In the News

The city will see more than 1,500 new trees planted, the Mason Square Library will soon have a more reliable, environmentally friendly air-conditioning system for its cooling center, and thousands of homes will be improved with new roofs, new windows, and mold and lead abatement over the next three years.

On Wednesday, eight local agencies and a half-dozen city departments joined together to celebrate the receipt of a $19.9 million federal grant from the Environmental Protection Agency that will help make multiple improvements in the city in historically disadvantaged neighborhoods.

“This is a great collaborative approach to win this grant for $20 million,” Mayor Domenic J. Sarno said. “This funding … will provide tangible benefits to our community including improved indoor and outdoor air quality, and reduced greenhouse gas emissions.”

It is desperately needed. Sarno pointed out that, since 2011, the city has faced five major natural disasters, starting with an EF-3 tornado in 2011 and most recently a Sept. 11 flash flood that washed out a culvert, ruptured a major 36-inch water main and left motorists stranded in water over their heads.

The grant was very competitive, and it took the work of many people to prepare the application. Springfield is the only community in the region that received the funding, officials said.

The grant, which must be spent over three years, covers roughly half of the city, or 14 census tract areas in the South End, Six Corners, Metro Center, North End, McKnight, Bay, Upper Hill, Old Hill, Brightwood and Memorial Square neighborhoods, where income levels met the federal state guidelines for economically disadvantaged communities.

The money came from “legislation that changes lives,” said U.S. Rep. Richard E. Neal, D-Springfield.

It’s a piece of the $2 billion set aside for the EPA’s Community Change Grants Program, included in the Inflation Reduction Act signed in 2022. Neal, who was chairman of the Ways and Means Committee at the time, said the legislation created 350,000 jobs.

The city has long worked with partners such as the Public Health Institute of Western Massachusetts, Revitalize CDC and Pioneer Valley Planning Commission, which all gave input to city officials while they were writing the application.

“I’m convinced that is why we received the grant,” said Timothy Sheehan, Springfield’s director of planning and economic development.

The city will work with partner agencies, such as Way Finders and ARISE for Social Justice, to identify low and moderate-income homeowners who can use the assistance to upgrade their homes with new roofs, windows and other ways to save energy, said Tina Quagliato Sullivan, city deputy development officer for housing, community development and neighborhoods.

“Springfield has a long history of being a regional leader in successful and effective climate action. We were the first certified green community in Massachusetts and an early adopter of the stretch energy code,” she said.

The city also has a clear understanding of the effects that climate change can have, especially after seeing the devastation the 2011 tornado caused here and in nearby communities, Sullivan said.

Part of the grant focuses on helping residents upgrade their homes to make them energy efficient and climate resilient, and some will include community solar.

That effort will include hiring a climate navigator who will assist low-income families to sort through the confusing web of tax incentives to help them improve their homes.

Some other projects to be funded with the money include:

·         Creating two geothermal heating and cooling pilot projects at the Mason Square branch library and the Kenefick Park Field House. Those two buildings are often used as heating and cooling centers for residents in extreme weather, Sullivan said.

·         Planting 1,500 trees, especially in areas hit by the tornado.

·         Supporting the bike share program.

·         Monitoring air quality throughout the area.

·         Improving the West Street corridor with a complete streets project that will make it a climate cooling zone, as well as making the streets more bike and pedestrian friendly.

·         Updating the climate action and resiliency plan. The plan was first written in 2017, and many of the goals have been achieved, so this creates new goals.

·         Building a workforce training program focused on heating, ventilation, air conditioning and refrigeration, and other green jobs at Springfield Technical Community College.