City of Worcester, MA

WORCESTER, Mass. – The City of Worcester announced Wednesday it has received a $900,000 grant to complete the final phase of its citywide flood resilience initiative, funding the completion of an Integrated Flood Model, the advancement of nature-based solutions designs, and continued community education on stormwater management. The model will support equitable, data-driven flood mitigation and nature-based solutions citywide.

Awarded by the Healey-Driscoll Administration's Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness (MVP) program, administered by the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs (EEA), these competitive grants support communities in identifying climate hazards, developing strategies to improve resilience, and implementing priority actions to adapt to climate change. Worcester's project is one of 38 projects to receive action grant funding in the latest round of applications.

“We're excited to receive this funding to complete a four-year effort to better prepare Worcester for increased urban flooding due to climate change," said Chief Sustainability Officer John Odell. “This work is critical to building our resilience. Once complete, the flood model will let us make evidence-driven decisions about development and about where to invest in green and gray infrastructure improvements citywide.”

This latest award builds on a multi-year effort to give Worcester the tools it needs to adapt to urban flooding. Between 2023 and 2025, an initial MVP grant funded the City's Stormwater & Green Infrastructure Master Plan, which assessed flood risk and evaluated green and gray infrastructure alternatives for flood reduction. Between 2025 and 2026, a second MVP grant funded Phase 2, advancing a citywide Integrated Flood Model that combined and expanded the City's stormwater, drainage, combined sewer, and waterway models into a single comprehensive framework, supported by extensive data gathering including stormwater and stream monitoring.

This third and final phase will calibrate and validate the Integrated Flood Model. The work will fill remaining drainage data gaps, incorporate monitoring and historical flood data to refine the model, and assess current and future flood risks under a range of climate scenarios — including impacts on Environmental Justice communities, critical infrastructure, and community assets. The grant will also fund a design of a priority nature-based solutions project and a repeat of last year's successful stormwater education program at four elementary schools.

The grant is being implemented through an interdepartmental collaboration between the Department of Sustainability and Resilience and the Department of Public Works. The project is set to kick off in early fall 2026 and conclude in June 2027.

The MVP program, created in 2017, provides funding for community-driven climate resilience planning and action. Ninety-nine percent, or 349 out of 351, of the Commonwealth's cities and towns are participating in the program, and more than $248 million has been awarded for local climate resilience planning and projects statewide.

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