NRP and MARCH Program Updates: May

Greater Cape Ann MARCH UPDATE
The Greater Cape Ann MARCH municipal working group held its 4th bi-monthly program on Thursday, May 14th at the Rockport Public Library’s Brenner Room. Attending were municipal representatives from all four Cape Ann communities, including representatives from planning boards, conservation agents, community development, and sustainability committees, nonprofit organizations, academia, and a state official. 

Charlie Sidoti and Steve Brandt from InnSure gave a deep dive into how the current state of the insurance market impacts the housing market, especially for coastal communities. Their non-profit aims to assist communities in taking steps to keep insurance companies active in local markets at affordable prices. Municipalities can help by taking measures that prevent flooding and lower wildfire risks. Charlie and Steve demonstrated their new software that assists communities in assessing their risks and identifying measures to reduce these risks.  

Planning is underway for the first annual TownGreen/MARCH Climate Summit. The summit will be held on Thursday, September 10th from 8:30 – 2:30 at the Shalin Liu Performance Center in Rockport. Details will be forthcoming soon. This program will be open to the public. 

The Neighborhood Resiliency Project: Update

Here’s the latest from January-May 2026

• Goal: 30 + groups added to our Neighborhood Resiliency Network
  • Update: 20 nonprofits, civic groups engaged

• Goal: 7 municipalities in our program
  • Update: 4 Cape Ann communities engaged

• Goal: 200 emergency go-bags distributed to households
  • Update: Over 100 bags plus other items distributed

• Goal: 30 programs across Cape Ann; 400 people reached 
  • Update: 11 programs; 170 people reached
• Goal: Provide language access: Offering Spanish and Portuguese
  • Reaching native speakers in Gloucester: Spanish, Portuguese, Haitian Creole, Mandarin, Arabic, Kannada, Hindi, Swahili, Ukrainian, Sicilian, Italian
    

• Goal: Community engagement tabling and outreach across Cape Ann
  • Attended: Annual City of Gloucester Recycling Day at O’Maley Middle School, Motif #1 Day, Rose Baker Center for Aging Well ribbon cutting, and Rockport Council on Aging Resource Fair
  • Scheduled: Tabling at the Rockport Farmer’s Market, Backyard Growcery, Music on Meetinghouse Green, Gloucester Block Parties, Festival by the Sea in Manchester, and Essex ClamFest

• Goal: 10 Community Response Team Neighborhood Sessions
  • Update: Hosted Joint TownGreen/Red Cross Training Session reaching 30 Cape Ann residents
  • 2 sessions scheduled