange knowledge and build implementation capacity;

● Identifying the types of year-round programming community members want to see in the resilience centers and/or network using inclusive engagement and participatory approaches;

● Developing tools and guidance for sustained community engagement and coalition-building across the network.

Building on the foundational work completed in FY25, the focus in FY26 will shift to refining, integrating, and documenting the vision for a regional network of resilient community centers across the Lower Mystic region.