LYNN — With summer fast approaching, the city received a $30,000 grant from the COVID-safe Cooling Strategies Grant Program this week to implement systems to mitigate the impact of extreme heat.
The grant given to Lynn was part of a broader initiative of the Metropolitan Area Planning Council and Mystic River Watershed Association that doled out $750,000 in grants to six municipalities and 12 community-based organizations across the state. The other cities awarded funds are Boston, Chelsea, Everett, Revere, Lawrence, and Brockton.
The $30,000 awarded to Lynn will fund projects and programs designed to mitigate extreme heat impacts that have been exacerbated by COVID-19’s burden on some of the region’s economically disadvantaged communities.
Lynn’s director of elder services, Chris Gomez, applied for, and received, grants both this year and last year.
“Last year … I bought over 25,000 fans to distribute to the community,” he said. “This year, I want to do a water bubbler where you can fill up water bottles. I want to put one in the Commons and one outside the Senior Center, if possible. Then, I want to buy some awnings. At the Senior Center, we’re starting our own gardens, so I want some awnings so people can cool off, and take a break,” Gomez said.
Gomez said that the grant is important for protecting Lynn residents from heat-related emergencies.
“In the summertime, especially in Lynn, it’s very hard for some people to keep cool, and these grants are a great help for a lot of the seniors and people in general,” he said. “When we can get them fans or a place where they can drink fresh water, or even a cooling place where they can stay in the shade. We don’t want people having heat strokes or being dehydrated, so these grants help a great deal for the city.”
The program has previously awarded over $1 million in grants for the purchase and distribution of energy efficient air conditioners, box fans, and cooling kits; utility bill assistance; and investments in infrastructure such as public water fountains, urban trees, and splash pads.
MAPC’s Senior Clean Energy and Climate Planner Sasha Shyduroff said that she thinks the program helps vulnerable communities stay cool during periods of extreme heat.
“[The program] has proven to be an effective tool to help residents in the region’s most vulnerable neighborhoods stay safe during periods of extreme summer heat,” Shyduroff said. “Besides a focus on meeting immediate needs through measures such as distributing air conditioners and fans and setting up community cooling stations, the program identifies policy barriers and opportunities to address rising temperatures over the long term at local, state, and regional levels.”
With the Barr Foundation’s support, MAPC and MyRWA created the grant program in 2020 in an attempt to stabilize the disproportionate impacts of both the pandemic and climate change-induced extreme heat in lower-income neighborhoods and communities of color.
MyRWA Climate Resiliency Manager Melanie Gárate said that in addition to funding, long-term solutions to combat climate change and social inequality are needed to counteract the negative impacts of extreme heat and the pandemic.
“Focusing on priority populations who face unequal burdens of extreme heat and are still being impacted by the pandemic is critical. What we need next is long-term solutions to address these challenges from the ground up,” said Gárate. “This year we will focus additional efforts to co-create a new version of this grant program with these communities to meet their long-term needs,” she said.
The Barr Foundation’s Senior Program Officer for Climate Resilience Kalila Barnett said that extreme heat is one of the most severe effects of climate change — particularly to underfunded regions.
“Extreme heat is one of the deadliest climate impacts, with disproportionate effects on underserved and divested communities in Greater Boston,” Barnett said. “We are proud to support MyRWA, MAPC, and several community-based organizations to find and scale responses that keep people safe.”
Anthony Cammalleri can be reached at [email protected].
