TownGreen Launches New Cape Ann Municipal Working Group
Hires Greg Federspiel to Lead the Project
TownGreen, a Cape Ann-based non-profit that provides climate awareness education and emergency preparedness programs, announces the launch of its new regional collaborative working group: Cape Ann MARCH (Mitigation, Adaptation, Resilience Climate Hub). The new initiative will bring together municipal leaders from Gloucester, Rockport, Essex, Manchester-by-the-Sea, and Ipswich, plus academic institutions, community-based organizations, and community and state leaders to share resources, learn best practices, and join forces on coastal adaptation and resilience projects.
Cape Ann MARCH is a regional project to provide municipal and community leaders the opportunity to identify and set climate resilience priorities, understand shared risks from coastal hazards, implement projects that strengthen coastal adaptation and resilience, and consider climate communication and community engagement strategies. Importantly, the working group will invite representatives from community-based organizations and priority populations to participate.
“Cape Ann MARCH municipal working group is modeled on successful collaborations in other regions that have pulled together to address climate resilience,” says TownGreen Executive Director Maureen Aylward. “We’ve learned a lot from the New Hampshire Coastal Adaptation Workgroup in the seacoast region. And, the Resilient Mystic Collaborative emphasized the importance of having community-based organizations at the table.”
Coastal communities are on the front lines of climate change impacts, yet it is challenging for municipalities to create the capacity needed to address such impacts. Municipal staff are already stretched thin, and in the rapidly changing environment of federal programs and funding, towns and cities can find it difficult to advance projects that build up coastal protections against storms made more powerful by climate change, rising seas, and other climate-related hazards. Cape Ann MARCH will provide new resources and services, and act as a clearinghouse of essential information that includes funding opportunities, case studies on successful local efforts locally, nationally, and internationally, and community engagement and outreach ideas.
TownGreen Hires Greg Federpsiel as Cape Ann MARCH Director
TownGreen has hired recently retired Manchester-by-the-Sea Town Administrator, Greg Federspiel, to be Cape Ann MARCH Director. Federspiel knows the challenges that municipalities face in finding the time and resources to address climate challenges. “I look forward to working with my former colleagues and others on advancing solutions that better prepare Cape Ann for the climate risks we are facing,” notes Federspiel. “The Cape Ann MARCH Inaugural Meeting is set for Thursday, September 25. We have a full agenda planned that includes guest speaker Deanna Moran, the Chief Coastal Resilience Officer from the state’s office of Coastal Zone Management, who runs the ResilientCoasts Initiative.”
About TownGreen
TownGreen, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization based in Gloucester, MA, serving the greater Cape Ann region (Gloucester, Rockport, Essex, Manchester-by-the-Sea, and Ipswich). We assist municipalities, community-based organizations, and residents to be better prepared for the impacts of climate change. Our areas of focus are emergency preparedness in neighborhoods, municipal coastal adaptation projects, participatory science programs, and climate awareness education. Learn more at https://town-green.org.
